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This development is really exciting. With the last two years of TC news being mostly focused on Westin and the performing arts center, I was beginning to feel a little "settled down" about hearing any string of tower announcements for the area. The tower of the pilot side will in my view eliminate the theme park feel of TC and add more of a business feel to the area. I also think that the main reason Mr. Divaris called out downtown Norfolk with a specific mention to Wachovia Center is due to the low-rise section of the project being dubbed as "town center" style. While free parking is an advantage for the new tower, I don't think it will matter much. While paying for parking always sucks, many people especially urban enthusiasts <sp? will always argue that paying for parking is what adds to a true city and urban center atmosphere. Until TC adds a significant number of class A office space and begins to house the regional headquarters of corporations and large firms, I will still look at this as more of a suburban development reachiing high rather than direct competition to downtown Norfolk. The new towers could be the first step towards that depending on who they have signed to anchor the new towers. With Wachovia anchoring Norfolks upcoming tower, I'm interested to see who they got onboard. If they're not the size of Wachovia, hopefully the company will be as big as Bank of Hampton Roads. I wonder what TomJ has to say if anything about Wachovia Center being called competition. I'm going to pitch that question to him.

Yeah the ego and respect issue is ridiculous in this generation. Pretty sad. As for my experience, I must say that I was un-aware of the dress code in regards to hoods but I don't have a problem with it because I normally don't use a hood unless I need to in weather. My experience occured last October when a friend wanted to take a pic with me and I was just messing with her by trying to hide my face with my hood. It was then that security approached me about my hood.

I didn't hear about this fight until now but unfortunately guys, seriously some of these kids have respect issues. In my opinion, I feel there is a problem brewing here. MacArthur seems generally safe but some of the younger patrons (particularly middle and h.s. age) have ego and respect problems. Many of the patrons that cause this go to MacArthur due to convenience. It's so bad that one time, I was just waiting at the food court with two friends and I had my hood on from my hooded sweater and mall security told me to take it off. Apparently similar clothing/style is enough for security to consider you a possible problem by association to that type of "thug" group. In the end though, those patrons that have caused this problem are to blame and unfortunately it will be difficult to obtain their cooperation and understanding. Ultimately it's the parents that can fix the issue, not the mall or city.

Twin anyone?! I definitely wouldn't be surprised due to one notable fact, everytime I drive down Brambleton from Downtown in the evening into the night hours, Harbor's Edge has most of its units lit which obviously means a fully (or at least very close to it) occupied tower. Hopefully Neil will have repeat success for phase two.

And that is why it wasn't added to that rendering lol. On a more serious note, that rendering is obviously to have a vision and idea for the area which obviously means that it won't necessarily look like that. With that said, I would not be surprised to see Harbor's Edge have a twin on the parking lot behind the Norfolk Public Health building. Just a thought...

Personally I do think the building looks better at night however I also believe that does not justify the architectural changes especially when people are more likely to see it during the day than the night. If anything, I say keep that tall glass section of the building at the rear and re-design the rest of the build to fit that portion. Taking the original and potentially iconic ship design and ruining it with this new design makes me want to wait on this building. I would rather have a 1 year delay for a better design (or revert to the original) than to meet this year's construction start deadline to only get that garbage.

They later go on and say that the average Nordstrom makes $40 million or more. If anything, I'm bothered how the pilot wants to re-energize the fire of whether or not the mall and more specifically Nordstrom's will succeed. The mall is 7 years old and they still want to talk about this? The fact is, despite some sour moments, the mall is in the best position in the last couple of years. On the Nordstrom end, yeah they are still a little short to performing like the average Nordstrom, but that doesn't mean make them look bad especially when their sales continue to go up every year! We will obviously get there but don't blame Nordstrom, they're doing what they need to do and continue to refine their strategy each year. At least they had the vision to give us a chance and you'll be crazy to think that they thought it would be a walk in the park. They know that they are going into a new market and essentially creating a market within it but at least they are making strides to push towards that $40 million mark and when they do, that's when you'll know that the upscale market has begun to hit maturity for our region. If it wasn't for Nordstrom and MacArthur Center, and then to a later extent, Town Center, the push to bring high-end to our area would not have accelerated.

I really like this pic. yeah I know we all know Dominion is much taller than all the other towers but this angle just makes its a giant compared to its neighbors

Sound familiar? I mentioned this proposal way back in one of these threads! Was I the only one who was listening to Fraim long time ago? Additionally, this quote only confirms the "hidden secret" to downtown development... it's that everyone is still hungry to develop in downtown, despite having "dozens of proposals rejected" especially when it came to Downtown Plaza, it shows the development community won't stop at the opportunity while downtown remains hot, even if the city wants to keep development under control. This revelation will only add fuel to the fire in the already high demand for development in downtown.

