Arctic_Tern

“Council has a preference towards what Wellness Circle is proposing. What we have to do now is figure out if we can make this financially feasible,” Filer said. “It’s very possible that, by the time we’re done doing our due diligence, council may say, ‘you know what, we aren’t going get there on an arena.’” Boom. I like to think that Council read my comment and that helped grease the wheels.

I don't even need the arena, but Bruces concept of an Office Park+ is just awful. I'd rather them go with one of the other two proposals and just lop off the arena if it is what's driving up costs.

I think the HPN line is down to one a week. I had tickets for flights on July 2, then July 1 and both were cancelled on me. Unfortunate as I was looking forward to trying out Breeze for the first time

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Yea, so lets just start with the watered down idea, then we can just be pre-disappointed! I'm sorry but Bruce Thompson's idea is just not good and not what the city was looking for.

Anyone worried about Richmond scooping Norfolk in the casino department won't have to worry for a few years. They can't even have another referendum on it until 2023. https://www.virginiamercury.com/2022/06/01/after-months-of-wrangling-virginia-has-a-budget-deal-whats-in-it/

It comes down to who owns the malls and good management. Greenbrier and MacArthur are owned by CBL Properties (maybe CBRE after foreclosure?) and Spinoso respectively, while Lynnhaven is owned by Brookfield Properties (formerly known as GGP). CBL and Starwood are pretty low on the commercial real estate totem pole, while Brookfield has some of the best malls in the world.. They simply have better resources and talent than the firms managing MacArthur and Greenbrier.

I for one am glad that Cordish isn't building the Casino. From everything I've seen and heard irt the Waterside development they're a prima donna of a company, and we don't need more of their drama trying in our City. I would be flabbergasted if the Portsmouth Casino turns out as nice as the Norfolk one. If Portsmouth's casino ever fails and is turned into a Walmart I don't think anyone would notice the difference.

Oh I'd be on there like shareware. Cheap flight out to SLC, rent a car and spend a week driving around national parks/monuments. Utah is a beautiful state.

I think that's becoming apartments too? Wouldn't be surprised to see the exterior get a bit of a facelift if that's the case.

Yeah that building is beautiful. Honestly with its location something like a civic center or a library would be a perfect use for it if they decide to not use it as a school anymore.

I mean, I'm not saying we need to completely outlaw cars or that these changes would even be possible in an accelerated short time period. But things like parking maximums or excess parking acreage fees are a really good way to ensure that land is used in the most valuable way instead of being eaten by parking. And being able to maximize land usage is an incredibly important priority for a city that is proverbially landlocked and does not have access to county taxes like other cities. There are means to solve parking by means that do and don't use a car, but there's very few ways for Norfolk to get taxes out of a large surface parking lot. I would also say people use cars because they are the most convenient option, because we build infrastructure that makes them the most convenient option. If you make other forms of transportation as or more convenient, people will use those. There is nothing inherently better about one transportation system over the other in a vacuum, and you need to build infrastructure in a way that benefits your city. I just don't think Norfolk has anything to gain by increasing car infrastructure, and has a ton to gain by increasing other infrastructure

Norfolk's border's are set, and they aren't going to move for at least 100 years. We can not look towards land expansion as our means of growing our economy. Looking outward for help from Chesapeake or Virginia Beach is a fools errand as well. They do not care if Norfolk or the area grows, they have what they want. Helping Norfolk could change the power structure of the area and they don't want that. Norfolk needs to plan with the mind that only Norfolk will help itself. Amsterdam has a population of over 900,000 people, within an area of 64 square miles. It is an international hub and can more than throw its weight around. It doesn't do all that with tall skyscrapers, but with amazing planning with a dense and walkable mindset. If Norfolk wants to grow, they need to adopt the Amsterdam mindset. No more suburban neighborhoods, or gigantic surface parking lots, but dense, walkable and attractive housing. It needs to find ways to integrate dense low-to-midrise planning into every corner of the city to maximize its potential. They need to remove parking minimums, enact parking maximums, require businesses to implement pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, and work on ways to open up the city to all forms of transportation. They need to revise their housing requirements to make it economic and easy for people to build "missing middle" multifamily housing. There's a lot that they can do to make Norfolk an attractive place to live, but they actually have to start doing it.

