SUFFOLK
A Chicago-area developer unveiled plans Wednesday to build a massive warehouse and distribution center in the heart of the city to meet growing port traffic.
The project calls for a rail yard and 5 million square feet of distribution and storage space over parts of 900 acres. It is "absolutely critical" to the long-term success of the state's port and economy, said J.J. Keever, deputy executive director of the Virginia Port Authority.
CenterPoint Properties must receive zoning approval to proceed on the full project, however, and a host of questions remained after company representatives made their first public pitch at a City Council work session Wednesday.
Most prominently, city Planning Director Scott Mills told the council he needs to hear a solution for the deteriorating traffic
conditions along U.S. 58-Holland Road before he could support the project's location in that corridor.
Other infrastructure issues, including sewer pump stations, also need to be addressed, Mills said.
CenterPoint Properties representatives have worked privately with city staff for months and made it clear they want to move ahead quickly. Keever and a state official were on hand to say the project has strong support outside the city.
David Smith, Virginia's deputy secretary of commerce and trade, said the state wants to help make the project happen.
"What's good for the commonwealth, we hope, is good for the city of Suffolk," he said.
CenterPoint Properties owns or manages more than 42 million square feet of warehouse and distribution space across the country, according to a release from the company.
Neil Doyle, an executive vice president, told council members CenterPoint Properties is in about a half- dozen areas outside of the Chicago area, "none of which are even half the investment we are willing to make in Suffolk."
That investment would total $325 million, according to the release. The company said the project could generate more than 7,000 jobs throughout the region over 10 years, though Doyle said that takes into account construction work and other businesses that would profit from the distribution center.
Councilman Charles Brown said the proposal is one of the biggest projects he's seen since arriving on the council in 1994.
"We're talking about a tremendous burden financially on the city, but at the same time I see it as a tremendous financial tool for the city," he said.
The project would front about half a mile of U.S. 58-Holland Road about four miles west of downtown.
Improving Holland Road has long been a topic of conversation in Suffolk. About 30,000 drivers use the road each day.
With or without the CenterPoint development, traffic there would fall to an F level for service by 2017, with traffic crawling along at an average speed of 11 mph if improvements aren't made, according to a recent study by the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission.
The study pointed to two potential solutions, widen the three-mile stretch of road from four lanes to six at a potential cost of $90 million, or build a bypass that might cost $250 million.
Bob Harbour, a development partner with CenterPoint, said he believes the study overestimates the cost. The developer wants to pay an engineering firm to conduct another study, he said.
Some council members expressed concern at how fast CenterPoint wants to move ahead on its re zoning request. The company presented a schedule that has it before the Planning Commission next month and to the council in October for a final decision.
The new road-widening study wouldn't be done in time for the planning commission to consider it, Harbour said.
"Why would we want to go to planning without that information?" Mayor Linda Johnson asked.
Harbour said the company has been working out details of the project with city staff since winter and doesn't want to prolong the wait for potential tenants.
"They'll become nonbelievers. They'll go away and then CenterPoint says 'This ain't going to happen,' " he said. "We're going to lose this opportunity."
Vice Mayor Curtis Milteer Sr. said the council should act as soon as possible.
"Let's not tarry when it ain't necessary," he said.
Councilman Leroy Bennett voiced caution.
"I hope that we will not pressure staff to move forward unless we have some figures," he said.
CenterPoint would make several improvements to the site's infrastructure and make other contributions to the city for the project, including a land donation for a fire station and cash for a new water tank.
Pilot writers Hattie Brown Garrow and Josh Brown contributed to this report.
Dave Forster, (757) 222-5563, dave.forster@pilotonline.com
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New distribution center in Suffolk
I live near where they Want to put this new distribution center and I smell a rat. First of all they say they will create 7,000 new jobs. Ok let’s say they create 7,000 new jobs. 5,000 of them will be in the construction of this facility. What will these 5,000 people do 2 years after the center is complete and they get laid off? Can you say....
Suffolk unemployment? It will probably only take about 200 to 500 people to run this place and some of these jobs will be located in other Hampton roads cities doing the logistics part of this facility. As far as the tax base it will create.... it will be ate up with all the city infrastructure that will have to be created and repaired after the heavy trucks tear it up. This is a loose loose situation for the residents in Suffolk. Send this facility to the big cities where they love congestion and thrive on it.
Hampton Roads Transportation Authority (HRTA)
This warehouse project is the result of the backroom arm twisting and bribes that were done to get Suffolk to sign up for the HRTA last year. A part of the overall picture of the State Transportation Act, Suffolk, as was Isle of Wight was promised the warehousing to support the port under the guise of inter modal transportation with the promise of congestion relief. The citizenry is being fed small pieces of the port infrastructure pie divided by the various Cities/counties. This devious plan will only benefit industry and tourism and will cost the citizen Billions of taxpayers dollars, cause the taxpayer to be in debt for generations and negatively impact the taxpayers life and personal wealth. The Transportation Act and HRTA take and redistribute the taxpayers wealth as they see fit. Seems to me that the taxpayer is the best judge on how to spend their hard earned money, not the government. The HRTA supports industry and tourism at monumental cost to the citizen. The only thing the government has ever done is screw things up.
