THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 9, 1996 TAG: 9601090226
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
Sprint Cellular Co. will add to its presence in the Pembroke area by leasing a 20,000-square-foot building to be constructed across from the Columbus Center complex, company officials said Monday.
The two-story building was designed to comply with zoning guidelines established recently by the city at the urging of developer Gerald S. Divaris, who is a part owner of the project.
Divaris has led the multiyear effort to turn the area around the Pembroke Mall into a ``central business district'' with a greater concentration of offices and stores.
The building will be part of a new complex at the southwest corner of Constitution Drive and Columbus Street. To be called Five Columbus Center, it will have a customer-service facility on the ground floor and office space above.
``It's not your traditional suburban building,'' said Divaris, who negotiated the lease for the landlord, Five Columbus Center, LLC, and whose firm also represents the tenant. ``It's the type of thing you see in a city center street. Very striking. Very expensive.''
Parking is set behind the building, rather than in front. Other prominent features include a pedestrian walkway and piazza, Divaris said. The building was designed and will be built by The TAF Group of Virginia Beach.
Divaris said he hopes to build low, pedestrian-friendly buildings on the four-lane Constitution Drive and Columbus Street and taller, downtown-like buildings on Virginia Beach Boulevard, facing the mall.
Work on Five Columbus Center was set to begin Monday, but was delayed because of the snow. The first phase of the center, the Sprint building, is expected to be completed by August, Divaris said. The second phase, another two-story office and retail space, is also scheduled to be started about that time.
The Sprint building will house 30 to 40 employees and will supplement two other facilities in Virginia Beach, according to Robert H. Sage, Hampton Roads general manager for Sprint Cellular. Most of the employees will move across the street from One Columbus Center, where they are now overcrowded, Sage said.
The building will include a sales and service office and some back-office work, Sage said.
He said his company chose the Five Columbus Center site because of its central location and high visibility to nearby shoppers at the mall and the shops across Constitution Drive. Sprint Cellular, a subsidiary of the Sprint Corp., signed a 15-year lease for the facility, Divaris said. ILLUSTRATION: Vp Map
by CNB