ace707

It's been a (Long) while guys. I was in the area this past weekend and I am super impressed with CHKD's new tower and just the medical campus and Fort Norfolk area in general.

Renderings for Harbors Edge 2 

Yup, my parents depart for a cruise this coming Sunday.

Unfortunately the Granby mall thing failed and I don't want to get my hopes up that times have changed enough in the miinds of many people in the area to make it succeed. Sometimes the stupidity in the city council makes me want to talk to Mayor Paul Fraim's daughter (we went to school together as classmates from elementary to high school and graduated the same year) to get her to convince her dad to make this council think better for the city but I'm worried she would not want to get involved in the politics...

The sad thing about the WVEC piece is that for all the attempts to hype and support the Cordish plan, they seem to only confirm that it would fail. Did anyone notice that everytime they spoke of or was showing live from the Baltimore site that there seemed to be no one patronizing the place? Furthermore, the Philly project, while it seems to be successful cannot be repeated at waterside because one of the major components to the Philly projects success was it was practically supported by that city's sports culture? I have been to Philadelphia's pro sports district and when you have an NHL, MLB, NFL, and NBA team and their respective arenas and stadiums across the street from each other, of course any food/entertainment/hospitality facility would virtually succeed when placed in the midst of an area like that. Our area teams and the facilities they play in aren't beside each other let alone pro teams thus that comparison isn't applicable.

I'll admit that I've traveled at least 3 or 4 times to their Potomic Mills location and bought several things from them including a bed frame. Wish they could open a location somewhere in the region but that's like asking the Feds to build Granby Tower themselves.

IKEA was never in the area much less at MacArthur Center. The furniture store that used to be there was EQ3.

Panda Express is a huge coup for the mall. It is one of the fastest growing and most sought after though difficult to sign Chinese food chains. They are huge in the west coast especially in California and very popular for those who enjoy Chinese food and among asians (I'm Filipino and always ate Panda when out of town that had one). They are not easy to sign and have very strict requirements before even considering a location. These include: TRAFFIC GENERATORS Heavy retail; daytime employment; shopping centers, entertainment Going Home side of traffic Strong balance of residential and daytime activity Trade Area Residential Population > 65,000 Trade Area Day Population > 30,000 Average Daily traffic > 45,000 cars combined main and cross streets NON TRADITIONAL AND MALL SITES Mall Size: > 1,000,000 square feet # Anchors: 3+ University and College Campuses with > 14,000 population Casinos Major Airports Major Entertainment Centers Arenas and Stadiums Hospitals Visibility and Accessibility BUILDING REQUIREMENTS Food Courts: 800 – 1,000 square feet (minimum frontage 24 ft) In Line: 1,800 – 2,000 square feet (minimum frontage 35 ft) Utilities: Stubbed to space Before Norfolk, the closest location was in Short Pump in Richmond and before that was NOVA. This will actually be their second location in Norfolk and I believe there are no other plans currently to expand in the region. Their first location is at the Norfolk Navy Exchange's new food court. I work as one of the managers of the starbucks at the NEX and a little over a year ago I spoke to the Food Services Director for the NEX to try to lure Panda Express as part of their new food court revamp and she said at the time she never heard of them and that it was likely not going to succeed with the new standards and demands of the NEX. Last October on Panda's grand opening day, I said thanked her for bringing them and even better she said "no, thank you for the suggestion". I'm excited that the first location gave the company the success and confidence to expand in Norfolk and this bodes very well for MacArthur Center as they work to re-position their food court. With the exception of the Cheescake Factory Bakery Cafe, none of the other eateries closing will be missed and this represents a huge opportunity for the mall.

If they decide to get waterside restarted then they should relocate hooters, outback, and Joes to Wachovia Center. Bring along Dunkin' Doughnuts and throw in a hhgregg or best buy and top it off with a return of beecroft & bull and Wachovia's issues of retail should be resolved. Then waterside will be prepared for the re-imagining it deserves

I had a co-worker who bought a condo in late '06 and moved in early 2007 and she had bought furniture from Haynes and was disappointed with their service when delivering her furniture and returned it. She told me her experience and I suggested EQ3 and within a month she and her boyfriend ordered over $10,000 worth of furniture from EQ3 and she told me when they delivered that she loved it and the service was much better. She also thanked me for referring her to the store plus she liked their styles, designs, and flexibility. Just a quick story for anyone wondering if anybody has bought something at the store.

Last number I heard was that the mall was averaging 12 million visitors a year. I'm not sure if that figure was for the 2006 year or the 2007. If I can, I'll try to find a source/confirmation on this.

I don't think MacArthur Center is going down as much as you say. First off, Alltel isn't exactly a huge loss IMO because the mall has a bunch of cell phone shops already and of the major services, Alltel is the smallest. Bridal shop I don't think was really a sought after store before it even opened. I think that was more of a test to see if a store like that has a market at the mall which apparently it doesn't. Nine West I thought was good for the mall and I always saw alot of women shopping there. Hopefully they will find a new location in the mall. Chico's is moving to the old Coach location which doesn't make it a loss for the mall. Adding in Banana Republic I think is a much more suitable addition to the mall plus I think it will surely pull more traffic than the bridal and alltel store combined. Military is practically following Tower Mall and NewMarket Mall tracks at this rate and honestly the anchor stores, movie theater and the DoubleTree Hotel are the only places that make this mall still have some (though declining) revelance. Janaf is on a roll and I think military circle may become an archilles heel to Military Hwy's progress unless its management steps up their game and goes back to the competitive track.

