supernoga

Doubt many students from EVMS will want to go back to dorm life...kinda of an older crowd who already have student apts right across from hospital. Also, ample housing in ghent that is relatively affordable. Also, Im happy ODU is trying to be less of a commuter school, but they sure are building a lot of dorms all at once. I wonder if the demand is truly there.

For the record, Chowan may have won a championship several years ago in DII, but they finished 2-8 last year. Secondly, there is no reason to think about expanding Foreman field within the next 20 years. Unless they win enough and have enough money and fans to go up to DI BCS, the stands wont need expansion. The avg attendance at "Big Name" schools of FCS CAA schools is around 10-15K. That includes schools within larger cities. ODU will likely not advance to that level anytime soon, unless they continue expansion...which they might. However, in this economic climate, they would need a serious donation from some rich benefactor. Dont forget, the driving force of all of the expansion and ODU's tremendous leaps (including the football program) that have occurred over the past few years, stemmed from a president who is no longer there. Unfortunately, that was a huge loss for the school.

I agree totally with regard to anticipation of better opponents and advancing toward full CAA status. I guess you are right about the hyper-media coverage. I was thinking about it and realized that initially I was significantly more excited last year when the team was coming together than I was after that win. I think I was just tired of hearing about it and then realized they were playing a glorified scrimmage. The coverage was thorough to say the least. It is certainly nice that the area can get behind the team...and I hope it stays that way. Its just odd to me that there is sooo much backing for a fledgling football team, yet getting people to fill any Tides or Admirals game is near impossible until they are basically in the hunt for the championship. We could use something to have solid support to perhaps advance the region to the true national stage and get a pro team.

I love how much sugarcoating they are giving the ODU football team. Yes, its great for them to have a team, a new beautiful stadium. Yes, its great for Norfolk in general. However, they just basically played a scrimmage against a team coming from a school with an entire student body of 900! My HS (Princess Anne) had double that. How can you even field a team? Secondly, game 2 is against a team with a student body of 1600 (again, fewer than my HS). ODU has 24THOUSAND UNDERGRADS! They should have beat Chowan by at least 5 touchdowns. Anyhow, its going to be a rude awakening when they play 3rd game, against an actual FCS opponent...and even worse, when they start playing real CAA teams next season...ie, the ones that just beat DI UVA and Duke. Again, not to be a hater, but happy for Norfolk, ODU...just need to downplay how great of a team they are already.

Certainly if this thing does actually go, it would be nice to fix the grid of DT as best as possible too. I understand that there are some old roads as part of it, but seriously, lets drop some of the street names and have a road that is actually longer than 4 blocks long before it changes. For example, connect the two halves of Charlotte St without a Wood St in the middle, extend Freemason all the way to Tidewater Dr. Lets get some kind of navigational and driveable grid out there. Wishful thinking, but...Once all of these tall buildings go up, it might be hard to find your way around

Funny that the one area of P-town that they would keep a place with an attached Jail is the most expensive real estate in the city. I cant believe they would consider this when they could build an entirely new complex in the planned "Midtown" to help spur development. DT PTown and Old town dont need as much help and the land could be used for something much more. Its perfectly placed between High St bars/restaurants and the Amphitheater. That entire 3 block area which includes several surface parking lots and one large low-rise parking lot, could be developed into something really nice. And speaking of a waste of space, upon looking at satellite images, I couldnt believe my eyes...the Courthouse has a RIVERFRONT SURFACE PARKING LOT!

Looking good. Hopefully those buildings are not all 2 -3 stories. I especially like the idea of a marina district. The pics remind me of Bmores inner harbor. I also find it funny that by 8 AM, there were about 10 negative comments already. This is followed by an astute observation by one of the readers, however, that they seem automated and nonspecific. Its as if there are people who just cut and past their negative, anti-development posts to any article that is written.

Right, I guess Im talking about the future more than the present. In the long-term, we would need more than one route. So, I was thinking Blue line from VB Oceanfront to ODU, Orange line from DT Norfolk to Ptown and points west; Red Line from DT Norfolk to Central Chesapeake. That is 50 years down the road though.

Im curious to see where Portsmouth's Light Rail route would run. It would make sense to have a stop at old town, downtown, and Naval hospital, maybe naval shipyard too. However, these stops would require the train to essentially backtrack. Wouldnt it make more sense to send it through the downtown tunnel? Then it could potentially be split into a Chesapeake route and a Portsmouth route like 264 and 464. You want the stops to service the most populous areas, whether it be residential, commercial or industrial.

The wannabee Seattle Pike's Place fish/farmers market idea is the best by far. This region is supposedly known for Seafood being directly on the Bay and with easy access to rural areas, we could actually have a rather nice selection of both fish and produce overall. The VA beach farmers market is relatively successful, but pretty far and the addition of good seafood would benefit the overall appeal amazingly. You could potentially expand this to also have a large butcher and bakery and call it the Waterside Organic Marketplace. Add a few coffehouses and maybe organic restaurants and it would make the building very cohesive and attractive to a visitor. It would fill a niche that I think this area lacks. Right now, if you arent going to eat at Hooters, you really dont go there. I live in Ghent and when I go downtown, I NEVER go to the waterside. Its very touristy (and not good touristy) and with an overall lack of tourists in Norfolk, that kind of instillation isnt necessary. The organic craze is hugely popular across the states right now, although it hasnt really seen much of a bump in this region yet. I feel that people will come to a destination if it is more cohesive. Right now, there is no reason to visit the waterside, per se. Granted Ghent would be a more ideal area for something like this, but fishmarkets need to be on water and it has better access to parking/highway. Alternate idea: The food court should at least be gutted/replaced with a skatepark downstairs and keep the chain restaurants upstairs. Its still fairly attractive with the outdoor seating on the water.

I think a smarter move would be to build something like this down towards Norfolk State Inside the triangle formed by Tidewater Dr, Brambleton and 264 and allow the entire area West of Tidewater Dr and South of Virginia Beach Blvd to be designated for future "Downtown Development."