VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Work is moving ahead at full speed at the Atlantic Park site and several of the future entertainment district’s main components are now either nearly 50% or more than 50% complete.
In a presentation to Virginia Beach City Council on Tuesday, Planning Director Kathy Warren announced that a majority of the project is still on track for a Spring 2025 opening despite setbacks on site.
Last Fall, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality issued a warning letter to the development team after groundwater being removed from at the 2.67-acre surf lagoon left high levels of iron in nearby Lake Holly.
A sand filter and clarifier filter arrived in late March and dewatering has now continued.
The development of Atlantic Park is the largest public-private partnership in the history of the City of Virginia Beach.
The 11.5 acre project site sits between 18th and 20th Streets and Pacific Avenue
and Baltic Avenue at the Oceanfront, known by locals as “The Dome” site. The Dome was the name given the former convention center and concert hall which sat on the site until being torn down in 1994.
The more than $350 million mixed-use entertainment district will include an up to 5,000-seat indoor/outdoor concert venue, apartments, office space, restaurants and retail space. It will all be anchored by a first-of-its-kind surf park in the United States.
The city is paying for nearly $153 million of the total project cost, with the majority of the funds going towards the entertainment and parking decks.
The rest of project costs are being privately financed by Fulton Bank, Dollar Bank, Old Point National Bank and TowneBank.
Venture Realty leads the project team which also includes the city, W.M. Jordan Construction, Virginia Beach native Pharrell Williams, Bishard Development, and Priority Title/H20 Investments.