VBIllini13

I disagree with your reasoning for why the ACC tourney wouldn't come to Virginia Beach. The Big Ten tournament alternates between Indianapolis and Chicago every other year. Neither of those cities have a Big Ten school but got the tournament because of their large capacity sporting venues and are easy to access by plane or car.

If they do well and attract people downtown, I don't mind if they're already in the area. Plus, it seems wrong to me to not invite back existing tenants, especially if they do well. It's not like they're inviting back the sketchy food court restaurants. And there's a major difference between Hampton and here: live entertainment. Simply the presence of bars is all that is needed to make Waterside Live a success when the real draw for most future patrons will be the bands. That's one of the biggest reasons that Power Plant Live in Baltimore attracts 3 million visitors annually.

http://hamptonroads.com/2014/02/new-odu-stadium-hits-road-block-assembly This is really ridiculous. Not only do all other Virginia public schools get to use student fees to finance athletic construction projects, but schools across the country do as well! Doesn't the General Assembly want all Virginia schools to be competitive and look good in the national spotlight? Here at the University of Illinois, we are currently doing a massive renovation of our 50 year old basketball arena, the State Farm Center. In addition to selling naming rights (it was formerly called the Assembly Hall) to finance the renovation, the school also raised money from private donors, and charged a $25 fee on each student through a campus-wide referendum. The referendum was overwhelmingly approved by students, mainly because we have historically been a school with a strong basketball program (5 Final Fours, 2 Big Ten Championships since the inception of the Big Ten Tournament about ten years ago, but this is me just bragging now). ODU has a very strong football program for only being about five years old, and I am sure that if the General Assembly would let them, ODU would also put the student fee to a vote, and I am also sure that students would be more than happy to pay a small amount of money to have a world-class football venue.

You'd be surprised. Fiscal conservatives are okay with doing business with China. Whether to finance construction or to do manufacturing, savvy businessmen will be in favor of lowering costs however they can. And besides, it's not like the Chinese government themselves are financing this project. That would be a different story. Anyway, now onto a more on-topic comment: I am so excited for this thing to get built! I know it still has to get approved and everything but I wish it could start right now. This would certainly be a landmark development for the City.

Just pulled this up on a Google search: http://constructiondatacompany.com/construction-projects/90816/steak-n-shake-virginia-beach-va/ I am very excited. We have several Steak n Shakes here in Illinois and it would be awesome to go to one when I go home in Virginia Beach.

I was wondering if that was the same company. Granted the ODU track already had a slew of problems when they took over, but I don't think they would be the best option for Virginia Beach. A single, continuous light rail line that connects with the Norfolk track is better, in my opinion.

http://m.hamptonroads.com/svc/wlws.svc/getHtml#article/?sectionId=3598&feedId=6063&articleId=8696804 Two new private proposals come in at the deadline to extend light rail into Virginia Beach. One proposal uses maglev to propel trains.

http://hamptonroads.com/2013/08/va-beach-aims-do-away-laskin-feeder-lanes It looks like the City is going to do what they did for the Boulevard to roughly 2 miles of Laskin Road. This will be so much better for traffic and accidents.

http://hamptonroads.com/2013/08/norfolk-ready-complete-deal-waterside-live Looks like this thing is finally moving forward, however slowly.

There is still some chance of it happening, but the odds of it being developed are slim and none (and slim just left town).

Actually Harbor Park would not have been the best place for the transfer station. Could you imagine dozens of buses trying to get in and out of that space and on those roads around Harbor Park? If Water St. around Harbor Park was a little wider then I think it would work but they went with the 2nd best location that would still work given traffic constraints. I agree with you, though, that it's too far away from LRT.

I'm intrigued. That hotel is probably one of my favorite buildings downtown. Any more hints you can give us?

They definitely want to get rid of the property, the City really had no business managing it for as long as it did. I still think that it's worth noting how successful Cordish's developments have been in attracting so many people including locals, suburbanites, and tourists to the development as a destination.

Power Plant Live attracts 3 million visitors annually. I'd say Norfolk would have made Waterside a success if it gets half of that.

We have an Urban Outfitters here in Champaign, IL and it is always packed with hipster college students. I think this will be a great addition to Granby Street, and I'm glad the company is finally willing to take the risk and expand into Norfolk's downtown.