The Inland Empire is a cancer
The heavy trucks hauling containers from the mega port of Los Angeles / Long Beach clog the local freeways here in Southern CA every day. Add the particulate matter in the air from the exhaust of the old trucks owned by independent / illegial aliens who lack funds to maintain these belching beast. We breathe this toxic mess daily.
In addition the roads are in constant disrepair, where will the funds to maintain them come from?
Suffolk beware of the example in CA and avoid creating a mess like the one here. Your Rt 58 will never have the capacity to handle the traffic generated by this facility.
Suffolk vs Chesapeake
The city leaders of Suffolk will probably jerk around about making a decision on this project and the warehouse with move to Chesapeake.
Thus was the case of Chesapeake Square mall. Suffolk could not agree on incentives to the developers of the mall and the officals of Chesapeake welcomed the mall developers with open arms. Will history repeat itself!
It's NOT a good time to be in Suffolk!
What?
Suffolk better jump on this. Besides, the council has no power. It's those old guys who have lunch at that restaurant everyday.
interesting georgek
Interesting GeorgeK, I believe I've heard Reid Greenmun mention the idea of running a cluster of rail lines from Hampton Roads to i95, and move the container traffic off of the highways to railcars... until it's out of our back yard. I always thought it was a cool idea. If done right you could probably move away from standard US rail car size to something larger that can move more containers instead of 2 stacked per rail car.
Inland Empire? No thanks...
Moose23, I’ve lived in the Inland Empire, and I moved to Suffolk because I didn’t want to live like that. We do NOT need more blue collar jobs in Suffolk, we do NOT need more traffic in Suffolk, and we do NOT need our city council to be bullied by the vapor-like promises of a company who is trying to fast-track a process by using the lure of millions of dollars and thousands of jobs. You’ll force a pizza business to agree to not open until noon on Sundays because of the church across the street, but you won’t stop to think about the drastic and negative ramifications of this huge imposition? COUNCIL, STOP AND THINK AND FOLLOW THE PROCESS…Chesapeake, if you want it, take it—you won’t leave a tree standing anywhere anyway, so go for it. I would like to think that Suffolk is VERY different from Chesapeake, but so far I am disappointed. U-R-Subar, I moved out to Suffolk for peace and quiet as well…and this ain’t it. BTW, ain’t those impressive quotes from our edumacated city council members?
Truely amazing
The quote by Councilman Brown is truely amazing. And the sad thing is that he has been on council since 1994! We need term limits.
This project will be beneficial if properly funded. Whoever the poster was that believes the property owners near the project should get some sort of relief check may want to attend the Obama rally. He will make you feel better about your life.
Seven thousand jobs? I doubt it. No doubt the city needs to find out how much traffic the project is going to generate. And no doubt the project owners should contribute more than four million to road improvements. What ever happened to the proposed bypass around Oak Ridge?
Good News
It is better to hear of 7,000 jobs coming instead of 7,000 jobs leaving. Perhaps if the citizens against virtually everything left town we would have a more desirable region.
Still unaddressed are the inner port traffic problems.
Please consider a shore to shore container conveyor system from NIT to Craney Island and extended to APM. Much cheaper to build than bridges and roads and more efficient and environmentally sound.
Level of service
The level of service along that corridor already needs to be improved. I find $90 mil for 3 miles of improvements a little high, $5681 per foot? Begin construction now while things are slow, and contractors need the work (effectively giving you a discount.) Either way, take advantage of a much needed business willing to make some contribution to the improvements. The growth of the port is important to this whole region. Hopefully Suffolk's super efficient beuaracracy won't scare off this big developer.
GREEN with envy
I see a big part of the problem that we have here in Suffolk is a governing body that is green with envy when they look at the other cities in Hampton Roads. They refuse to complete their due diligence on these types of projects for fear of losing out to their neighbors. The fact of the matter is that we aren't Virginia Beach or Norfolk, and never will be. This project in particular will negatively impact a lot more than the acreage that the warehousing will be set upon. How will the goods be transported to and from the warehouse? Increased truck traffic over our already over burdened roads and via increased train traffic traveliing right through tax paying residents backyards and front stoops. If Council decides to green light this project they should require the builder to compensate all those residents whose quality of life will be impacted for someone else's profit.
