VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — It's hard to miss the construction at Pembroke Square in Virginia Beach. With a senior housing complex, hotel and apartment building on the way, the City Council is now trying to decide whether more parking will be needed.
Shirley Smith was parked outside Target Thursday afternoon, waiting for her granddaughter to finish some shopping. She about the impact the development could have on parking space.
Watch: Pembroke Mall to undergo $200 million renovation
"I think we could use the big garages," Smith said. I don't like the high-rise stuff, but if we have to have it, then we have to have it."
Just a few steps away, construction workers are building the Aviva senior housing complex, which includes 153 units. It's the first phase of a $200 million development project which started back in 2022 following then Pembroke Mall's closure.
Additional phases for the project include a hotel with more than 150 rooms and a mixed-use apartment building comprised of 272 units.
When this all began, the developer, Pembroke Square Associates, LLC, proposed two parking garages for which the city would pay.
Watch: New parking garage to bring 2,000 parking spaces to Newport News Shipbuilding
The original Feb. 2022 proposal included a total development cost of $162.4 million with the city paying $23.8 million for the garages which would have provided 791 spaces.
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In the new March 2024 proposal, presented to the city council Wednesday night, the total development cost grew to $163.3 million, with the city's taxpayers chipping in $22.35 million.
Some council members took issue with the need for parking garages.
"What is currently wrong with the existing public parking with 3,000 spaces and not much surface area being taken up after the construction?" asked Councilman Chris Taylor.
Kathy Warren, the director of planning and community development, who presented the new proposal to city council, replied and compared it to Town Center.
Watch: Chic's Beach residents worried about overcrowded visitor parking
"If you can start developing structured parking just like Town Center and start building up, that's going to open additional land possibilities for redevelopment down the road," she said.
Other council members agreed that parking would be needed and is in the best interest of the area.
"This is an incredibly important strategic corridor in our city," said Councilman Joashua Schulman. "We ought to be and we should be encouraging this kind of a thing because it is exactly in line with every everything that we've been working towards."