Yeah that's what I've been referring to. I'm just curious as to what they are building there that requires piles to be driven

No there is no garage planned for the Rotunda. To take care of the parking situation, they are expanding the surrounding parking lot by extending the parking lot over the leftover green space as shown in the above pic. The piledriving by St. Pauls Church also I doubt has anything to do with the Rotunda project as it is too far for Rotunda residents. The piledriving at St. Pauls Church is taking place in the green space between the parking lot and one of the building on the same side as Nordstrom but it is actually across from the South garage instead of directly in front of Nordstrom.

Hey yall, I was at MacArthur and I'm curious as to what they are building in front of Nordstrom over by St. Paul's church. Currently they are driving piles so obviously this building isn't some 1 or 2 story structure. Can anyone find out?

Half Moone Great that the city is proud of its history. Bad that the city doesn't come up with something better to establish its growing downtown and the surrounding metro.

Virtually all the stores that left where due to company bankruptcy or company re-organizations that had nothing to due with their mall performance though some that recently left were due to the mall not really pursuing in renewing or extending leases. Mall managment seemed to want some tenants to finish their lease and not re-sign them in order to add new tenants which appears to be the case.

Don't know if I missed this somewhere else in the forum or if you guys already know but I just wanted to give a heads up that MacArthur has signed some new tenants including New York and Co., the region's second H&M store which will be the same size as the one at Lynnhaven, a Dell Direct shop, Lids and a Farmer's Market on the grassy area where the ice rink is at during the winter which will feature farm fresh, VA grown produce during the summer, and a few more tenants that I forgot. In order to accomodate the new tennants, Sharper Image, Payless, and As Seen On TV will relocate to other parts of the mall. Zales is also set to open soon and rumors are swirling that an Apple Store has been secretly signed and will be a time based regional exclusive but may not be revealed until less than a month till it actually opens. All in all, the mall seems to be in the upswing.

I'm sorry for the lateness on this guys. studying and taking the exams had taken up my time and then on the week of May 8-12 I was locked on to coverage of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) getting the scoop on the upcoming Sony Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii game consoles. After that I was experiencing some major technical difficulties (ie no internet) until today. Anyways below are pictures I took from the Harbor Club located on the top floor of the BOA building. I was running a little late so I didn't get to take many pictures with daylight because the serving of dinner began not too long after I had arrived. I did my best to take night shots and while they aren't the best due to glare and lack of lighting, I think the shots below give an idea how great of a view the building has of the region. Also sorry for the small number of pictures, the social event was very social so I didn't get as much time to get away and take pictures. Looking toward Chesapeake in the day then night Looking towards Portsmouth in the day then night Norfolk at night Looking towards I-264 and Va. Beach Downtown Norfolk at night Oh! Don't worry, I understand.

Nice pics rus. Just a heads up, I think it would've been more convenient to have had the Trader, Harbor Heights, and Harbor's Edge-focused pics in their respective progress threads. It would have made it all more convenient and had given those photos the focus and attention they deserve instead of being mixed up with the random pics of the city. Just a suggestion

I'm going to be at the Harbor Club (the top floor of the Bank of America Tower) this saturday evening. I'm not sure if I'll get great pictures of the downtown highrises there but I'll try to take pictures of the region from that view.

Goes to show you that Norfolk is not panicking about the "loss" of cruises. I'm sure they realized it was going to happen especially when the cruise terminal is now deep into construction. But business will come back especially knowing that most of the cruises we lost were due to company reshufflings rather that lack of business. The opening of the terminal next year will only add momentum to the revitalization of the cruise business.

Hey u stole my vantage point ! S'all good tho, I think u did a better job than me at this location cuz I like ur pics from this location more than mine. Good to see u 1-up on me here instead of making mere carbon copies pic one: Ilike how u really emphasized Royster here. pic three: Damn the Hague tower is huge and I like how u angled it to fit Harbor's Edge and another residential tower into the pic and make them have a serious presence in the image. pic four: Great sklyine pic and use of Wainwright and it is unbelievable how huge of a volume of airspace is being used by the Trader Tower. Great pics vdogg. Ilike the views and i like how everyone seems to be making/posting great views and images. I'll be one the top floor of BOA on April 22nd so hpefully I can come with another round of great and new views.

Nice pic! I got a question tho, did I miss the announcment of a new tower going between the Marriott and BOA around MacArthur mall? What is that extremely tall tower there? Is that the proposed HRT building (or the new Kirn Library? lol)

No I was on the "R/V Matthew Maury" It was a small, old boat from the Vietnam war converted to a mini, floating lab.

I'll be attending a private gathering in the top floor conference center. Want to go lol? It is $35 for guests of those attending lol

Later this month I will be on the TOP floor of the Bank of America Tower so HOPEFULLY that can provide some nice pics. We'll see what happens later this month.

The Norfolk Cruise Terminal progress from the water...