First Things First
Since 1974 when Nansemond merged with Suffolk, City Council has invested untold millions in developing the
northeast corridor of the city and ignoring basic infrastructure needs of communities of Holland, Whaleyville, and Chuckatuck until just recently with a token attempt to get adequate water. This has created not only a public health, safety,and adverse environmental
problems, but an economic disadvantage for those communities as far as any business development. Over $250
million was spent in downtown with the Godwin Court complex, ?? million for conversion of Suffolk High School to Cultural Arts Center, but could not approve about $12
million (at the time) to provide adequate sewage for these areas. Of course that figure has probably increased by now, but the need is still there. Residents have been sitting on a time bomb for some time now... will it take a major epidemic of cholera, typhoid, or some other disease caused by contaminated water for our City Council to act. Development is OK as long as adequate water & sewage infrastructure is provided first to assist in Public Health and safety. Has any Environmental Impact
Assessment or study been made as to potential viola
Suffolk Opportunity
Suffolk might want to look beyond just this project and be a little visionary. Some think there is the potential for Suffolk to become the Inland Empire of the East. The Inland Empire (www.inlandempire.us) is essentially San Bernardino and Riverside counties in California. It supports the port activity of Long Beach and is one of the most robust economies in the country. Done right, this could be the tip of an amazing ice berg.
7000 + Employer !!!
"I wonder how automated their operations are." They probably have 90% robots and automated pick and place equipment not to mention forklifts that are programmable and need no operators at all. The 7000 + jobs will be from the 7000 plus 18-Wheeler semi's rolling down 58 everyday delivering stuff and the endless trains a couple miles in length crawling along. It's great times in Suffolk!!! Enjoy.....
How many permanant jobs?
Wonder how many permanent jobs it will create? Counting the construction of the buildings and "other businesses it will create" seems to be stretching it a little bit. I wonder how automated their operations are.
and the revenue?
There is no report of the revenue it would bring to the area.
yes taxpayers might intially
yes taxpayers might intially have to take on a heavy burden but in this day in time. Who doesn't want to bring good blue collar jobs to our city least not another strip mall with low paying retail jobs.
Nope Part 1
(part 1:) Now Chicago joins the fun, wanting to set fat (for two weeks at a time – and for pennies on the dollar on their end, mind you) 7,000 of the huddled masses down yonder while keeping their executive offices up in FerrisBuellerLand. Sorry guys - 7000 jobs would be nice, but the last thing in the world Hampton Roads needs is MORE Blue Collar. Lack of economic diversity has made this area pitifully stagnant, which the exodus of professionals and college graduates under 35 to places like Charlotte, Atlanta and DC should clearly illustrate. Furthermore, our governments' consistent catering to the population's screaming majority of labor-level, blue collar, small business and transient military have led to the refusal of any professional sports team to settle here, and to the decimation of nearly all white collar opportunity over the past 25 years - namely the financial and advertisi
If Suffolk does not want
If Suffolk does not want them welcome them to Chesapeake. There is plenty of room along 17, maybe they will also help build the new Dominion Bridge!!
Expect them to fumble the ball!
It looks like the City Council will give away to the developers via a CDA, all of the benefits we in Suffolk have been paying high taxes for over the years. It also looks like the developer is trying and succeeding in stampeeding the council into fast-tracking the decisions in favor of the developer...
Our leaderless council will fumble the ball as usual and this huge developement, that will impact our community negatively without much local benefit. The cost to improve RT-58 alone will cost over 94 million dollars and so far the developer is offering only about 4 million of that. Then there is the impact of this commercial development on water, sewer and all of the other city infastructure we have paid for. It is time that the Council slow-down and take account of the issues and move with caution...
Roger A. Leonard, MPA
Suffolk....
Don't count on it.
Here's how it will go down. City council and planning will put them through the flaming hoops. Council will spend a couple of hundred thousand on consultation fees. Several council members will fall asleep during the meetings. Wake up. Table the decision several times due to council brainfreeze. After a year or so, give developer the green light. The developer will contribute pennies to road improvements and impacts on city services. Increase taxes on citizens to offset costs.
Don't worry
No need to worry about infrastructure issues. Just build it and let everything else fix itself. No wait, this is Suffolk not Virginia Beach. Maybe they will do things right.
World Class operation
Don't play yahoo backwater politicians with this bunch. If you have infrastructure issues, bring them to the table instead of letting the taxpayer foot the bill. Centerpoint is owned by some very deep pockets. As in state retirement fund CalPers and worldwide developer Jones Lang Lasalle deep. They aren't going to walk away just because you rough them up a little.
Not happy!
My family moved to Suffolk for peace and quiet. 7000 + jobs...I'll believe it when I see it. Furthermore it will cause more traffic problems, encroachment on family neighborhoods and more chaos. I hope they build their Noah's ark somewhere else. We don't want it here!
Excellent
I think it is great. Get it done.
Suffolk DOSE NOT need
Suffolk DOSE NOT need another warehouse!! We need a mall or some good shopping cause Walmart is Not cutting it anymore
Wonderful!
Hope to be rolling out the welcome mat.