varider

On page 7 of the agenda packet for the 418 units at Newtown, it reads that the applicant requests a minimum parking reduction from 1.75 to 1.55 spaces per unit, and goes further to state they have data from other apartment complexes they own around town, that the necessary parking actually needed is closer to 1.13 spaces per unit. https://norfolkcityva.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1984&Inline=True

https://www.wavy.com/news/local-news/virginia-beach/650000-sq-ft-fulfillment-center-planned-for-south-of-nas-oceana-in-vb-sources-say-its-amazon/ A massive new ecommerce robotics fulfillment center, which multiple sources say will be home to Amazon, is being planned for land just south of Naval Air Station Oceana. On Wednesday, the Virginia Beach Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval of the application for a five-story, 650,000-square-foot warehouse to be built on a more than 160-acre site along Dam Neck Road near where it meets with Harpers Road. “This could be a game-changer for our community,” Dyer said. “Thousands of jobs that will keep our children here.”

https://www.virginiabusiness.com/article/lamberts-point-docks-in-norfolk-to-become-100m-maritime-center/ “In a deal predicted to bring more than 500 jobs and over $100 million in capital investment, the Lambert’s Point Docks property in Norfolk will become a maritime operations and logistics center to support local offshore wind, defense and transportation industries.” “This innovative redevelopment of Lambert’s Point Docks will make Hampton Roads a significant hub for the offshore wind industry. It will attract new businesses and serve existing ones in the region. We are pleased the facility will support current tenants, rail operations and the needs of industrial shippers,” said Kathleen Smith, vice president of business development and real estate at Norfolk Southern.”

https://www.wavy.com/news/local-news/norfolk/restaurant-closes-norfolk-police-boost-surveillance-downtown-after-shootings/ The email that indicates it was written by Texas de Brazil states the restaurant has not only decided to temporarily close, but permanently close at the MacArthur Mall location. “Unfortunately, we can no longer operate at the current location due to recent incidents, as the safety of our staff and our guests is our number one priority,” the email stated. The email goes onto say the announcement will be made via social media when the restaurant is ready to open a new location.

The groundbreaking ceremony plans to celebrate the start of the construction for buildings 19 and 20 on April 19th, 2022, from 2pm to 3:30 pm pm at St. Paul’s Redevelopment site. Combined, the buildings contain 190 units, with an income mix of replacement, affordable, and market-rate units. All are welcome to attend, and invitations will be sent out directly to the SPAC members next https://d15db208-798a-4866-8806-f4fe4705eb73.usrfiles.com/ugd/d15db2_634dbfe64fd944d7aa6ef4eac62820c2.pdf https://www.pilotonline.com/opinion/columns/vp-ed-column-filer-jackson-0417-20220416-w3oln43pirey5pnq3ijhw3gkoa-story.html

https://www.virginiabusiness.com/article/military-contractor-to-add-hundreds-of-jobs-in-norfolk/ “Fairfax-based military contractor WR Systems will expand its Norfolk campus, Norfolk Mayor Kenneth Cooper Alexander announced at the city’s annual State of the City address on Thursday.The Norfolk campus currently houses more than 320 employees and will add several hundred jobs, Alexander said.” “In January, the city learned it would get $249 million in funding. The funding will be used for the design and construction of a multiphase coastal storm risk management project, that when completed, will help reduce and manage flooding for portions of the city. It will be done with storm barriers, natural and nature-based features, tidal gates, floodwalls, levees, pump stations and other measures. The total funding is now just under $400 million” “Norfolk-based Embody, a biotech company that will invest $5 million in a 10,000-square-foot expansion and 92 new jobs, mostly in research and development, manufacturing and sales and marketing positions” “Alexander said the $500 million Headwaters Resort & Casino is set to break ground this summer and take two years to build.” ”Another project on the horizon is CMA CGM Group’s $36 million expansion in Norfolk, creating 400 jobs” “In October 2021, Norfolk began work on its $2.6 million cruise ship gangway at the Half Moon Conference Center, which will accommodate larger cruise ships, Alexander said. Carnival cruises will start stopping in Norfolk again in May and Norwegian Cruise Lines has 25 ports of call planned.” “Another transportation project coming up includes the $3.7 billion passenger rail expansion, which will bring a third passenger train to Norfolk.” “MetroNet, which will bring new internet options to the city, a $90 million investment to build a 100% fiberoptic network that will be complete in the next few years. He also noted that Cox has $100 million of broadband network enhancements planned for the region and will start the planned work in Norfolk.” https://www.virginiabusiness.com/article/norfolk-cement-company-to-invest-37m-in-new-dome/ “Norfolk-based Titan America LLC, a producer of heavy building materials, announced last week it will construct a 70,000-ton dome in Chesapeake, a project estimated to cost $37 million.” —————————-———— It’s laughable to say that “Norfolk has reached its full potential.” I know we all want the city and region to improve, but its not unreasonable to think that Norfolk is headed in a positive direction, slowly gaining a momentum to propel us forward to a greater place by 2025 and maybe by 2030 we will finally be one of those “it” cities with actual population growth.

