Virginia Beach off-topic

[vdogg]

Yeah, it has in the TC thread. The P&C thread is really for individual projects however.

[urbanlife]

well I tip my hat to the person who did the rendering, that is a really good rendering, the buildings blend in to reality very nicely.

when the town center is fully built out, Virginia Beach is gonna have one hell of a dense core at least.

Edited July 21, 2008 by urbanlife

[vbhokie]

So I'm a bit too young to remember this, but how come Virginia Beach allowed Columbus One to be built on the town center land? Why did they allow one of the lots to be developed and not wait for a comprehensive town center project? I guess you could include the beacon building and taco bell land in that question as well.

Edited August 1, 2008 by vbhokie

[Telmnstr]

I was watching a fascinating documentary about the Bakers (mainly Tammy Faye), and it was mentioned as to how Robertson and Falwell had profited way more than the Bakers, probably had done worse things, but no one ever called attention on them.

I remembered years ago there was a book someone wrote that was nothing more than a huge compilation of stupid quotes from Robertson. You know how the media picks on his stupid babbling now? He's been uttering the same nonsense for years. And years ago someone compiled a whole book (Not the coloring book that is out now) of the best. I'm trying to find it. Supposedly it was quite funny, if not amazing.

Anyone happen to know? I think it was published around 1994. There is so much noise on the internet I couldn't find anything about it last night when searching.

[adctvmonkey]

I don't know if anyone else posted this, but this is unfortunate news. Forbes ranked Virginia Beach No. 1 for where homeowners are losing value the fastest - ahead of Orlando and Miami. They estimate that a whopping 34.5% of homeowners of the city owe more on their mortgages than their houses are worth.

Here's the link.

[RJWGMU]

I don't know if anyone else posted this, but this is unfortunate news. Forbes ranked Virginia Beach No. 1 for where homeowners are losing value the fastest - ahead of Orlando and Miami. They estimate that a whopping 34.5% of homeowners of the city owe more on their mortgages than their houses are worth.

Here's the link.

That's weird.... I wonder what the study period was... If I remember correctly, our area was one of the last ones to be hit by the housing crunch which would lead me to think that overall, they have declined less than most. Who knows though; we would need to know over what period they studied (if it's in the article, sorry... I didn't read it)

[scm]

That's weird.... I wonder what the study period was... If I remember correctly, our area was one of the last ones to be hit by the housing crunch which would lead me to think that overall, they have declined less than most. Who knows though; we would need to know over what period they studied (if it's in the article, sorry... I didn't read it)

I don't believe it -- Zillow, one of my fave sites, says VB prices are down 5% in the last year. Says Orlando is down 17% this year. Las Vegas -- 15.4% down. Miami -- down 21.9%. So something doesn't add up.

[RJWGMU]

I don't believe it -- Zillow, one of my fave sites, says VB prices are down 5% in the last year. Says Orlando is down 17% this year. Las Vegas -- 15.4% down. Miami -- down 21.9%. So something doesn't add up.

thats sort of what i was saying... when everywhere else was going down, wasnt VB still going up? i don't think it would add up to 35% but still...

[Telmnstr]

Hey props for the link. Someone told me about it (I guess it was on the front page of Yahoo) but I never saw it.

First, Zillow is fine for value lookups but their computer value model stuff is horrific. Zestimates aren't good.

Second, I find that kind of surprising myself. I'd still think that Florida and Arizona are loosing more ground than VB.

I've begged in the Pilot comments for the "price per square foot" metrics, but they don't publish it for here (TAR -> VAR doesn't have it). Average price per square foot would be useful. Is the $300K home selling today much bigger than the $300K homes sold 2 years ago? Can't tell.

Do remember we were late to the party, so our hangover will happen later. Ignore the "It's different here" nonsense.

The gov't is taking the wrong approach by trying to save home values. Incomes don't support em. Let em drop then people would have more legitimate money to spend, not on credit cards.

[CaveMaN]

Not sure if it'd been brought up, but I noticed tonight that the vabeachtowncenter.com website has been totally revamped. The new one looks a lot more refined then the previous website did. There's a couple nice photos I hadn't yet seen of Studio56 & the Westin on the "Live" & "Stay" portions of the site. Unfortunately it looks like all the nice progress photos taken during construction are no longer on the site. If anyone tracks them down, let me know-

[Telmnstr]

So I'm a bit too young to remember this, but how come Virginia Beach allowed Columbus One to be built on the town center land? Why did they allow one of the lots to be developed and not wait for a comprehensive town center project? I guess you could include the beacon building and taco bell land in that question as well.

I know this is old, but One Columbus (the brick building?) was there waaaay before Town Center. The whole idea of Town Center came much later. I'm pretty sure the office building there pre-existed Barns and Nobles in our market. Not sure if it was there before the Movie Theater. It used to be woods. There was a house over there (actually talked to the owner about renting it once!) but the owner worked next door (recipe for disaster).

The low rise building came up, holding an office for Alltel cell phones. Then it was extended out. There is also (I believe) a telephone switch hut behind the Alltell office.

The Planet Music store has actually undergone a few ownership changes as I recall.

One Columbus just pre-dated everything by a long shot.

Actually ate at Fuddruckers the other day (and added all the arcade machines to a buddies site : www.aurcade.com ) and it was pretty dead. The staff were humping us the whole time, making sure our experience was good. A break from the downtown Norfolk eats, it was better priced and more food. Town Center establishments have to be hurting them pretty badly.