It'll happen eventually, maybe just not as near into the future as we might have hoped. You can't exactly count this as a rejection of light rail since voter turnout is always low on non-major election years (i.e. not presidential, gubernatorial, senatorial, or congressional). I do think that, if a referendum were to go before the citizens of Virginia Beach that it would pass and Mr. Moss's claim that he would be more open to investigating the feasibility of light rail would be put to the test. And besides, Mr. Moss can't be on city council forever, his term only lasts so long and when he is up for re-election, there will be another opportunity for a pro-light rail pro-development candidate to take his place. Mr. Moss is only one council member and even though he is strikingly far to the right, he still as an obligation to represent the best interests of his constituents. Light rail will happen in Virginia Beach, but it will be many years and it will be expanded in Norfolk once or twice before expansion across city limits might happen.

Technically, Ms. Meredith is not a planner, but an employee in the city's [economic] development department. Economic development and planning sometimes work hand-in-hand, but in some cities, they do not. It is not the responsibility of any government entity to keep a struggling business alive. In the specific case of the department of economic development, their job is to attract businesses, jobs, and revenue-generating events to the city and keep jobs or businesses wanting to move. Again, Ms. Meredith is not a planner. She works in economic development, which is a separate department.

Board hasn't been to active lately. I can't believe nobody has posted this yet: http://vbgov.com/file_source/dept/planning/Rosemont%20Phase%20III%20News%20Release%20(2)%20(2).pdf Public meeting about the Rosemont SGA tomorrow night at 6:30 at the Central Library. I looked over the plan and I'm not too crazy about it.

I'm a big supporter of what Charlotte is doing. They put are beginning to put time limits on how long people can stay in public housing with the (correct) assertion that the limit will encourage residents to find work/further their education/get married to economically support a family etc. For residents trying extremely hard and following a certain program the city offers, they get access to better (yet still temporary) housing. Delaware is also trying to implement a policy like this and "graduates" of this program are very successful. It just shows that many times, poverty and homelessness is not the fault of the individual, but at the same time it is not the fault of the "system" (or those who "own the means of production").

You are correct in the sense that there are many plans for condos and apartments but very few of them seem to be coming to fruition. That space simply didn't meet the needs of a government organization. While this may add to some foot traffic downtown at lunch time we need a lot of condos and apartments to make downtown lively from sunrise to the wee hours of the night. I used to only want businesses to occupy space downtown, but then seeing how little foot traffic there is in downtown Norfolk, I realized that maybe a CBD with exponentially more jobs than residents isn't as good, and with increasing jobs in the labor pool, the number of downtown residents should also increase. I'm not saying that your argument isn't valid, because it most certainly is (I don't think anyone here is happy to see 300 jobs move away from downtown), but I do think if the Royster building were to be converted into residences that, eventually, it could more effectively fill the space that the NRHA couldn't fill.

http://hamptonroads.com/2011/03/norfolk-agency-puts-downtown-office-tower-sale This is terrific. The Royster building is a beautiful building and an excellent example of successful historic preservation. It would be great if it could be rehabilitated into apartments/condos. That would for sure liven up downtown, especially Granby Street.

Actually, in defense of Tel, the Kirn Library was in great shape and it's foundation was incredibly strong, especially for its age. The city could have easily added 3 floors onto the building because that was the intention of the original developers and engineers. That library's foundation was meant to support a vertical expansion. Yes light rail needed to connect to Plume somehow, but they could have made the train run through the first floor of the building. That being said, I absolutely support the development of this library now that Kirn is gone.

Exactly my point. Because the economy is so bad, better the storefronts are filled with something rather than being left vacant. However if there comes a time when retailers want to occupy the space again, I say artists need to find a new place to call home unless they are willing to put up unsubsidized rent.

First off, it's the SELDEN Arcade. If you're going to be advocating for something, might as well get the name right. Second, people except those obsessed with the so-called creative class are not concerned with paintings. With the exception of.art museums it is not something people will go out of their way to see. Arts like music and theater give reasons for people to come to downtown. People would rather see art on the street rather than in city-supported projects like the d'Art Center. What residents of downtown/Freemason might like is for the Selden Arcade to be put to its original use and be filled with retail and barber shops, given an appropriate market and demand. The only reason Granby's storefronts were filled with art this summer and that is because there were no retail or other businesses to fill it. A healthy art community is good for a city, but it should not be surviving at the will of the government, it should be because people want the art or at least express interest in seeing paintings downtown. I would personally be fine if Selden were filled with retail and art graced the atrium. That would serve as a pleasant amenity to shoppers and window shoppers in the arcade

The Selden Arcade is dead, especially during the day. The heart of downtown and in prime real estate is not the spot for artists to be able to paint and show off their work. The city put then there because at the time, and still now for a time, the arcade had few if any tenants and they thought it would liven up the place. Clustering art in an inside venue with nothing to attract them inside is just one reason not many people come to norfolk for it's art. I like when artists come to me and are on the street rather than me having to go to them. Why? Because I won't go to them. Art is important to a city but in the form of theater and music rather than amateur painting.