The 10-story office tower along with the 836-space garage beneath it stretches 292-feet into the air and, at 20 stories, is now downtown Norfolk's fifth tallest structure. Ownership of the South Hampton Roads area property is divided, with the city retaining the land, the garage, and the building's ground-level retail space. Norfolk expects its stake in the property to generate $700 million in tax revenue annually. 100 Main LLC owns the office portion of the structure. Norfolk chipped in $12 million for the project's development and the partnership came up with $25 million in construction financing, courtesy of First Union National Bank.

Designed by Virginia Beach, VA's CMSS Architects, the structure was a popular draw well before its realization. It was 55% leased at the start of construction in 2000. Leasing rates for space in the office building starts at $24-per-sf. CB Richard Ellis of Virginia Inc. is handling the office leasing activity and will relocate its local office to the structure, as will Robinson Development. Tenants, who all have access to the common conference room on the top floor, include a broad range of businesses. Among those who have already signed on for space are accounting firm Cavanaugh Nelson & Co, technology consulting company The Moore Group, insurance firm Marsh USA and Southern Concrete Products. Law firm Kaufman & Canoles is 150 West Main's largest tenant, taking on 68,000 sf of space on floors 18 through 21.

While the Hampton Roads area enjoyed a 2001 vacancy rate among its downtown Class A properties of about 5%, that number is likely to increase this year with the debuts of other neighboring Class A office structures such as the Virginia Beach Town Center and Oyster Point Town Center. 150 West Main is now 60% leased, just 5% more than its leasing status at the project's start. Regardless, the structure is a welcome development for the Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance. "It provides us with an opportunity," alliance president and CEO C. Jones Hooks tells Globe St.com. "We like to see new assets come on line and this is one that we'll be promoting not only domestically, but internationally as well."