This article discussing Greenville, SC transformation into a mini tech hub describes perfectly how I feel we should be thinking about Norfolk. “Some elements of Greenville’s transformation aren’t easy to replicate, including decades of political commitment to creating a community that’s appealing to college graduates and high-skilled workers. The city also has access to technology and research talent from nearby Clemson University and state-of-the-art manufacturing plants turning out Michelin tires and BMWs” “Greenville has excelled at creating an appealing—and walkable—commercial district. The scenic riverfront features a park bordered by a mixed-use development, a waterfall, and a pedestrian bridge.” “State and local entities have been willing to encourage such efforts, with the goal of creating what economists call innovation clusters.” “Early stage companies in Greenville can also seek funding from VentureSouth, the local group Pancoast spoke to at the country club. Its 230 angel investors in North and South Carolina have funneled $28 million to 61 companies” “While pundits focus on the importance of upgrading workforce skills, kick-starting a cycle of wealth-building by attracting and retaining new businesses is a multipronged effort.”

*double posted

I don’t think NS left because of lack of flights. I think NS left because Norfolk is Norfolk and Atlanta is Atlanta. Better city, more incentives, stronger and more diverse labor pool, more corporate and community partners, etc. We will never be able to compete with ATL. The Sun Belt continues to explode with growth, and we need to find a way to change perceptions and market this region as pro-business and pro-growth. The same effort and energy and resources that are put into support of the military, need to be put into our local companies and any businesses that choose to relocate here. We seem to have momentum when it comes to industrial space, activity at the port, and offshore wind, but that’s really just more of the same old 757 blue collar economy that is great for stability and preservation of status quo, but doesn’t do much of anything for the growth of our city or to shift attitudes or develop a sense that Norfolk can maintain some sort of corporate presence. We need to find a way to ensure that the next time a Fortune 500 company raises its flag over our Main St, we will be able to grow and retain them here. “the railroad company is heavily emphasizing technology to increase efficiency on its path to greater freight rail market share, and moving to Atlanta gives it ready access to the city's pool of tech talent” https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2021/11/03/norfolk-southern-moves-into-new-headquarters.html https://saportareport.com/norfolk-southerns-jim-squires-atlanta-had-a-positive-vibe-for-me/sections/reports/maria_saporta/amp/

great to see a tower crane on the strip

I find that hard to believe , but quite impressive if true, and it shows the market can support these luxury developments, which should be a signal to other developers that VB is open for a luxury market. I know everyone is concerned about affordable workforce housing these days, but its also important to have folks in higher income brackets in the city paying a premium because it adds to the tax base, and can incentivize other upscale retail and entertainment opportunities that would trickle down to the entire community

https://www.wavy.com/news/virginia/virginia-transit-systems-get-232m-investment/ The numbers don't add up, but we really get screwed down here when it comes to resource allocation. Having NOVA in the state is both a gift and a curse.

We’ll that looks very promising. With a rooftop restaurant + destination retail, I could see this being very popular w/ locals and tourists alike, and maybe could spur further redevelopment in the vicinity in some of the other underutilized properties. I don’t understand why these sort of developments aren’t highlighted at State of City, but either way, that Laskin Rd. corridor will look completely different in the next few years. It’s clearly one of the most desirable locations in all of the area, close to the beach, next to the interstate, Hilltop, etc.

On a much brighter note, https://www.wavy.com/news/virginia/youngkin-making-announcement-at-odu-on-tuesday/?fbclid=IwAR09QdksSvugdrovEewNKN12eiFt413KKDPbijdS2ULOwycy-UUQAXt3Ew0 Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has announced a sports medicine company will be coming to the Innovation Research Park at Old Dominion University, creating 92 jobs.

