NorfolkerAtHeart

Flying to Newport News is a bit of a pain, but I do it because Airtran has great service direct to LaGuardia. USAirways really can't compete with Airtran's Jet Service - USAirways flies those annoying and cramped prop planes to NYC and their prices are way more expensive. I wish Norfolk would get Airtran or JetBlue so i wouldn't have to drive the 45 minutes to Newport News from VaBeach when I come visit.

The source of my frustration with Macy's in HR was after a visit to the Lynnhaven Store. I figured since it was the biggest store in the region, that it would be the "flagship" Macy's, but it was REALLY disappointing to me. I mean, I'm used to shopping at the big mama Macy's on 34th Street and I definitely wasn't expecting anything near that level, and I figured that the Macy's at the other malls would be tailored more to the HR market, but I didnt' expect the Lynnhaven store to be as underwhelming as it was - same Hecht's blandness. Now, this is one point I've completely overlooked in this whole discussion. All the Navy folks wear their uniforms and don't need to buy dress to impress clothes for work.

I sent a message to Macy's a few weeks ago regarding the inconsistent quality of merchandise and experience at Macy's in Hampton Roads. A VP in the Macy's South headquarters replied to me and then forwarded my message on to the store manager at the Lynnhaven Macy's, which was the main source of my complaints in that message. I spoke with an official in the Lynnhaven store, and told her that I felt that the Macy's stores in Hampton Roads seemed little more than warmed over Hecht's stores. She told me that Macy's is still in the process of fully converting the former Hecht's into the full Macy's experience, which includes different merchandise and service. But she did say that Macy's tailors the stores to the markets that they feel they are serving and that they saw Hampton Roads as a more casual and laid back market, thus the lack of full lines of higher priced labels. I didn't really like her answer and told her that Macy's stands to turn off many potential customers in Hampton Roads by simply rebadging Hechts as Macy's and not really providing a difference in the experience. I also told her that if all of the stores in Hampton Roads can't support the higher end merchandise of a true New York-style Macy's, then they should at least designate one store to be the flagship or create a new one at MacArthur Center, which would carry full lines of higher end labels and their own in-house brands. It is pretty sad though that with over 1.6 million people, Hampton Roads still gets short shrift in its retail offerings.

Is the "Third Anchor" parcel of land definitely the place where the Barnes and Noble is going to be constructed, or was that just strong conjecture by the Pilot? It just seems like such a large opportunity cost to have a B&N Bookstore only partially use that lot and then render the rest of the buildable space unusable for a true third anchor or other development for the mall.

Given that CMSS is pretty much the official architecture firm for Armada Hoffler's local developments, I'm not surprised by the mediocrity in the design that was just released in the Pilot. Maybe I'm too cynical, but I really don't believe that Sunrise Development's proposals for the beach are even serious options - but it is nice to dream that those alluring glass towers would ever see real steel and concrete in Hampton Roads rather than another CMSS pre-cast concrete and brick clone. Armada Hoffler presents this proposed development that now requires the City to pay for the monorail? How audacious is that? The Dome Site is too far and inconvenient to be the Convention Center hotel but too close to justify spending $65 million for a glorified shuttle. The 3/4 mile stub of a monorail is not part of any pre-existing regional mass transportation plan I've seen so it's not likely that it would be extended into a larger transit system. In any case, elevated rail tracks are unattractive in an urban setting and would not be a good option for the resort. So in essence, the monorail is a subsidized toy to Armada Hoffler to make its development fun. For far less than $65 mil, the City could implement an attractive bus-based transit system much like the Downtown DC Circulator (http://www.dccirculator.com) that would be far more effective at shuttling passengers back and forth from the convention center and could be expanded throughout the resort strip. If Va Beach really wants to support the Convention Center, then get a firm to build an appropriate convention center hotel next to the convention center, and not tie the Dome site to the fortunes of the Convention Center, as is the case in Armada Hoffler's proposal.

