Some of the orginal large tenants that leased space when Oceana Place opened still occupy space here.

Oceana Place Celebrates Ten Years of Success

VIRGINIA BEACH, VIRGINIA – Ten years ago, John Mair developed Oceana Place, a 76,000-square-foot brick and glass building located at 448 Viking Drive in Virginia Beach. “At the time, everyone thought the developer was crazy!” says Michael Divaris, Divaris Real Estate’s president. “Oceana Place was built at the height of the recession.”

As it turns out, everyone was wrong.

Oceana Place was the only new building being constructed in the area at that time. Despite an oversupply of office space throughout Virginia Beach, only small floor plans were available in most buildings.  Nothing was big enough for the large tenants that were looking to lease space with sizeable floor plates.   For them, Oceana Place was the ideal location.

Mair developed the property in collaboration with Phoenix Home Life, which purchased the building upon its completion. Michael Divaris has always managed the account relationship for Oceana Place. “When Phoenix appointed us to lease the building,” he says, “It was 50 to 60 percent vacant. We were instrumental in securing several large tenants.”

Over a decade later, some of those large tenants are still there. Hayes, Seay, Mattern & Mattern, Inc, (HSMM) which occupied space in Oceana Place in 1992, now occupies 11,416 square feet, and has plans to add an additional 3,000 square feet. HSMM provides comprehensive planning and design services in the building, communications, environmental, healthcare, judicial/corrections, industrial and transportation industries, and has been ranked 18th among U.S. engineering and architectural firms by Building Design & Construction magazine. 

Dukes, Stein & Company recently expanded its space and now occupies 16,500 square feet. The investment and estate-planning firm has been in business for over ten years.  A recent merger changed the company's name from Dukes & Company (previously Davenport Dukes) to Dukes, Stein & Company.  The merger more than doubled the size of the company. LM Sandler & Sons, a national real estate investment and development firm, has been a tenant of Oceana Place since 1992. The company occupies 12,000 square feet.

Several other notable tenants occupy space at Oceana Place. McKim & Creed Engineers, P.A, a multidisciplinary planning and design firm providing services for water resources, land development, architecture, transportation, and industrial markets, occupies the entire first floor of the building. Centex (CTX), a Dallas-based mortgage company occupies 3,000 square feet of office space.  The company was established in 1950 and is one of the nation's premier companies in building and related services: home building, home services, financial services, contracting and construction services, construction products and investment real estate. Alcatel, the world’s leading supplier of telecommunication infrastructures, occupies 977 square feet of space. Established in 1998, Alcatel designs, develops and builds innovative and competitive communications networks, enabling carriers, service providers and enterprises to deliver multiple services, such as voice, data and multimedia, to any type of consumer, anywhere in the world.

When tenants of Oceana Place feel a bit stressed, or wish to burn off their business lunch, they can do so in Oceana Place’s on-site fitness center. At approximately 400 square feet, the facility is furnished with the latest, state-of-the-art Precor® equipment, a universal exercise station and several stationary bikes.

A new conference room is also available to tenants. The 1,183-square-foot room seats approximately 34 and is equipped with cable access, fiber optics and a small kitchen area.

The fitness center and conference room are the result of the renovation of an outparcel building, formerly leased to AllState. The two amenities were added to Oceana Place to augment the building's inherent appeal as well as to increase tenant activity and satisfaction.

Vivian Turok, Keith Pezzella and Maureen Rooks of DRE’s Virginia Beach office are the exclusive leasing agents for Oceana Place.