East Point Plaza on the way

By Tracy Agnew (Contact) | Suffolk News-Herald

Published Wednesday, February 25, 2009

An artist’s conception of what East Point Plaza will look like when it is completed.

Suffolk businessman Tom Powell has always prided himself on solving several problems at once.

As the head of an advertising and marketing agency, he makes his living solving customers’ many marketing problems with one simple solution. Now, he is doing that for himself and the downtown area with one group of buildings.

Powell is developing East Point Plaza, a renovation project centered on three buildings on East Washington Street. Powell went looking for the buildings to solve his own problem.

His agency, the Addison Group, rents a historic house across from First Baptist Church in downtown. However, the house is sometimes restrictive, he said – when he needs to shoot television commercials, he must rent studio space elsewhere in order to do what he needs for the customer.

Therefore, when Powell found the abandoned warehouses on East Washington Street, a light went on.

Powell bought all three, which are adjacent to one another, to begin renovating them. The first floor of the first two buildings will be the Addison Group offices and studios. The remaining floors, as well as the entire third building, will be apartments ranging from studios to two-bedrooms. The rents will range from about $800 to $1,200, Powell said.

In addition, Powell purchased the adjacent land along with the buildings, and plans a plaza-type atmosphere to stimulate downtown growth. The plaza will have seating, WiFi access, and a stage. Powell envisions concerts in the summer and a Christmas tree in the winter on the stage.

“Downtowns just don’t function without people on the street,” Powell said.

The mini-development initially included an ice cream shop or barbecue restaurant on the first floor, but those plans fell through, Powell said.

The buildings are located across the street from The Fairgrounds development project. Powell said that East Point Plaza will serve as a gateway to The Fairgrounds, as well as a way to do away with the “wrong side of the tracks” myth.

“This gives us an opportunity to erase that stereotype,” Powell said.

Powell anticipates the development being done by the end of the year.

“I’m just pumped,” he said. “It’s a really cool place.”

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