The interesting thing about the ban on smoking in restaurants and bars is that most discussion about the issue is framed from a consumer-choice perspective (choice to have a smoking vs. non-smoking restaurant experience) rather than an employee working condition perspective. I don't recall what the law is in Virginia, but the New York City ban was first enacted not only because of the benefits to customers, but most of all because people who work in restaurants and bars are technically entitled to a non-smoking work environment just like anyone else who works in the office towers, retail stores, etc. Almost four years after the ban was passed here in NYC, going out to the bars and clubs is a far more enjoyable experience without the din of second-hand smoke and the thousands of service sector employees who work in restaurants and bars don't have their health threatened every day by second hand smoke. So yeah, your token East Village hipster will complain in public when a newspaper reporter asks, but privately, many feel the same way about the ban - that it's actually been a great thing. Last time I visited Va. Beach over the holidays, I met some friends at the Red Star Tavern in Pembroke and found it impossible to deal with all the second-hand smoke and hated the way my clothes smelled. So be happy that Norfolk is considering the ban!

All the talk of new development on Norfolk's last remaining parking lots makes me realize that Norfolk really did wholesale brain surgery during the urban renewal area. I mean, there was so much urban fabric that was just leveled in the name of slum clearance. I mean, I'm a fan of the great development that is gracing the city now, but I'm also a bigger fan of the quirky urban grain of cities with a tight and dense collection of old buildings juxtaposed with new ones. Just look at these shots of OLD norfolk, pre-Urban Renewal. My point is that I lament that Norfolk leaders of the early 20th century felt that they needed to conduct what was essentially a complete heart transplant on Norfolk when a lot of that fabric today could be interesting "pre-war" loft apartments, spaces for interesting small businesses, nooks and crannies for jazz clubs, and the like of which you see in NYC's East Village, Philly's South Street and other similar places. But I realize that I say that with the benefit of my hindsight living now in 2006. All of these photos are from the Sargeant Memorial Room Historical Photos Webpage of the Norfolk Public Library Website, a great online resource for historic Norfolk photos. http://www.npl.lib.va.us/absoluteig/gallery.asp?categoryid=1 Main Street looking west to the present day site of the Norfolk World Trade Center and Nauticus. Main Street looking west, from approximately Commercial Place. Main Street looking east at Commercial Place, with current City Jail at Civic Center in background. Aerial view of East Main Street area, current Civic Center site, with Urban Renewal in action. Note how much demolition has taken place. Norfolk Union Station is the tall slender building in the far background, upper right of photo. Aerial view of Norfolk Union Station, which was located at the intersection of East Main Street and Water Street, across from the main entrance of present-day Harbor Park. Granby Street looking south at intersection of City Hall Avenue. Tall building is the old Royster Building, now HQ for Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority. Site to the bottom left is the old Monticello Hotel site, now Federal Building. Black building in the center left is the site of the new Trader Square building. Granby Street looking north from the same vicinity. You can see the Norfolk Federal Courthouse in the far distance. Bank Street looking north from Main Street, ca. 1934. The area in the center of the photo is now the site of MacArthur Center. City Hall, now MacArthur Memorial, is in the center right. Bank Street and Baxter Street, in the area of what is now the center court where Santa sits in MacArthur Center. Freemason Street Baptist Church of Norfolk in the background. Bank Street looking north from Plume Street, ca. 1960. The area in the center of the photo is now the site of MacArthur Center. City Hall, now MacArthur Memorial, is in the center right. Bank Street looking north from Plume Street, ca. 1968. The area in the center of the photo is now the site of MacArthur Center. City Hall, now MacArthur Memorial, is in the center right.

I don't know if this has already been posted or discussed on this forum, but Microsoft Live Local's failure to have the most recently updated satellite imagery available makes it a nice source for historic aerial shots of downtown Norfolk circa early 1990's. Check out this before and after I made with a Live Local aerial photo and a Google Maps aerial photo; it really shows with impact the planning produced in downtown Norfolk.

Hi All, This is my inaugural post on UP. I love the discussion about urban development that's going on here and am glad to see the Hampton Roads region finally get on the bandwagon. My post is related to the quality of the Macy's that replaced Hecht's in the region. I live in New York, but visit VaBeach often. This past Christmas, I visited the Macy's in Lynnhaven Mall, thinking it was going to be a huge improvement over Hecht's in terms of selection of goods, presentation and experience. I was sorely disappointed. I love shopping at Macy's here in NYC, but the new Macy's down there didn't resemble my experience when I go to Macy's in New York. I sent them the following email letter that I thought I'd share with you here. I put this post here because I gave a big plug for Macy's to consider MacArthur Center for a flagship store. Peace.