Major project still planned for Monticello Avenue in Norfolk | Real Estate
NORFOLK
Plans for the new five-story complex north of downtown, featuring shops and more than 200 apartments, were approved three years ago.
Last year, the former headquarters of Hampton Roads Transit was demolished to make way.
But the 2-acre lot remains nothing but a fenced-off patch of dirt. And a few weeks ago, for-sale signs went up near the fences where renderings used to hang.
The developer behind the proposed $42 million complex at 1500 Monticello Ave., next door to Chick-fil-A, said the project isn’t dead – merely delayed by financing problems.
“We think it’s still a great site and a great opportunity to do something there,” said Michael Haller, the executive vice president of Fairfax-based developer Concord Eastridge. “We love what’s going on with Norfolk. ... We’d love to be a part of it.”
By the end of the year, he said, the company hopes to either partner with new investors or find a purchaser to step in and build the “shovel-ready” project.
The proposed apartments would be on a 2.13-acre parcel that Hampton Roads Transit sold to the developer last year for $1.7 million.
Building has boomed in the area recently, including new fast-food restaurants and apartments on the other side of Monticello.
In 2014, the City Council approved plans for 1500 Monticello that called for 10,000 square feet of ground-floor shops and 207 apartments on the four stories above.
Renderings show shop windows facing the street and pedestrians strolling down a tree-lined sidewalk – a scene that would be unlikely on that stretch of Monticello Avenue today.
Haller said financing problems this summer stemmed in part from national investors who see Hampton Roads as a “secondary, tertiary” market.
“I don’t think they understood Norfolk,” he said.
The property was listed for sale a few weeks ago. Michael Schulte, a vice president with real estate firm JLL, said there’s no asking price yet, but the land has been appraised at $3.8 million.
Following the demolition, the city lists the assessed value of the land – which differs from the appraised or market values – at $2.2 million.
Schulte said his firm is also seeking partners to build the project as a joint venture with Concord Eastridge.
JLL has spoken with other businesses interested in the land, including hotels, grocery stores and restaurants, Schulte said. But he said apartments are still the most likely outcome because the plans and city approvals are already in place.
Hundreds of new apartments have been built in downtown and Ghent over the past few years. But Schulte said new projects downtown, including ADP’s 1,800-employee building, mean apartment construction won’t stop any time soon.
“The demand is still there,” he said.
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