Suffolk EDA outlines progress at The Pointe at Harborview, requests $500,000 to extend Ironside Drive

The Economic Development Authority on Wednesday updated the City Council on development progress at The Pointe at Harborview and said it will ask the council in the regular session for an additional $500,000 from the Route 17 Taxing District to extend Ironside Drive into a remaining 9-acre parcel.

The project has been in planning and partial development for more than a decade; staff told the council the EDA acquired the site about 20'1 years ago and has worked with private developers and state partners through several iterations. "So ultimately, why I'm here today is to request money, and that's on your agenda," Deputy City Manager Kevin Hughes said during the work session.

Why it matters: extending Ironside Drive would create a road stub and right-of-way that staff say is necessary to market the residual EDA parcel and to support a planned 99-unit for-sale condominium building. Council members pressed staff on how utility easements and three Swift (reclaimed water) stations and a force main being installed by Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD) affect remaining developable area.

Hughes summarized recent project milestones and the current program. The site was rezoned to mixed-use development and the residential buildout allowed by that rezoning is 500 units. Of those, Attain at Harborview comprises about 300 rental units and has been open nearly three years; the Harborview Towns are nearly complete; and a 99-unit condominium building with ground-floor mixed-use frontage has site-plan approval and is expected to break ground in the first half of the year. On the hotel front Hughes said one Home2 Suites has site-plan approval and submitted for land-disturbance permits; a second hotel is under due diligence.

Retail and small commercial construction is active: staff said three retail structures are under construction near College Drive, including a salon and a Hawaiian barbecue restaurant; one building was sold to the owner of Gianna's, who intends to expand with seafood and a chop-house concept and build a speculative retail structure on an adjacent parcel.

Hughes said coordination with HRSD has been a significant constraint. "HRSD called and said, We'd like to send a force main right down the middle of your property," he said, and the EDA has closed on the required easements. The HRSD infrastructure includes a force main and three Swift stations that will run through the site; staff said they placed those facilities to minimize interference with future parcels.

On financing and next steps, Hughes said the Capital Improvement Program previously budgeted $700,000 from the Route 17 Taxing District for the Ironside Drive extension but bids for the work came back at about $1.1 million. The EDA will ask the council to authorize an additional $500,000 from Route 17 funds on the regular session consent agenda to stub Ironside Drive into the residual parcel. Hughes described the residual parcel as about 10 acres; the EDA is not under contract to sell it and is considering office, entertainment, or a single-user development that could use all nine acres or be subdivided.

Council members asked about how the planned well sites and easements for water infrastructure affect developability, whether the EDA should wait for an interested user before building the road, and how the parcel might tie into nearby Tidewater Community College property and future park access. Hughes said the EDA has designed the road stub to allow flexibility for either a single large user or multiple smaller parcels and noted the EDA retains buyback clauses in some development agreements to preserve flexibility.

No formal council vote on the Road funding request occurred during the work session; Hughes said the item is on the regular session agenda for council consideration.