Kevin Cheph Randall

Norfolk is extremely surprising, Hampton too. This area kind of needs Norfolk to be growing, with that said I live in P-town it isn't surprising. Portsmouth is cheap and they have been doing a lot of infilling in neighborhoods. Downtown Portsmouth has also added about 5/6 new apartment complex's in the last 10 years too. I expect Portsmouth to continue to grow, especially with the casino, new subdivision, and apartments being built. If Norfolk could learn anything from any city it would be Richmond. VCU has been a powerhouse in turning Richmond around I feel like ODU could do the same for Norfolk it needs a younger vibe, and more public art lol. I guess it is a positive that Portsmouth is growing again though, with the tolls too. That's honestly the silver lining in all of this, if Portsmouth can do it so can HR lol. That's the motto. I do expect this area to pass 2M, we need a national presents of some sort. Something In The Water is/was that but of coarse covid hasn't helped much, hopefully Military Circle can come thru. The casinos should help I mean this area is freaking loaded honestly, historic districts, beaches, world class-theme park, zoo, aquarium, children museum, outlets, an Ikea, light-rail, cruise-ship port, multiple downtowns, casinos, rail, 2 airports, deepest ports just about anywhere, and the MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX LOL. Some semblance of regionalism would go along way too people need to know what this area offers within a 1hr drive or less, casinos should help. How did the areas between HR and Richmond do? Williamsburg is such a central location, arguably the best location in Va. Its literally 45mins from Norfolk and Richmond, if Williamsburg can develop into a micro metropolis we should be able to merge with Richmond msa, the expansion of 64 really seems helps in making that connection too. North Suffolk is booming too. But yeah Chesapeake has the land now and way better interstate access than Va Beach does.

The empty land that sit beside the Jordan Bridge on the Chesapeake side is a great location. It sit directly across from the NNSY, the industrial backdrop with huge Naval ships would look AWESOME. Im sure a hotel there would be a major draw, just for tourist to see those large ships. The area sits directly off of 464 so your literally 20mins from anywhere on the Southside. As mentioned before have the developer build a ferry landing, I'd imagine something like Downtown Suffolk Hilton Garden Inn w Marina.

Exactly that's the kind of regional mindset we need. I didn't even think about Harbor Parks Landing. That would be exciting to have 5 ferry stops. Many Years ago HRT wanted to expand the ferry service to Hampton. I think to have the entire area connected thru ferries would be awesome and unique. Really showing off our waterways. Every City in Hampton Roads should have a ferry landing. Imagine you hop on a ferry on the Nansemond and take it to the Oceanfront, would be a long awesome ride, with stops sprinkled along the Southside. Ferries to the peninsula from Ocean View. One can dream....

Hopefully another city on the Southside will pick this up. Portsmouth could use an entertainment venue, and more hotel options downtown. Chesapeake doesn't thinks it's residences want more entertainment options? Seemed like a good addition for the Greenbrier area. Northern Suffolk is also lacking in entertainment, this could work very well in that area too. Or how about put it in South Norfolk and build an HRT ferry landing also. To have 3 distinctive urban areas on the River connected by ferry would be pretty cool.

They're banking on the fact Victory Crossing is very close to 664/64/264 and 58 interchange. So theoretically people coming from north and west of here would be closer to it. It would also be accessible to people who live in the area but wants to avoid tolls, its a lot more land there too. With the property downtown i don't know of any plans. Armada Hoffler has plans for the waterfront land the jail sits on,wouldn't be surprised if they had plans for more of waterfront property ( maybe they can build a real Towne Center for once j/k). Also Senater Lucas is pulling the strings on this deal, she had previous plans to build a hotel on the Victory site. She also has been pushing for casino's since forever. So this is all her, which is cool. Being a resident, we need multi million dollar development it'd be a good look imo. You also have people who live in NE NC who take route 17 which is pretty much George Washington hwy. Which also connects to Victory Blvd about 5 mins away from that area. So alot more people could get to that spot toll free. Plus space and influx of people,I dont know if that section of Olde Towne could manage an influx of a couple million ppl a year. It would be very tight, with the Naval hospital traffic it be major grid lock all the time. Crawford Pkwy is tight as is and probably cant be expanded. Versus Victory could easily be more lanes if needed.

https://pilotonline.com/news/government/local/article_0533aa58-3cdf-5538-b0a4-cb46ed5b9124.html

Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Suffolk did consider mergering before. Suffolk eventually backed out, that collapsed the whole plan. Suffolk had the extra space that both Norfolk and Portsmouth needed to grow. It's funny how you all speak of Portsmouth, is so disrespectful. Norfolk and Portsmouth were both set up to fail when the Virginia assembly practically suffocated both cities. When Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, and Suffolk were created it killed all chances of the REAL cities in the area from growing by annexing land. Hampton Roads only exist because of the industries in Norfolk and Portsmouth PERIOD. How in the hell did new cities suck up all the free land, it was robbery. It's also rooted in racism but I digress..... Honestly the state should force South Hampton Roads to merge because both cities were ROBBED. Norfolk/ Portsmouth would easily be a major cities without Virginia Beach and Chesapeake. Funny thing is those 2 cities get along best.

http://www.richmondbizsense.com/2012/03/02/developers-have-high-hopes-for-new-property/

Has this been started or have you ever seen these plans. http://www.iconarch.com/plan/richmond.html