Deep-water commercial site on Elizabeth River for sale

CHESAPEAKE

A large deep-water commercial site on the Elizabeth River's Southern Branch has been put up for sale, with an asking price of $18 million.

The nearly 79-acre property, on Shannon Street, is owned by Southern Concrete Products LLC, a holding company for a handful of concrete firms that have operated at the site for years.

Southern Concrete is not divesting itself of its operations but would lease back parts of the property and continue to run its business, said Peter Schmidt, one of the managers in charge of the company's facilities at Money Point.

More than half of the property, however, is currently not in use, Schmidt said.

He would not comment on whether any potential buyers had stepped forward.

"The logical buyer would be someone interested in a deep-water terminal for some reason, with a big geographical footprint," Schmidt said. "There isn't a lot of acreage on the Southern Branch with a deep-water berth and this much land."

The site has one pier with a deep-water side that can accommodate an oceangoing freighter and a shallow-water side for barges.

In addition to the pier and the land, the deal would include more than 162,000 square feet of office, manufacturing, warehouse and covered space; a conveyor system; and access to the Norfolk & Portsmouth Beltline Railroad.

For about 30 years, Schmidt has been affiliated with a constellation of concrete companies based in Charlottesville, with local offices at Money Point in the South Norfolk section of Chesapeake.

He is a Democratic candidate for the 82nd District House of Delegates seat, representing Virginia Beach, and the former head of the Department of Environmental Quality.

Robert McCabe, (757) 446-2327, robert.mccabe@pilotonline.com