The development is funded through the largest public-private partnership in Virginia Beach history, bringing together the city of Virginia Beach, the Virginia Beach Development Authority, Venture Realty Group, entertainer Pharrell Williams, W.M. Jordan, Bishard Development and Priority Title/H20 Investments.

The 2.7-acre artificial surf lagoon can generate 1,000 waves per hour, with some up to 6 ft high.
Rendering courtesy Venture Realty Group

While the partners know the existing market well, collectively they were willing to take a risk with Atlantic Park, says Daniel Sweeney, principal at Cooper Carry. “Kudos to our client that it wanted to take a leap of faith and create something that wasn’t there already—something aspiring and not conventional,” he says.

Cooper Carry designed the master plan and is architect-of-record on the two residential buildings as well as the entertainment venue, dubbed the Dome. Other design partners include Hansbury and Gensler. Coffman Engineers and AO Architect provided design for the surf lagoon.

As CM at-risk, W.M. Jordan was able to engage with the team when designs were in early schematics, says Gary Mulgrew, senior project manager at the firm. The CM was on board in early 2021, but planning had been ongoing for about a year and a half through the uncertainties of the pandemic, he says.

In 2021, Mulgrew says the team collaborated in an intense three-day planning session with members of the design, construction and development teams to get the project in budget and set the course toward completion. From that point forward, Mulgrew says the construction team worked in tandem with architects and engineers to provide valuable feedback through design.

“We did estimates at each iteration—schematic design, design development and then construction documents,” he says. “There was that constant give and take, back and forth between us, the developer and the architects to bring the thing back into budget and give [the developer] the best of what they wanted.”

The site spans four city blocks that were primarily surface parking lots at groundbreaking.
Photo courtesy W.M. Jordan Co.

Water, Water, Everywhere

Making the vision for Atlantic Park a reality came with significant challenges. The site spans four city blocks that were primarily surface parking lots at groundbreaking. However, once crews began excavation they encountered unforeseen utilities, old dumping grounds, contaminants and remains of the original Virginia Beach Dome venue, which was demolished on the site in 1994. While much of what crews encountered was unexpected, W.M Jordan used laser-scanning to document what it encountered and to provide an accurate record for future needs.

Dewatering the site proved to be one of the greatest challenges, creating an early setback in the schedule. Crews excavated 15 ft below grade for the lagoon, which set the elevation for the subgrade at 3 ft below sea level. Dewatering took about a year, nearly double the original estimate. The team worked to find ways to recoup schedule, including starting work in the shallow end of the lagoon early. The Atlantic Park lagoon is only the second facility Wavegarden has ever built using local trades in place of the company’s own workers, Mulgrew says. As a result, the team had more control over project scope and schedules. While lagoon construction was estimated to take more than five months, the W.M. Jordan team completed it in three months.

Speed did not take a toll on quality, Mulgrew says. The lagoon features a super flat concrete slab and embeds with tolerances of less than a millimeter. The Wavegarden equipment was prefabricated in Spain and shipped to the site in 52 containers. Each piece had to fit perfectly together within extreme tolerances.

The 10-acre oceanfront development includes luxury apartments, a parking garage, retail and a live entertainment venue.
Rendering courtesy Venture Realty Group

No Lack of entertainment

The entertainment venue also added significant challenges to the project. The steel structure features long open spans and can open up—through a series of “aircraft-style” hangar doors—to a lawn for outdoor seating. Operated by LiveNation, the venue will host large musical acts, playing at concert volume, right next to a residential building. Sweeney says extensive soundproofing was required in both the entertainment venue and the residential building to mitigate noise concerns for residents. Conversely, the team also had to worry about unwanted sound entering the venue. The site is located near a naval base and jets fly through the area regularly, so additional concrete was added on top of the steel structure to help mitigate vibration caused by air traffic. The building is also sited so that amplified sound from the venue aims out toward the beach, not the rest of the development or adjacent neighborhoods.

With a maximum capacity of 5,000 people, the venue also put more pressure on how circulation through the development was designed. The two parking garages are open to concert-goers, residents and other guests and also serve as public parking for the surrounding area. Sweeney says the design emphasizes guiding guests past storefronts while providing more direct access to residents.

“For somebody who lives there, you’ll have the frictionless ability to park and get into your unit because you’ll know the quickest and most direct route,” he says. “But for visitors, you have a sense of discovery [through the development].”

The precast concrete eight-story parking garage was built between August 2023 and March 2024 and will be turned over in April. The other garage, which is cast-in-place concrete, is located below six levels of residential units and was completed between June 2023 and February 2024. It will also be turned over in April. The other residential building, which broke ground in July 2024, features a concrete podium that houses retail and is topped with five floors of residential units. The building is scheduled to complete in October. Residential portions of both buildings are wood structures.

The team is pushing to finish the project’s entertainment venue so it can open for a concert scheduled for May 4.
Photo courtesy W.M. Jordan Co.

Although the project spans 10 acres, Mulgrew says the property has limited laydown space, so just-in-time delivery is used extensively. The structures are also built up to the property line, requiring many deliveries to be made from the street. On top of that, the site is in a tourist area, so crews had to limit some activities to off-season—between October and May.

Weather turned out to be one of the greatest unknowns. Following a wet spring in 2024 with multiple large storms that each dropped inches of rain, the site received a total of 17 in. of rain in the month of July.

As part of the infrastructure and right-of-way work on neighboring streets, improvements include duct banks and vaults for Dominion Energy in each street, infrastructure for Cox and Verizon, sanitary sewers, storm sewers, water lines, asphalt pavement, pedestrian pavers, landscaping, lighting, traffic and pedestrian signalization and wayfinding signage. The work is expected to wrap up in December—the final delivery for the project. In the near term, the team faces a daunting deadline of having the venue open for a concert scheduled on May 4. Given the multitude of challenges the team has faced, Mulgrew says increased crews are pushing hard to the finish, working overtime and weekends. “We’ve added a couple of superintendents,” he says. “It’s crunch time.”