With a mix of retail, living, and office options covering 17 city blocks, Town Center has become one of Hampton Roads’ most desirable destinations. The 4525 Main Street Tower project expands the central business district as part of a public-private partnership with the City of Virginia Beach and design-build partner, Armada Hoffler. Clark Nexsen designed the 15-story tower and is the anchor tenant with our corporate headquarters located in the building.
Flexibly designed to accommodate various business configurations and technologies, the lobby welcomes visitors with an emphasis on local history and sustainability, featuring several walls covered with reclaimed wood from the Washington Navy Yard. The tower element defines the corner of Town Center and Main streets with restaurants and upscale retail on the ground level, appealing to a younger demographic. The multi-use building includes nine floors of office space, nearly 300 apartments, ground floor retail, and a six-floor, 950-car parking garage.
The contemporary design features a cast-in-place superstructure with post-tensioned slabs, all on a deep pile foundation. Our design team conducted an extensive value engineering effort to analyze structural systems, skin systems, MEP, and parking efficiency. Energy analysis indicated that solar controls added to the façade of the building would be minimally effective due to the directly north south orientation of the building, so high performance glass was used as an alternative. The roof lantern is a screen wall for the cooling towers and is designed to give the building an iconic cap.
Main Street Tower received both section and national awards for outdoor lighting design from the Illuminating Engineering Society. At the retail entrance, pedestrians are greeted by an intricate symmetry of glowing concrete and mirrored windows. Main Street Tower provides a defining night-time lit focal point in Town Center and changing LED lights allow the building to be a part of area holiday and event themes.
Designed to coordinate aesthetically with the adjacent apartments being designed by another architect concurrently with the tower, this project was successfully completed within a compressed time frame of 18 months from the start of construction to initial occupancy. The Main Street Tower stands as one of the defining buildings in Town Center, reinforcing the strong sense of place the City of Virginia Beach seeks to establish.
Awards
2015 IES National Award of Merit, Outdoor Lighting Design
2015 IES Tidewater Section Award, Outdoor Lighting Design