I couldn’t be more excited about the schedule, and I know other people that are thrilled as well. It feels new and fresh, and people around here have interest and connections to schools like App St. , JMU, Coastal Carolina, and the non-conference schedule with UVA, ECU, and VT, definitely gives us Strength of Schedule points for a non-power conference team and provides fans the opportunity to go to places they already go to like Myrtle Beach. I hope we are competitive in non-conference, and pull off at least 1 W, and dominate the Sun Belt. I think ODU has a better chance at national attention in this conference, as people/ESPN seem to have at least some level of respect for schools like Coastal and App St football. The state of the basketball program is such that the conference doesn’t really matter, we need to find an identity, a strategy, some players, etc. before we’re even competitive at this level. Either way, hopefully they sell some more season tickets, and Coach Rahne + Co. take us on a ride all the way to a new level of ODU football. Coastal was ranked as high as 14 and App St has been ranked pretty high as well.

Each incident in itself is tragic, but in total its truly gotten to a level where I am shocked and truly disappointed that we’ve gotten to this point. I have always worried about crime and the perception thereof especially in the perspective of us trying to grow the city and transform into a better version of Norfolk, but the reality is that people are going where they feel safe and I honestly can’t blame them at all. I think that my love/bias and just familiarity with Norfolk has led me to never feel unsafe, and I hope that continues, but I guess with the city’s relative success with redevelopment downtown and more people from all walks of life there’s just going to be more conflict and the problems we’ve always had are just being magnified, but if the city can only put at most a few police officers on duty in the entire DT area, then I would not blame anyone who chose to live, work, visit, literally anywhere but Norfolk. The residents fill up Council meetings in protest over the Monument Cos. redevelopment of blight into market rate apartments, but you can count on one hand the number of people who speak up about all of the violence in the streets. Norfolk has cruise ships coming, patriotic fest, Kevin hart, VT ODU, Harborfest, new apartments and grocery stores, and talks of light rail expansions and arenas, and casinos and floodwalls and bike lanes / trails and literally most of what we’ve always dreamed of. In a better world, the city could police itself and the 1 or 2 patrols would be enough, but clearly we need some sort of deterrent, and cameras in the both the streets and in city parking lots should be the bare minimum. The mall needs to go ASAP and we need it to be replaced by something for this generation like the mall was for the area in its prime. A place that attracts people consistently from the entire region. In the end, hopefully what’s good with the city will prevail over the criminal element, but it’s still so unfortunate and I hope we can do better.

from IG @wpa_norfolk— appears to be a concept for the greyhound redevelopment

The metro pop went up slightly, but VB and NFK both were estimated to lose a couple thousand people. Not sure how excited I can get about slow growth out in the open fields of Chesapeake. We need more than just people relocating for the navy and to start a family. We need people to move here after college to find opportunity if we are ever to gain the additional 200K it would take to put us over that 2M+ benchmark. I think there’s a lot of people over the past that may have chosen to stay or relocate in 757 if it simply was a more desirable and happening place to live. No matter how much I or anyone else adores Norfolk and Virginia Beach, the data is telling us that our 2 largest cities have for the moment stalled and could be on the verge of population decline because really if we are at basically zero growth, there has to be some sort of catalyst to suddenly gain momentum, and at the moment there’s really nothing in sight and honestly more headwinds than tailwinds in the trajectory of our growth rate, at least population wise.

The violence is heartbreaking and continues to put a damper on things and all of the progress we’ve made over the last 15 years. I’ve never really seen Granby St after midnight, but there is always a noticeable shift in the vibe the later it gets in the night, and the police are generally nowhere to be found. However, from my perspective and experience, I think an earlier closing time is absolutely a terrible idea. Instead of restricting hours and night life options, the city actually needs to help to support night life and more diverse entertainment options, and figure out a way to enforce the law and deter at least some crime and protect innocent victims and bystanders. Killing off whatever nightlife exists today would only make the problem worse in the future. The city and 757 in general need more nightlife, maybe even later hours, so that people don’t congregate in the streets at 2AM,, frustrated and drunk, looking for someone to get into an altercation with. The only way to fight this is with more activity, more and higher end nightlife opportunities, and a better policing strategy, with the good people of the region that are looking for a fun, safe time at night to overwhelm the criminal element that is always lurking near. We can’t give up the fight.

Hopefully we see some infrastructure improvements in the area. There is decent foot traffic and people walking dogs along Front Street, but the roads are terrible and there’s no sidewalks or crosswalks. Same issues with the Railroad District. It’s time for capital improvements to encourage more development opportunities, walkability, and just improve the overall feel of some of these neighborhoods that are obviously gaining traction and activity.