A fully equipped recording and post-production facility is for sale in Virginia Beach.
And it’s not just any studio.
Four time Grammy award-winning record producer, recording artist and songwriter Timothy “Timbaland” Mosley developed the Thomas Crown Studios.
Mosley, who was born in Norfolk and raised in Virginia Beach, moved his operation to Miami, where he has resided for the past 10 years.
The building, at 5239 Challedon Drive off Princess Anne Road, carries a price tag of $695,000. The city most recently valued the building and property at $927,700.
The studio equipment – which totals just under $1 million – will convey by separate agreement for $240,000.
This is where the beats of artists such as Missy Elliot, Justin Timberlake, Diddy, Kanye West, Beyonce and Nelly Furtado were recorded and mixed. Timberlake recorded his multi-platinum album Future Sex/Love Sounds there.
Chris Zarpas, vice president of S.L. Nusbaum Realty Co., who has a background in the entertainment industry, is handling the sale. He has been sending out feelers for the property, which he refers to as legendary.
“This is a state-of-the-art recording studio where Mosley developed a sound so unique it influenced multiple musical genres like Pop, R&B, Rap and electronic,” Zarpas said. “It also made Tim one of the most sought after performer/producers in the music business. Artists like Jay-Z, Justin Timberlake, Madonna and Drake came to him.”
Its top of the line equipment includes:
• A 72 channel Neve VR Series console
• A Yamaha DM2000 console
• Augspurger Duo MiniMain studio speakers
• A Pro Tools soundboard
• And various keyboards, drums and high-end microphones
The 6,756 square foot building houses three recording studios, control rooms, two bedrooms, four bathrooms, a commercial kitchen and a server room. It also has a security system with multiple cameras.
Even the support rooms, including a studio lounge and the private bedrooms, are acoustically designed for recording purposes.
The two-story building – with a rather nondescript exterior – was built in 1976. Mosley had it gutted and hired Walters-Storyk Design Group of New York around 2002 to design the studio interiors, architecture and acoustics all from scratch.
WSDG has designed audio production projects from New York to California and throughout the world, including Switzerland, Malaysia, Argentina, Brazil, Italy, Canada and Mexico.
Zarpas said they have marketed the studio to record labels, management and agents, music producers, engineers, film and TV producers.
He also has reached out to local university music departments that offer bachelor’s degrees with an audio production emphasis.
And the listing has gone out to 180,000 commercial real estate brokers throughout the U.S.
“This facility would not only be ideal for a music producer, performer or record label, it would be perfect for a film and TV production and/or post-production company, an ad agency or a university music department that wanted the ultimate student lab,” Zarpas said. “Finally, there might be a local businessman in an unrelated industry tired of paying rent who wants to own the office building he occupies. He could buy this without the equipment and have the ultimate live/work environment.”
Zarpas said they are casting a very wide net in an effort to keep the Virginia Beach music scene on the national radar.
“We’re certainly hoping we can attract an artist of Tim’s caliber who may want to relocate to the beautiful resort city of Virginia Beach where the quality of life is very high compared to LA, NY and Miami,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s an extremely high quality office building in Virginia Beach…and life is good in Virginia Beach.”