It's great to see that Virginia was chosen as the first East Coast state to open and according to that press release, currently be the only East Coast state to have El Pollo Loco for now. Yeah In-N-Out Burger would be great! Honestly though, I'm hoping more for Fatburger. I think Fatburger would fit perfectly to replace Burger King at MacArthur Center's food court.

El Pollo Loco is a popular fast food restaurant especially in the midwest to west coast areas of the US. It's good to see them expanding business to the east coast now.

You can check out Club Soda in Downtown. Very pricey but great experience. It's been a while since I've been there, but I think got the lamb chop thing and it alone was $35 if I'm not mistaken. I forgot what my date ordered that night but in total it was more than $80 but probably more in the $90-$100 for us two. Food definitely was very nicely decorated at that establishment.

Yeah the routes were actually mentioned even during the waiting period in an article from Port Folio title "On Track". More interesting, the article mentioned that the next plans to extend the line are already moving forward with the next phase extending from the Medical Center to ODU and at the other end to extend to the airport and Naval Base by mostly being parallel with I-64. Quite honestly, the ODU extension will be huge for LR in my opinion. With such a large student population that lives in the dorms and surrounding apartments, LR I think will be a huge assest for the university and its large out-of-state and exchange student population to at least expand their access of Norfolk. Additionally, the article mentions that should and hopefully the region follows Norfolk, LR would succeed regionally if Downtown Norfolk, Town Center Va Beach and either Downtown NN or Osyter Point areas anchor the system. Time will tell I guess if and how that will unfold.

Bad news... U.S. Airways shrinking dominance reduces Norfolk service Good news... Passenger traffic up in Norfolk Int'l

Brambelton won't have light rail running through it

Oh yeah, they were all directly in front of the business. If you were walking on the sidewalk and didn't want to cut through the crowd, you had to walk on the street to bypass the crowd.

At the San Diego Naval Base, their light rail runs parallel with the base with stops along the major gates. Think of a light rail going along shore drive with a stop at each base gate and you'll have a very close idea.

That's why I'm a bit surprised. There were so many people inside and outside that I didn't think of it as just another tattoo parlor. The blue horseshoe tattoo 2 blocks from me never has a crowd inside much less a crowd/line outside for tattoo's. Maybe "inky fusion" offers more than just tattoo's?

If so then I'm surprised to even see that many people at such an establishment. Otherwise, I think it's good though because it adds diversity to the crowd downtown and from what I saw, this crowd doesn't seem to have trouble on their agenda.

I drove up and down Granby for the 1st time in over a month (i was on vacation in San Diego, LA, and Las Vegas for the most part of July) and noticed a new a seeminly poplular establishment north of Brambleton Ave. I may be late on it but since I never previously seen or heard about it, I decided to mention it here. The spot is named if i'm not mistaken, "inky fusion". I am likely wrong with the first part of that name but I know "fusion" is part of the name. Anyways the spot seems to take a head start on that section of Granby St.'s anticipated revival once Granby Tower finishes. At around 8:30 in the evening Saturday, the place was packed and had a crowd of 100 to 150 people outside. It was a HUGE crowd of generally young adults but not too upscale type crowd. Not sure what's the establishment's selling point or niche is but I just wanted to bring it up here.

I live in Norfolk and honestly yeah these subsidies are a touchy area to me. In regard to the Hilton, I'm genuiely not happy about that whatsoever. I'm happy we're getting the building but honestly I don't think we should be giving billionaires money. Norfolk was originally only supposed to build and pay for the parking garage and improvements to the surrounding area and I was okay with that but now that we also are paying for the construction of the convention center that we won't own or operate plus throw in another $7million just to get it finally built is a bit upsetting. Fort Norfolk Plaza is a mixed bag. In my opinion it is very much needed for the healthcare business and to help Harbor's Edge in the revitalization of the entire Fort Norfolk/Atlantic City area. But with the building design going from great to bad to worse makes me unsupportive of a multi-million subsidy as well as the fact that the building has lost some components such as the condos and the clearly revised design that SHOULD have made it cheaper (and likely easier) to build. Granby Tower is a whole different story. I'm supportive of it simply because I don't see anything that the city is losing. Yes we are taking a loan to help build it BUT the city won't be using my tax money but strictly tax money generated by the tower itself to repay the loan. In a nutshell, I don't mind helping people get their home built knowing that they have to pay me anyway when they live there. Not to mention the inevitable economic impact that the tower will have in the surrounding area and north of Brambleton Ave. I'm happy that we are getting these buildings and towers but regarding Hilton and Fort Norfolk Plaza, that doesn't mean that I'm happy at what we're handing out to their respective developers.

It's great to see a retailer (especially a high-end jeweler) doing well at the mall. I'd love to buy something but I'm definitely priced-out in the market they target. "Carrying Cartier isn’t an insignificant investment for a retailer, which has to purchase the collections it sells. Costs can top $250,000 for a collection of pricey Cartier watches, according to Schaffer. Individual Cartier watches can run from $1,000 to more than $100,000 apiece." I guess I can't go to Fink's planning to buy Cartier watches...