streetsahead

I was near ODU today and I immediately noticed that huge plot of land between 40th and 41st streets that's currently sitting vacant. There are a ton of mixed used apartments w/ ground floor retail on one side and even more apartments on the other. It's just a big, empty field of grass in the middle of an urban neighborhood and it sticks out like a sore thumb. Any insight into why this huge plot of prime land still hasn't been developed? Using Google Maps I can see that it's been sitting like that for years.

I agree with most of your points, but I don't think South Norfolk merging with Norfolk would be as inevitable as you make it out to be. South Norfolk has never been a part of Norfolk. The main reason that Chesapeake even exists is because Norfolk was attempting to annex the portion of Norfolk County that surrounded the independent city of South Norfolk. Neither party wanted to be consumed by Norfolk, so they joined forces and merged to create the City of Chesapeake. It's true that current-day South Norfolk probably has more in common with Norfolk than it does southern Chesapeake, but I still doubt that any hypothetical partial merger would go over smoothly.

Nope, it's just a bunch of speculation. Nothing is confirmed.

This was the crowd at the Monticello Light Rail station after the Illumination parade: I think this was the most crowded I've ever seen a light rail station in Norfolk. It gives me hope that light rail can be successful in Norfolk, with or without the help of other cities in the area.

As someone who has just started to frequent the NEON district, I completely agree. Look a what a huge difference just a couple of years makes: Also, this is the rendering for the new Glass Wheel Studio on Olney (opening this fall):

Does anyone have any information about any planned Suffolk developments?