ace707

lol Out of all those projects, none of them I don't think include a ship-shaped building/tower. You would think with all the crap they have come up from whole islands and cities within cities to blob shaped buildings that they would've had their "Ghent South Tower" 5 years ago! On the real though, when my cousin came from Dubai a few weeks ago, he mentioned his upcoming competition, 40+ hotels underconstruction. He's the general manager of the Dubai Paramount hotel so obviously for tower fans like us that would be great news but for hotel competition,I guess thats bad for him haha

When I say this is a "signature" tower, I mean't that it will be able to be recognized as a Norfolk building rather than something that looks familiar or common that you can find in any other city. In terms of Dubai, noticed I specifically named certain buildings to prove a point. I wasn't comparing the general architecture to Dubai's, I was simply pointing out these developments because they think outside the box or raise the bar just like Dubai's 17,946,295,463 projects and proposals.

That's funny... I take it that that pun was intended lol

Oh really? I didn't know that! Thanks, just in case I miss it on television, now I have a backup lol.

Altschul's may be leaving but it looks like Apple could be coming! I know there have been a lot of rumors for an Apple store to come to MacArthur for over a year now and this news all but confirms that now. [url=http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=98876&ran=125692]"Apple retail stores by state lists

Yeah I read the article after I made my post. But unfortunately, I don't have anyway to get a seat to the event! lol But I can try to catch it on television. Anyone who lives in Norfolk or has Norfolk's neighborhood channel will surely be able to watch it. I watched it last year so I don't have any reason to think that no one would be able to watch it this year.

Oh $hit! Man I know I'm a little behind but its better late than never! Anyways, this does only reconfirms that the city has its tower projects on lock down better than anything the U.S. government tries to keep under wraps lol. Additionally, I remember we all talked about how the region needs a signature tower and while Granby Tower has come forth to represent the region for signature identity, I think Ghent South Towers will be its biggest competitor in the future for the title of the signature tower of our region. I won't be surprised if in fact Granby and Ghent South become debate subjects for the signature tower title. Additionally, I'm beginning to think that Norfolk is becoming the Dubai of our region, perhaps even the entire state. Like the developers of projects in Dubai who seem to be coming up with totally "out there" designs and projects, Norfolk seems to be following suit to the certain extent. Granby for height, Cosmo 411 for uniqueness, and now Ghent South for unusual design with touches of Ghents character and the perception of the future. Now that we have this what else is up. Honestly I thought we would cool down a bit since every tower we knew or heard about the past 2 years are now under construction or soon will be. Is it safe to say that Ghent South is the start of the next wave of towers to be announced over the next 2 years!? Plus now that the State of the Union address has been made, has anyone been able to find out when the State of the City address will be made? Last year, it provided a whole lot of info on downtown from the medical center to Trader and Hilton. Keep a look out for the address, it could reveal a whole lot of info and perhaps, new development announcements!

I haven't posted in a while but I have kept up with news. Since I haven't been up here in a while, I might as well make my first post of 2006 a quick news bit. Downtown's 4th and (unsurprisingly) shortest tower crane is in place at the Norfolk Cruise Terminal site. I don't know the exact height but it seems to be over 100 ft but no taller than 150 ft. In any event, it still adds a view and shows more obvious signs of progress in downtown

More realistically they could possibly put it at Town Point Park, closer to waterside.

Man talk about typo's to the max! On the map, they mix up the locations for 388 Boush and Harbor Heights, and then on the pictures, they have the old Granby Tower rendering, an old rendering of Harbor Heights when it was only 11 stories, and they mix up the TCC student center with the Flats at St. Pauls Place. With all these errors, I wouldn't be surprised if I saw Town Center projects listed up here lol. J/k

I don't know if anyone is aware of this or has posted it somewhere else but, in what will only fuel the need for a new office tower in the near future, Virginia Natural Gas has officially moved in 150W. Main yesterday. They are occupying around 10,000 sq ft of space in that tower. Vacancy rates for Class A space was already well below 10%, I wonder if this new occupancy has us real close to 5% or perhaps lower.

