THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 21, 1995 TAG: 9507200148
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM HOLDEN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
The building needs a new roof. Its heating and air conditioning systems are overworked and inefficient. Space inside is cramped, while the demand for services provided by the departments of health and social services is growing.
Faced with these and other problems, the city is planning a new building for the two departments under a land deal that would have the added benefit of placing city-owned property on the tax rolls.
The plan calls for the city to sell a seven-acre parcel of land it owns on South Independence Boulevard to Olympia Development Corp., which would design, build and then lease the building back to the city.
In the deal, the city would get a new building more quickly than if it designed one on its own. It would not have to come up with as much money, and, once completed, it would be free to sell its existing Social Services and Health departments site at Virginia Beach Boulevard and Little Neck Road.
And it would do wonders to boost morale in the departments.
``The building is congested and overcrowded,'' said Daniel M. Stone, director of Department of Social Services. ``It's not very convenient and our workers don't have the appropriate space they need to conduct interviews. We have outgrown this building. There simply is not enough space.''
The departments are currently housed in a converted Miller's department store. Most of the building is occupied by social services, while the rest is used by the health department. A smaller portion was vacated about a year ago and has been used for a winter homeless shelter.
Under the current plans, the homeless shelter would not be included in the new building. A city committee is currently looking for another site to build a shelter using federal grant money.
If the deal being considered by the Department of General Services is approved by City Council, a new building could begin rising early next year on a partially wooded lot at the juncture of South Independence Boulevard and Holland Road.
David M. Grochmal, the city's director of general services and whose department maintains all city buildings, said the existing building is 30 years old. The city bought the building in 1976 and renovated the interior two years later for the Department of Social Services, moving it from a site at the Municipal Center. Additional renovations took place in 1985 for the health department.
``The building needs major repairs right now,'' Grochmal said, adding that an architect hired to review repair options for the city concluded they were not worth making.
``The best option is to build a new building and sell the existing site,'' Grochmal said. ``We have been getting a lot of calls for the property.
``In the last three months, City Council authorized us to begin negotiating with a developer to build a building on South Independence Boulevard and Holland Road.''
Olympia Development Corp., which built the Reflections office park on South Lynnhaven Road, beat out Virginia Beach rival Runnymede Corp. and Norfolk's Gibson Properties, a division of Gibson Equipment Co.
Grochmal said the design and development approach is unusual for city buildings.
``Our typical approach is to design, hire a contractor and then manage it. Or we might buy an existing building and renovate it, or we just rent office space,'' he said. ``This is new in that we will rent an unbuilt building.''
The advantages, he said, are that the design and construction process is shorter. By selling property to the developer, the city raises cash and does not have to sell bonds. Finally, he said, the city expects to get some federal and state money to offset a portion of the rent and certain operating expenses.
No rezoning or additional land purchases are required for the project to proceed, he said.
The final cost for the building has not been announced, but the city plans on leasing the property at a base rate of $10.86 a square foot, plus $4.04 a square foot to cover operating and maintenance costs.
Its architectural style has not been decided, although a small office complex to the west bears a Colonial theme, and Grochmal indicated it would be appropriate to blend the new building with existing architectural themes.
``The developer has told us it will take three or four months to design and get the site plan approved,'' Grochmal said. ``It will take nine months to build.'' ILLUSTRATION: STAFF Map
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