New North Suffolk retail planned
Published 10:29 pm Thursday, May 12, 2016
More retail space is in the works for North Suffolk.
The Suffolk Economic Development Authority and a Virginia Beach-based developer, Gee’s Group, are in the final stages of brokering a sales agreement for 55 acres off College Drive, said Kevin Hughes, the city’s director of economic development. The city bought the parcel of property — which has been marketed as The Point at Harbour View in recent years — 10 years ago from Tidewater Community College.
“The EDA has not voted … but I expect to execute a final sales agreement within the next 30 or 60 days,” said Hughes.
The EDA has taken action that allows Gee’s Group to market the property while final details of the sales agreement are ironed out, he added.
A Gee’s spokesman confirmed the pending sale and that CBRE-Hampton Roads will be tapped as the project’s exclusive brokerage and marketing firm.
Dave Gianascoli, a partner in Gee’s, did not return calls seeking additional information about the project.
The city’s property — which is adjacent to the former TCC campus and bordered by College Drive and Harbour View Boulevard — would be designated for retail and office use only, Hughes said. This aligns with one of the 2011 Urban Land Institute’s recommendations to use the former 444-acre TCC campus for a mixed-use development, according to Hughes.
“We are not interested in seeing residential growth there,” Hughes said, referring only to the city’s 55-acre parcel at the front of the former campus.
Once a deal is inked, the EDA will share more details related to the sale, Hughes said.