I don't know how anyone can look at those gigantic parking lots and think that's a good usage of space. Norfolk likes to talk a big game when it comes to walkability, but when given a blank slate to build whatever they want, they come up with an incredibly lackluster urban design.

Oh believe you me, we all agree. Look up the Granby Towers project to see what could have been.

I will say I'm a bit disappointed that it looks like it's just a suburban apartment complex with a better paint job. Basically seems like it'll function like the development on Charlotte/Boush St. Unless there's anything public facing on the first few floors putting that on the corner of Granby/Brambleton right next to downtown seems to be a waste of a great location. EDIT: Suburban might not be the best term for it seeing how it has no stand-alone parking lot, but I just don't like it's for entirely residential purposes. Good to get more people in the area but I don't want Granby street to become riddled with places you can't actually do anything else with. If this goes through this would be the 4th apartment complex approved for the NEON district that has zero first floor businesses. I don't see that as sustainable.

As an ODU fan I'm ecstatic for the Sun Belt move. C-USA sucked and I didn't care about any of the teams there. Playing JMU, App, and Georgia Southern every year is going to be awesome. Those are a lot better than UNCC, MTSU, FAU, or FIU. And at least I can go to a damn away game without having to take a plane

Was riding the tide recently and the lofts at front street look nice. Gotta be nearing completion as a lot of the exterior was completed. Need to get some street retail there tho cause there's not a lot of things for the residents to do there right now.

Norfolk also has direct flights to Newark, Philly, and Boston. I think we're pretty good when it comes to routes to the major northeast corridor markets. I have some really good friends that live in LA and so this direct flight is going to be a dream for us. Makes it so much easier to actually get to see each other. I'm also interested in a flight to provo. Southern Utah is absolutely gorgeous, got to go on a road trip all around there some years ago. Would love the opportunity to head out that way on a discount ticket and a rental car to go exploring again.

I would bet they should be able to snag a brewery and a good eatery to that site. Bold Mariner used to be just a few blocks down and they did well enough to be able to move to that nice place in Ocean View, so the area is a proven location for a brewery. With a site like this tho, I would imagine we see a satellite of an already establish brewing company.

There's a fresh market within throwing distance of this property, and I think a LIDL would do better in that area, especially with ODU students. Would love to get a Trader Joes at some point but I think LIDL is a good move there.

I understand the feeling tho, I love talking about planning and ideas for the City but we are the mercy of the City government and developers for new conversation fodder, and unfortunately those things move as slow as molasses. When it comes to what I would like to see, I just want to see more density that is walkable and mixed use, as well as the reinstatement of the city grid, at the very least in walkable form if not a driveable one. Norfolk suffers from the flow of the downtown being constrained by large projects like MacArthur Mall and the interstate, and hopefully this can be partially remedied by whatever happens with the mall in the coming decade.

Would always desire more first floor retail at such a high visibility area but I also thought the church there would put a stranglehold on that parking lot so this plan looks pretty freaking good in that context.

The ODU soccer pitch is nowhere near enough for an MLS team, and I'm pretty sure the football field was made with only american football in mind, I don't think there's enough space to fit a soccer field. Honestly, something that has been rumbling around in the back of my head for a while is that the City should work with Norfolk State to upgrade William Dick Price Stadium to make it suitable for a MLS/NWSL/USL/USFL team. The stadium is near downtown, is close to a Tide stop, there is plenty of space there to build a modern facility and you get to help upgrade the local HBCU in the City. You'd have to work with NSU to make sure that all their needs are filled but I think it would be a win/win/win for everyone involved. ODU might be a bit miffed tho that the City helped NSU build a new stadium right after they built one but w/e

Looks like some new routes will be announced in the coming weeks. Maybe Tampa has more because their 220 flights will be running primarily on already established routes?