Office building planned for Corn Hill Landing

Mark IV Enterprises is planning a new office building for a small lot on Exchange Boulevard between the Douglass-Anthony Memorial Bridge and the Corn Hill Landing residential and commercial development.

“We’re looking at a four- or five-story building, approximately 20,000 square feet of Class A office space, with parking as well,” said Mark IV chief operating officer Steve DiMarzo.

“The lot is about a quarter of an acre. The building would take up the majority of the site,” he said.

Construction on the $7 million project could start in 2016, pending city approval, he said.

“We’re really in the conceptual stage. There is a little bit of a glut of office space downtown that’s currently available, but most of it doesn’t have parking.

In the existing Corn Hill Landing development, there is underground parking for residents plus on-street parking throughout the community.

Mark IV also owns and maintains a parking lot under the Douglass-Anthony Bridge. That lot would provide parking for the new building and would no longer be open to the general public, DiMarzo said.

Unlike many office buildings in the downtown area that use the first floor for retail or restaurant tenants, the planned first floor of the Mark IV building would be office space.

“Currently, it’s a grassy hill and we have a dumpster there in that location where the building would go,” DiMarzo said.

The plan has not yet been formally submitted to city officials for approval.

“The city is very efficient with the approval process. I don’t see any reasons why the city wouldn’t want it,” DiMarzo said.

The building is expected to have a brick and masonry exterior.

The existing Corn Hill Landing development was built in 2003 and includes 127 apartments, 14,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, 15,000 square feet of office space and an underground garage.

BLOUDON@DemocratandChronicle.com