VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The former Pembroke Mall in Virginia Beach is being demolished! Monday morning, crews began knocking down a section of the building near Constitution Drive in Town Center.
“This is the beginning of the structure actually coming down,” said Ramsay Smith, the president of Pembroke Realty Group. It's a process Smith said should have started a year ago.
“Construction costs went crazy on us. Interest rates went crazy on us but we’re finally here.”
Smith said the demolition will open the space for new features at the site now known as Pembroke Square.
“We’ll have a combination of a common area that’s exterior," he said. "It’ll have an event lawn. It will have a parking garage and it will have the multi-family structure.”
Over the past several months, preparations were completed to begin detaching portions of the building from remaining tenants.
“We have additional facades that go on for portions of the building that's staying," Smith said. "We have quite a lot to do over the next year and a half.”
Smith said demolition could take three to four months. Then, crews will look toward new construction.
"It's an accomplishment by a whole bunch of people and it's something to be proud of," he said.
It’s part of the vision to add a new hotel, apartments and a luxury senior living community to the area. The entire project costs roughly $200 million.
Crews have started to work on Aviva Pembroke, the senior living community, which Smith said is set to open later this year. Construction of a hotel, the second phase of the project, is planned to begin in early 2025.
The Hotel will be a Hilton Tempo, a new-to-market hotel in partnership with The Landmark Group and is slated to open in late 2026. The third phase of redevelopment is expected to be completed in 2027 with the opening of new luxury apartments.