Former Circuit City building may be razed

Space once proposed as Virginia. Beach light rail station

VIRGINIA BEACH — A former electronics showroom adjacent to Virginia Beach’s Town Center that was once considered for a light rail station could soon be torn down to make the land more attractive to developers, according to the city.

The Circuit City building at 110 S. Independence Blvd. is owned by the city’s development authority and hasn’t had a tenant in five years.

“It’s been a challenge as an empty building,” authority chair Lisa Murphy said.

Razing the 40-year-old building would cost money, but it could lead to new opportunities, said Kathy Warren, deputy director of the city’s economic development department.

“Sometimes that opens the vision of what the site could be,” she said.

The city has received unsolicited proposals to redevelop it in the past and could formally accept new ones at a future date, Warren said.

“It’s an attractive redevelopment site because of its location and visibility,” she said. “We just haven’t had the right proposal come in yet.”

The city’s preference: a mixed-use project that will complement Town Center, according to Warren.

The 3-acre site is assessed at $6.9 million.

On Tuesday, the Development Authority agreed to allow the city’s emergency management department to store surplus personal protective equipment in the building.

Taylor Adams, director of the city’s economic development department, assured authority members that it would be a temporary use.

“We’re ready to not own this building anymore,” Adams said.

In 2009, when Richmond-based Circuit City couldn’t recover from bankruptcy and closed its U.S. stores, including five in Hampton Roads, Virginia Beach bought the abandoned big box from an investment group for $5 million.

City leaders said at that time its proximity to the Norfolk Southern right-ofway, which was the proposed path of the light rail line, and the newly blossoming Town Center commercial district made it a possible candidate for a light rail station.

But some City Council members balked at the idea, saying it was premature and wasn’t a wise use of taxpayers’ dollars, according to reports.

The purchase was finalized seven years before residents voted on whether to extend the Norfolk-based transit line into Virginia Beach.

Voters ultimately rejected the light rail expansion, and the city scrambled to find a use for the building. A home appliance company and a car dealership have leased it over the years. In 2016, it was briefly considered as a possible site for a new City Hall building. It has been vacant since 2017.