I want to make note that there is NO such deal to have Bloomingdales and/or Saks 5th Ave Downtown. Again, they both have strong interest and negotiations are ongoing though it doesn't guarantee their arrival. According to former MacArthur Center manager Ed Ladd, they are in fierce competition with more than half a dozen potential anchor department stores. Due to the competition and better than expected success of the mall, Ladd has mentioned several times that there is NO rush to bring a third anchor. It will come "when we are ready". Having said that, potential Downtown retail developments at two major areas in Downtown are pending that could house large-scale and high-end retail. Just pray that the deals are made successful.

Expect Downtown's 4th tower crane either this week or next week. The yellow base of the tower crane very similar to that of Harbor Heights tower crane base before that was erected has already been installed. Now we just need the pieces to go up! Also since the cruise terminal will be only 2 stories, I put this crane as the shortest in downtown probably 100-125ft. tall.

In the end I think it stands out. Kinda like those things where you look into a abstract and then all of a sudden a 3-D image pops out and reveals to you what you've been seeing this whole time yet never exactly realized it.

Yeah fairly recent. Yeah Saks and Macy's (especially Macy's) bailed on the MacArthur Mall before construction started. But once the construction on the mall began and when it finally opened, Ed Ladd during his tenure of being manager mentioned numerous times in interviews that talks with Saks and Macy's are ongoing to see who wants to be the third anchor and he also brought up Bloomingdales and another store that I can't remember the name of, who also approached Taubman for that last opening spot. Ever since Ed Ladd left though, all successive managers have refused to be as open on the third anchor. I think has been because of competitive reasons for the hush-hush.

While Vdogg did say "no" I already indirectly said "no" earlier when I said that Bloomingdales was more interested in MacArthur rather than across from Granby. BLOOMINGDALES is NOT going across the street from Granby Tower!!!! It's only an idea of what to expect!

Haha thanks rus. I know it's public knowledge that Bloomingdales expressed interest in MacArthur and not Granby st. and that's why I posted it as more of an idea what COULD come and not what will come haha.

Damn I didn't realize mentioning Bloomingdales would cause excitement. That's only true to a certain level in which Bloomingdale's has been one of the few department stores that looked at coming downtown but not across from Granby. It was mentioned that they were interested in anchoring MacArthur but Macy's and Saks 5th Ave. has been said to be in high consideration too. In regards to what will pop up across the street from Granby, That's Decker territory there and he has gone on record to add "something very special". He previously planned on bring a high-end restaurant and lounge there until that project fell through due to an unsafe building.It's pretty obvioius that he will put retail similar to that of his previous project but if rumblings from VDogg are any indication, it will be on a higher level and that's why I mentioned Bloomingdales to make an example.

Believe it or not, I don't think Marathon thought it would be a good idea to have that star... err... coffee shop at Brambleton and Granby but it's obviously there because that coffeeshop wants LOTS of exposure and when you think deeper into it, that coffee shop will be the first connector to upcoming retail across the street. Imagine being in that shop and across the street next to the Pilot office building you see Bloomingdales!

Real quick, the city spent $100 million on the project which included the parking garages and Nordstrom. Also the property in which is the mall is on was owned by the city (now Taubman owns it) not the federal government making it taxable. The main purpose was to get people downtown, since people have to come from all kinds of directions to get to the mall, it opened the doors for businesses to take advantage to the added traffic. So not only is the mall a major success, it has had a spillover effect on the rest of downtown.

For so long the city and media have said the Norfolk city leaders were working to rebuild the city. I always brushed it off because it seemed (obviously) far-fetched, but I realize now that they really mean't it (literally!!!)

Oh man! I was about to go to the site and start a picket for the hotel proposal instead

Okay now that everyone is clear on where the 12 building will be with LRT, can someone explain to me why the hell this is sitting on the lot for the Hilton? And someone better be lying if this picture is "correct".

Yeah I noticed that too when I drove by the project earlier. So much for "Downtown Living, Downtown Style". It's now, "Downtown Living, Church Style". BTW I'm not knocking the project because I'm Catholic, I'm just messing around so if you're a hardcore religious person, don't take it personal or the wrong way. **Oh Willy out of curiousity, is that "quote" have below your posts real? Just wondering 'cause it's kinda funny but then it makes me wonder if there is friction between Norfolk and VA Beach.