Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Wall Street Journal
April 18, 2007
Pg. B4
By Maura Webber Sadovi
The Norfolk region won the latest battle to keep open the U.S. Navy's main East Coast base for fighter jets, but less-glamorous cargo ships offer the area's brightest commercial real-estate prospects. Even as officials have put a lid on some development near the air base to keep the prized employer happy, uncertainty about the future of the military in this coastal Virginia economy looms.
The good news for Naval Air Station Oceana came in the wake of state and local officials' efforts to address concerns raised in 2005 about development around the air base by the commission charged with consolidating military bases nationwide, which threatened to move the planes to Florida. The city of Virginia Beach has taken such steps as restricting development on about 1,600 acres surrounding Oceana but stopped short of condemning existing properties.
Lt. Tommy Crosby, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy, says the military tries to minimize obstructions around air bases to protect pilots and the public. He also says Oceana is no longer being closed but noted it could come under review again in the future. "The Navy is supportive of Oceana as the place for us in the future, given that there isn't any more encroachment," said a Navy spokeswoman.
The military and shipping industries have long been staples of the economy. Home to 1.7 million people, the area runs along the coast from colonial Williamsburg down to Chesapeake, near the North Carolina border. Oceana generates about 17,000 military and civilian jobs, according to Virginia Beach officials. Yet the slated closure of Fort Monroe in Hampton, which harbored President Lincoln during the Civil War, and the near closing of Oceana, has underscored the danger of over-reliance on the bases. It also has some developers cautioning against heeding the requests of the military at the expense of private property.
"We cannot live and breathe Oceana 24 hours a day," says John Mamoudis, a local developer who opted in 2005 to sell the city land in the flight path of Oceana on which he had originally planned to build 72 luxury condominiums. Mr. Mamoudis says he has been encouraged by the city's decision not to condemn any property. "They're trying to keep resort, hotel and condominium development going in a way that doesn't give Virginia Beach a black eye." William Macali, deputy city attorney for Virginia Beach, says most of the city's resort-related beachfront property won't be affected by any Oceana-related restrictions.
Meanwhile, the region's shipping industry continues to offer commercial real-estate opportunities. Among the Virginia ports' strengths: a water depth of about 50 feet that makes access easier for today's larger ships, according to a spokesman for the Virginia Port Authority.
At 3.3 percent, the annual demand for warehouse space in the region is forecast to rise at nearly double the rate of 54 major markets surveyed by Property & Portfolio Research Inc., a Boston-based real-estate research firm.
The shipping industry also is generating some white-collar jobs that have helped fill offices in Norfolk's central-business district's higher-end buildings in recent years. S.L. Nusbaum Realty Co. says a lack of modern office space prompted the company to plan to begin construction next year on a mixed-use project in Norfolk that will include 250,000 square feet of office space, retail and apartments.
Norfolk's economy is benefiting from nonmilitary industries such as shipping and publishing, but Alan Nusbaum, chairman of S.L. Nusbaum, is also optimistic that Oceana will remain an integral part of the economy. "I don't think it's going anywhere," he says.
April 18, 2007
Pg. B4
By Maura Webber Sadovi
The Norfolk region won the latest battle to keep open the U.S. Navy's main East Coast base for fighter jets, but less-glamorous cargo ships offer the area's brightest commercial real-estate prospects. Even as officials have put a lid on some development near the air base to keep the prized employer happy, uncertainty about the future of the military in this coastal Virginia economy looms.
The good news for Naval Air Station Oceana came in the wake of state and local officials' efforts to address concerns raised in 2005 about development around the air base by the commission charged with consolidating military bases nationwide, which threatened to move the planes to Florida. The city of Virginia Beach has taken such steps as restricting development on about 1,600 acres surrounding Oceana but stopped short of condemning existing properties.
Lt. Tommy Crosby, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy, says the military tries to minimize obstructions around air bases to protect pilots and the public. He also says Oceana is no longer being closed but noted it could come under review again in the future. "The Navy is supportive of Oceana as the place for us in the future, given that there isn't any more encroachment," said a Navy spokeswoman.
The military and shipping industries have long been staples of the economy. Home to 1.7 million people, the area runs along the coast from colonial Williamsburg down to Chesapeake, near the North Carolina border. Oceana generates about 17,000 military and civilian jobs, according to Virginia Beach officials. Yet the slated closure of Fort Monroe in Hampton, which harbored President Lincoln during the Civil War, and the near closing of Oceana, has underscored the danger of over-reliance on the bases. It also has some developers cautioning against heeding the requests of the military at the expense of private property.
"We cannot live and breathe Oceana 24 hours a day," says John Mamoudis, a local developer who opted in 2005 to sell the city land in the flight path of Oceana on which he had originally planned to build 72 luxury condominiums. Mr. Mamoudis says he has been encouraged by the city's decision not to condemn any property. "They're trying to keep resort, hotel and condominium development going in a way that doesn't give Virginia Beach a black eye." William Macali, deputy city attorney for Virginia Beach, says most of the city's resort-related beachfront property won't be affected by any Oceana-related restrictions.
Meanwhile, the region's shipping industry continues to offer commercial real-estate opportunities. Among the Virginia ports' strengths: a water depth of about 50 feet that makes access easier for today's larger ships, according to a spokesman for the Virginia Port Authority.
At 3.3 percent, the annual demand for warehouse space in the region is forecast to rise at nearly double the rate of 54 major markets surveyed by Property & Portfolio Research Inc., a Boston-based real-estate research firm.
The shipping industry also is generating some white-collar jobs that have helped fill offices in Norfolk's central-business district's higher-end buildings in recent years. S.L. Nusbaum Realty Co. says a lack of modern office space prompted the company to plan to begin construction next year on a mixed-use project in Norfolk that will include 250,000 square feet of office space, retail and apartments.
Norfolk's economy is benefiting from nonmilitary industries such as shipping and publishing, but Alan Nusbaum, chairman of S.L. Nusbaum, is also optimistic that Oceana will remain an integral part of the economy. "I don't think it's going anywhere," he says.