[Telmnstr]

Not sure if it'd been brought up, but I noticed tonight that the vabeachtowncenter.com website has been totally revamped. The new one looks a lot more refined then the previous website did. There's a couple nice photos I hadn't yet seen of Studio56 & the Westin on the "Live" & "Stay" portions of the site. Unfortunately it looks like all the nice progress photos taken during construction are no longer on the site. If anyone tracks them down, let me know-

http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.va...towncenter.com/

Right click, save as on the images you want to keep. Not sure how it will work with the site (so many sites use odd frameworks for dynamic rendering of content. Ahh. Web 2.0, full of nice graphics and layout, and lacking in real useful easy access to information..)

Anyone know the tenant intranet password for the new town center site? P.M. me if you are willing to share.

Woah, Randy Brecker is coming to the performing arts center. But $55? F--- that.

[ronsmytheiii]

I know this is old, but One Columbus (the brick building?) was there waaaay before Town Center. The whole idea of Town Center came much later. I'm pretty sure the office building there pre-existed Barns and Nobles in our market. Not sure if it was there before the Movie Theater. It used to be woods. There was a house over there (actually talked to the owner about renting it once!) but the owner worked next door (recipe for disaster).

The low rise building came up, holding an office for Alltel cell phones. Then it was extended out. There is also (I believe) a telephone switch hut behind the Alltell office.

The Planet Music store has actually undergone a few ownership changes as I recall.

One Columbus just pre-dated everything by a long shot.

Actually ate at Fuddruckers the other day (and added all the arcade machines to a buddies site : www.aurcade.com ) and it was pretty dead. The staff were humping us the whole time, making sure our experience was good. A break from the downtown Norfolk eats, it was better priced and more food. Town Center establishments have to be hurting them pretty badly.

One Columbus was indeed first, it was there when all the movie theatre was a lot full of trees. Where the Music store/Barnes and nobles is now used to be a hardware store of some kind or a walmart. Sorry really stretching back to my childhood to remember, however there was a store there before.

Where the Alltel store is now used to be a sketchy kind of club with a boxcar in front.

Edited February 28, 2009 by ronsmytheiii

[urbanlife]

great shot, I remember when that movie theater opened. It had the nicest seats in the city.

There has been several attempts to turn that area into a downtown over the years...would be cool if someone knew how to dig up that information.

I know right before the town center was approved, Walmart was offering more money to buy the land to build a Super Walmart.

I also have old photos of that area right before the cut the trees down and when they were cutting the trees down, but they are all on film somewhere...long before digital.

[RJWGMU]

Wow, I barely remember how the area used to look! I remember that Columbus did used to be super nice and 'the' theater to go to... And when Planet Music Opened... And of course, the big patch of trees that is now Town Center...

[urbanvb]

Before Barnes and Noble was built there Hechinger was there. In case some might not know Hechinger was a home improvement type store.

Edited March 1, 2009 by urbanvb

[mlsimons]

Does anyone know the details on the Nimmo/Ferrell Pkwy extention?

I have noticed a lot of increase activity along P.A. road...just wondering if they are widening the road at the same time they are making the extention.

Also, I noticed a farmer change his fence line right where the Nimmo extention is to go, next to Kellam High between P.A. road and Holland Rd. which I assume is due the extention breaking ground soon.

I am trying to figure out by looking on the map, how exactly will Nimmo connect to Ferrell? I am guess that once it approaches West Neck it will extend parallel to North Landing and there is a strange easment through the tree line which turns north across some farmland and connects to Landstown Rd.

But how does it connect to Ferrell pkwy, that to me makes no sense!

[urbanvb]

Red light cameras are coming back

Personally I am glad to see these coming back. I tire of seeing red lights run like its just ordinary.

[urbanlife]

Just came across this, thought I would share a found image of VB's lost architectural history.

[RJWGMU]

Just came across this, thought I would share a found image of VB's lost architectural history.

Wow! What year did that come down? I barely remember it... How many people could it actually hold?

[jeffconn]

Red light cameras are coming back

Personally I am glad to see these coming back. I tire of seeing red lights run like its just ordinary.

Are you SURE you want this? Because localities worldwide are shorting yellow lights to make more revenue from red light cameras.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/20...llow-lights.ars

Or, somebody who doesn't like you can put a fake plate on a car that is similar to yours, and run a red light on purpose, just so you can get a ticket in the mail.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/20...our-enemies.ars

IMHO, red light cameras are the wrong solution to the problem of red light running. The only ACCURATE solution is to post a patrol car at intersections.

[varider]

I didn't know where to put this or if somebody already brought it up but i noticed the mcdonalds near town center by the best buy is being rebuilt..

[urbanvb]

yeah i noticed the same this weekend. i was told some mcdonalds restaurants have also been rebuilt in the richmond area and a couple of burger kings in vb have also been rebuilt. time to update especially since town center is booming. it would be cool to see something updated.

[urbanvb]

Looks like a couple of the red-light cameras are now operational. Just two of 20 to come online.

redlight cameras

[Telmnstr]

I didn't know where to put this or if somebody already brought it up but i noticed the mcdonalds near town center by the best buy is being rebuilt..

Drove by there the other day and was shocked to see the fence and the rubble pile. They rebuilt the one on Indian River across from Taco Bell. It's all new and hip with modern design. I assume the town center location will look similar.