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Virginia Beach will solicit ideas for former MOCA site as museum prepares to move to Virginia Wesleyan
Summary
City staff briefed council on 2200 Parks Avenue (Virginia MOCA), noting zoning, floodplain and wetlands constraints, deferred maintenance costs and unsolicited interest from museums, a theater and other parties. Council directed staff to draft and circulate a request for information (RFI) to seek potential reuses.
City staff told Virginia Beach City Council they will issue a request for information asking for reuse proposals for 2200 Parks Avenue, the current site of the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), after the museum moves to a new facility at Virginia Wesleyan University.
Emily Archer, deputy director of development, presented property details and constraints and asked the council for direction. "The Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, also known as MOCA, announced in July 2023 that they are vacating the space for a new facility at Virginia Wesleyan University," Archer said, and she walked council through site size, zoning and capital needs.
Why it matters: the city owns 9.6 acres at the Central Beach resort and currently pays annual maintenance costs; decisions about the site could affect flood‑mitigation planning, public amenities, cultural offerings and future capital projects.
Archer said the property is about 9.6 acres with a 38,500‑square‑foot building constructed in 1989 and assessed at about $1.7 million. She told council the city currently budgets roughly $209,000 a year for routine maintenance and utilities for the building and identified near‑term capital maintenance items that would cost upward of $900,000 in total: window and door replacement (approximately $711,000) and a 10‑year roof‑warranty renewal and preventative maintenance package (about $195,000). She said roughly a third of the site sits in floodplain, about 37% contains wetlands and roughly 37% lies within the Chesapeake Bay Resource Protection Area, which limits increases in impervious surface and constrains redevelopment options.
Archer also told council staff has received unsolicited interest from another museum, a naval museum proposal, a theater and early inquiries about a public library use. She advised that the site’s current zoning (preservation) and the higher‑noise zone designation limit permitted uses — for example, residential and lodging or large public‑assembly uses are not allowed in the existing zoning and would likely require rezoning; MOCA’s museum use is nonconforming and might continue without rezoning if a museum tenant occupies the building within two years.
City staff noted the site appears in preliminary engineering work for a Central Resort District stormwater reclamation and storage concept that could use portions of the property for flood mitigation if council chooses that direction. Archer said staff recommends issuing an RFI to collect concepts and identify interested parties; she reiterated that any transfer of the property would require a supermajority (nine votes) by council.
Several council members said they favored an RFI rather than an immediate request for proposals. Councilman Worth said the building’s artistic and cultural uses have strong neighborhood support; Councilwoman Ross Hammond and Councilmember Rosemary agreed the structure is an asset and recommended seeking creative reuse proposals rather than jump directly to a sale or commercial redevelopment. After discussion, the mayor asked staff to draft an RFI and circulate it to council for comment before release.
Next steps: staff will draft the RFI, return it to council for review and then issue it if council concurs. Staff also will continue coordination with Public Works on the Central Beach drainage study that may affect the site’s preferred use.
