Spotlight on Newport News, VA
With a population of over 183,000, Newport News is Virginia’s fifth largest city and lies amidst some of the state’s largest metropolitan areas including Richmond, Hampton, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, and Chesapeake. The city is part of the Hampton Roads metropolitan statistical area which is home to 1.6 million residents, the largest MSA between Washington, D.C. and Atlanta. Residents and commuters enjoy easy access to and from surrounding cities via the central artery, Interstate 64, and Interstate 664, which connects to Southside Hampton Roads through the Monitor-Merrimac Bridge-Tunnel. Airline service transits out of recently renovated Newport News-Williamsburg International Airport as well as Richmond International and Norfolk International–both less than one hour away. In Newport News the median household income stands at $51,000, with a low unemployment rate of 4.7%.
The Hampton Roads area has the strongest military presence in the United States with 120,000 active duty, reserve, and civilian personnel at nine military installations and an array of industries supporting the federal government. The largest industrial employer in Newport News and in the State of Virginia with 21,000 employees is Huntington Ingalls, a spinoff of Northrop Grumman Newport News Shipbuilding. The company has built 70% of the U.S. Active Navy Fleet, is the sole designer, builder, and re-fueler of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in the United States and is one of the two builders of nuclear-powered submarines. It has a current order backlog of $22.4 billion.
In addition to the major economic impact of the defense industry, which employs one-third of the area labor force, Newport News sustains a thriving and diverse economy with manufacturing and a booming technology industry. The city’s strategic location on the harbor and along the James River facilitates a large boating industry with its many miles of waterfront. Newport News serves as a key import/export and supply distribution hub for the entire eastern United States and Canada through CSX’s eastern terminus rail line stationed locally.
Newport News also serves as a junction between the rails and the sea with the Newport News Marine Terminals located at the East End of the city. Other major employers include Riverside Health System with 7,500 employees, Canon which recently began a $100 million improvement project, United Parcel Service, Jefferson Labs, High Liner Foods, and Ferguson Enterprises, one of the nation’s largest distributors of plumbing supplies and heating and cooling equipment.
Construction began last year on Huntington Pointe, a 2,500-unit New Urbanism housing development in the Denbigh neighborhood to be comprised of single-family homes, condos, and apartments, along with walking trails, green spaces, ponds, and retail shops. Newport News-based Westmoreland Corporation has started the first phase of the development. Hilton Commons is a 110-acre housing development slated to contain 640 units of single-family homes, townhomes, and apartments as well as office space, restaurants, and parks. The Hilton Commons development will replace the vacant Camp Morrison Industrial Park.
This report features six shopping centers in Newport News. Over the past four quarters, asking rents for the Newport News/Hampton submarket have climbed a total of 2.4%. Average allowances offered to new tenants are $11.99 per square foot for improvements and 4.7 months of free rent. Asking rents for anchor tenants range from a low of $5.00 per square foot to a high of $16.00, with an average of $8.83. Inline asking rates per square foot range from a low of $9.00 per square foot to a high of $26.00, with an average of $14.88.