According to the Suffolk News Herald, plans call for 1,200 residential units, 600,000 square feet of retail space, 500,000 square feet of office space, 150,000 square feet of medical offices and 750 hotel rooms. Located off Interstate 664, the 126-acre property will be developed in five phases.

Developers are promoting Harbour View as a “smart growth” that will minimize impact on traffic congestion on the interstate: Many of the people who live in the development also will shop and work there.

I have an instinctual aversion to any development that adds an “e” to either the words “old” or “town,” and I’m not real happy when Americans use the English spelling of “harbour,” so this project starts in the deficit column, as far as I’m concerned. However, inspiring confidence is the fact that the designer is CMSS Architects, who designed the Town Center of Virginia Beach and is working on Rocketts Landing in Richmond. You can see some conceptual sketches here.