VIRGINIA BEACH — The City Council approved a land sale Tuesday that will be part of a new apartment project along Laskin Road’s easternmost end. The project will entail the demolition of a vintage row of shops.
The council agreed in a 10-1 vote to sell 333 Laskin Road, formerly occupied by Papa Johns, for $1.5 million to VB Laskin Road LLC. Vice Mayor Rosemary Wilson was the lone vote against it.
“It’s important that we preserve some of our historic buildings,” said Wilson. “It (the sale) was tied into demolishing that shopping strip.”
The property will be incorporated into an estimated $64 million mixed-use project encompassing most of the 300-block of the southside of Laskin Road. It will include 215 apartments, a parking deck and 20,000 square feet of restaurant, retail and office space. The sale includes a city easement in the alley behind the shops.
Cousins Ashley Wiltshire and Andrew Shiff told the council their family has owned and managed the adjacent shopping center for more than 60 years and had begun planning for redevelopment more than a decade ago. The current tenants are on month-to-month leases, Wiltshire said.
“All tenants were aware that due to the age and deteriorating condition of our property, it was going to be necessary to redevelop in the near future,” Wiltshire said. “We understand that there has been concern about the redevelopment of the site, and we want to emphasize that we have been working with the tenants and the local community and plan to continue to do so throughout the redevelopment process.”
The city is retaining the right to approve the scope of the project prior to closing on the deal, and the developers have more than two years to finalize their site plan with the city, according to the term sheet.
The area is in the newly-designated art and culinary Artery District. Several speakers asked the council not to sell the city-owned land to allow the creative businesses in the shopping center to continue to thrive.
“Razing this building will not only change the physical landscape, it will also change the cultural landscape in Virginia Beach,” said Jonathan Langman, owner of A.C.E. Gallery. “This community has centered around the arts, so we’re worried if this building is razed, we will not have a home.”
But before the vote, Shiff said the shops will be torn down soon whether or not the city approved the adjacent land sale.
“The building is simply worn out,” he said. “We anticipate that we will be redeveloping the property with or without the Papa Johns site.”
Councilman Worth Remick, who represents the district, said the apartment project is needed.
“If we want to attract young people, and keep and retain our young people and have a desirable location for them to live and work, this would be an ideal location,” he said.
Stacy Parker, 757-222-5125, stacy.parker@pilotonline.com
