Restaurant planned for abandoned power plant site

City of Fredericksburg:

“A local businessman plans to transform an abandoned hydroelectric power plant on the Rappahannock River in Fredericksburg into a restaurant and build adjacent residential condominiums. Ed Whelan and his family last week bought a riverfront property near the intersection of Caroline and Ford streets where the Virginia Electric and Power Company used to run a hydroelectric plant. Whelan’s family, through a limited liability company called Dreamland, bought the 3.93-acre property from an LLC headed by Hugh Cosner, a former Spotsylvania County supervisor who has owned the property at least in part since 1979 and who had also long envisioned a restaurant in the plant known as the former Embrey Power Station.

Whelan, who owns The Inn at the Olde Silk Mill across Caroline Street from the property, said he started talking to Cosner about buying the property last year. The sales price was $1 million. Whelan plans to turn the long-abandoned, graffiti-covered plant into a multilevel restaurant, perhaps with a rooftop bar and other outdoor seating overlooking the river.”

~ Writes Bill Freehing of the Free Lance–Star

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Hounds hope taxable bonds will help finance stadium at One Loudoun

Loudoun County:

“VIP Sports and Entertainment, the company hoping to bring professional baseball and soccer to Loudoun, wrote to the Economic Development Authority last week asking for a resolution for $55 million in taxable bonds to finance a stadium. Hopes are for the stadium to eventually house the Loudoun Hounds of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball and Virginia Cavalry FC, of the North American Soccer League.

An inducement resolution shows that an entity like the EDA is willing to issue a bond for projects that would ultimately help the county's economy. Bob Farren, CEO of VIP Sports and Entertainment, hopes the EDA's resolution might mean a financing option with a lower interest rate, making the project cheaper. The EDA does not back the loans or subsidize them with public money. It simply decides if the projects makes sense for the county and writes resolutions.”

~Writes Bob Hancock of the Loudoun Times

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New hotel planned for Emmet Street does not pass design review

Albemarle County:

“Midlothian-based company has filed plans to build a new 87-room Country Inn and Suites hotel on Emmet Street, but their design failed to gain initial approval Tuesday by the Charlottesville Planning Commission. The developer asked for a deferral when it appeared commissioners, acting as the Entrance Corridor Review Board, would not grant a certificate of appropriateness for the design…

Charlottesville Hotel LLC is seeking to build a four-story 52,000 square foot building on land currently occupied by a Days Inn. That business would continue to operate on a smaller scale on the northern section of the property. The adjacent Quality Inn would also continue to operate.

The proposed site plan would remove one existing entrance onto U.S. 29. Staff said that would improve vehicular circulation throughout the entire site. The property is just to the north of the U.S. 250 bypass and is located in one of the city’s entrance corridors. That means the Planning Commission must issue a certificate of appropriateness for new buildings.”

~Writes Sean Tubbs of Charlottesville Tomorrow

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Capital One continues quest to build tallest tower in Tysons

Fairfax County:

“Capital One is advancing plans to build a 470-foot-tall headquarters building, which if approved would become one of the tallest skyscrapers in Tysons Corner. The towering, 975,000-square-foot structure, which would dwarf the banking company’s current 205-foot-tall building in Tysons, is part of a modified development plan that would include a new hotel and expedited construction of transportation improvements and a new community center.

The Fairfax County Planning Commission held a public hearing on Capital One’s proposal April 3, but deferred decision until April 23… Antonio Calabrese, a lawyer with Cooley LLP who is representing Capital One, noted the company’s copious proffers for transportation, schools and recreation and said the new headquarters building alone would provide the county with about $3.3 million in tax revenues annually.

The Board of Supervisors in September 2012 approved a 4.4-million-square-foot redevelopment proposal for Capital One’s 26.2-acre site, located just northeast of Route 123 and Interstate 495. Counting the site’s existing buildings, the overall square footage would be 4.9 million square feet at build-out. The mixed-use development would be constructed in five phases over about 25 years. Capital One’s plan modification would construct ‘Block B’ first, instead of second, as previously planned.”

~ Writes Brian Trompeter of Inside Nova

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