The Virginian-Pilot
©
The sagging economy has claimed yet another development project in Norfolk - a $31 million office and retail project called Ghent Station that was proposed nearly two years ago for the western end of 21st Street.
City officials had hoped the 130,000-square-foot development would house a Fresh Market food store as well as office space for doctors and attorneys.
But Jeff Cooper, vice president of developer Cooper Realty, said Monday that the project is no longer economically viable.
"Unfortunately, the current recession continues to take its toll on commercial real estate," he said. "The simple truth is this: Rents are decreasing, and so is demand for office and retail space.
"We have exhausted every conceivable avenue to make this a viable project."
Cooper said financing problems were not as much of an obstacle as sagging demand for office and retail space. Two much larger projects in Norfolk, Granby Tower and the Spectrum at Willoughby Point, were previously halted by the credit market crash.
Construction on Granby Tower, a 34-story, $180.5 million condominium project, shut down two years ago. Construction ceased last year on the Spectrum at Willoughby Point, a $200 million, 327-unit condominium project. Both developments lost their financing.
Even so, Mayor PaulFraim said the city has weathered the recession pretty well.
More than $1 billion of construction is nearing completion or recently opened in or near downtown, including light rail, the 23-story Wells Fargo Center office tower, the Fort Norfolk Plaza medical office building, a Residence Inn by Marriott hotel and three apartment complexes - River House, the Belmont at Freemason and 201 Twenty One.
All of those projects had begun or had financing approved before the credit markets began to disintegrate in 2007.
Ghent Station was to be constructed in part on 3.5 acres of city property along 21st Street, just west of Colley Avenue.
Cooper's proposal was selected in February 2008 from three submitted to the
city, including one from developer Robert M. Stanton, which would have also included a national grocery store.
"This is a result of the economy," Councilman Barclay C. Winn said. "The Coopers are very capable people. If anybody could have pulled it off, they certainly would have."
Harry Minium, (757) 446-2371, harry.minium@pilotonline.com
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Prices & location
Any one who can find a 600sq.ft. apt in Mid town Manhattan, that isn't in a 65yr. old rent controlled building, for $1,300/MO., is extremely lucky. I know 1st hand, that 400sq.ft. in Mid town or the Upper West or Upper East Side of Manhattan cost a lot more than $650/mo, 20yrs. ago. I have a good friend who purchased a 425sq.ft. condo 10yrs. ago, in Manhattan. It cost her $995,000. She considered it a steal. Everything is relative.
Hey VP...
Why are my comments no longer posted? Am I blacklisted now?
Potential tenants?
By the time the development is complete, the lovely young ladies involved in the Granby High School fights will be single mothers looking for a place to live. Maybe they can work their magic in fashionable Ghent.
what I am wondering is....
where these developers are getting their numbers? Just how many people in Hampton Roads do they think would be willing to pay $1300/month for a STUDIO apartment??? I don't care if it has marble countertops, etc etc etc. I'm not paying New York City money for a 600 sq ft closet!! maybe if they were a little more realistic with their expectations, these projects would be "economically viable". If I have an 1100 Sq Ft 2BR apartment for HALF the price they want for a studio at the new places on Brambleton or Llewelyn, why would I bother to move??
Military housing allowance?
Military housing allowance?
Really??
"The Stimulus wasn't created to fund private projects. TARP and the bank bailout went to cover the financial institutions and the Stimulus was created to prop up police, fire, and teachers through the downturn."
The best example of this falsehood is right here at home: Towne Bank. They claimed to be right on top of things and accepted around 80Mill. This helps to fund there private enterprises to compete w/ local companies that are not eligible for such government funding. The government did in fact inject an incredible amount of funds into companies for private use. Most didn't even need it. In the case of my example, the local goverment IS THEIR BOARD.
Ethan, no one listens to uninformed shouts from a pedestal. Get out there and get 'er done already. Get off the boards and make it happen. Enough whining about your circumstances.
cont.
have stopped it.” [Quoted from online.wsj.com]
This mess we are in now is a direct result of Democratic policies that Republicans have tried to correct over and over and the Democrats have faught all efforts to regulate and reform these lending policies. If you think this has stopped.....do a little research on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac these practices are continueing, no lessons learned.
In less than one year Bozobama has increased the deficit beyond the total amount (if you add every deficit together)in the entire history of the U.S.
Thanks, 2cents
Thanks for that explanation. That goes a long way in stating what actually is the case. The President does not have a lot of economic push if Congress doesn't give it to him.
and maybe just a bit more
“In 2005, the Senate Banking Committee, then under Republican control, adopted a strong reform bill, introduced by Republican Sens. Elizabeth Dole, John Sununu and Chuck Hagel, and supported by then chairman Richard Shelby. The bill prohibited the GSEs from holding portfolios, and gave their regulator prudential authority (such as setting capital requirements) roughly equivalent to a bank regulator. In light of the current financial crisis, this bill was probably the most important piece of financial regulation before Congress in 2005 and 2006. All the Republicans on the Committee supported the bill, and all the Democrats voted against it. Mr. McCain endorsed the legislation in a speech on the Senate floor. Mr. Obama, like all other Democrats, remained silent.”
—
“If the Democrats had let the 2005 legislation come to a vote, the huge growth in the subprime and Alt-A loan portfolios of Fannie and Freddie could not have occurred, and the scale of the financial meltdown would have been substantially less. The same politicians who today decry the lack of intervention to stop excess risk taking in 2005-2006 were the ones who blocked the only legislative effort that could have
for instance
“These warnings began in earnest near the end of the Clinton administration, especially by Secretary of the Treasury Lawrence Summers, and were carried forward by the Bush administration, which supported legislation that would provide stronger regulation for Fannie and Freddie.
“But these warnings were ignored in Congress. Although there were efforts by a number of Republicans in the House and Senate to adopt tougher regulatory legislation -- beginning in 1999 -- these efforts were resisted by Democrats, primarily Sen. Charles Schumer of New York and Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, who is currently the chairman of the Senate committee with jurisdiction over the GSEs.” [Quoted from cnn.com]