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Hilton Norfolk at The Main

vdogg

By vdogg
in Norfolk

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BFG Town

BFG

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To call Norfolk a cesspool is laying it on really thick, not to mention it's just wrong. The city is not perfect and my wish list has quite a few items on it, but I've seen this city come a long way in the last 25 or so years, and I'll take the downtown of today compared to the one from the mid-90s where everything was dead come sunset.

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urbanvb City

urbanvb

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This is a great looking building. I'm excited to see it go up and feel it will be quite an asset to the city. That said I noticed a recent article on VB town center. As of late the city of VB has invested $105m and the private investment  has been roughly $450m- and this for a 17 block urban center.  VB has recouped almost a third of its investment of late and with the addition of some premium retail should only go higher. 

I'm definitely not bashing The Main project at all. It's going to be an awesome building. I just hope it can reach its full potential for the city for its $100m investment and for its citizens.  

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757Duke Whistle-Stop

757Duke

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Are they planning on adding the facades of the buildings that use to be on Granby St to the side of this building? There was definitely some beautiful old architecture among those little buildings.

The facade of the old Decker Building will go in next to the existing buildings on Granby. It's going to look magnificent!

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metalman Burg

metalman

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They only knocked down one build on the granby side on main and yea, I'm glad they kept their word on reusing the Decker facade on Granby st.  That's my favorite block.  Great architecture indeed.

I was down there this weekend for the Asian festival.  Those steel frames are quite imposing. 

 

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varider Town

varider

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I agree! This thing already has a huge presence and has completely changed the feel of the downtown core..Theres something about the narrowness of granby st and the surrounding area that is going to make this tower feel especially tall and significant! Can't imagine the street level once it's all said and done! if they can get the waterside parking garage redevelopment tower thing going were really gonna have something good going on down there!

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TNinVB Burg

TNinVB

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Here's the original Westin design. I do admit I like the glass facade of the Hilton.

 

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I like this design.  Much better than the Westin that is being built back home in Nashville. It's horrendous! Also I hear a lot of the same complaints on the Nashville forum on Urban Planet (I'm a native Nashvillian but have lived here in Hampton Roads since 2003) and we have high rises popping up all over the place. Nashville is going through one of its biggest building booms ever.  Everyone wants a new tallest and wants the fanciest architecture. It seems that glass box design seems to be what everyone is getting now. I think if there is street level activation and at least some nice lighting at night then I'm happy. I need to check this forum more because I had no idea this building was going up. 

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Our Westin in Nashville currently under construction and the class boxes above are for a new apartment tower breaking ground in Novemer. It's a shiny glass box and at one time the proposal was for a building that would have been the tallest outside of NYC and Chicago. Then the Great Recession hit.

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This is what was originally proposed at 1,057 ft and now we are getting the shorter glass box at 45 stories and 550ish feet. Signature Tower would have been a beautiful addition to the skyline.  

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BFG Town

BFG

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I actually got to check out the Nashville forum the other night, and caught a few of the complaints you mentioned. Although that taller, "spiky" building, that shiny glass apartment building isn't too bad, even with the reduced height. 550ft would still have a major presence in the Norfolk skyline...

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TNinVB Burg

TNinVB

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I agree that a 550 ft building would look impressive in Norfolk. The Signature Tower (spikey building) was even reduced to 55 stories from 70 before it was finally scrapped due to the recession.  The newest building going up called 505 CST (for its address at 505 Church Street) will stand out when built and hopefully look nice.  It's labeled as being the second tallest in Nashville when complete (after the Batman building) but will probably appear to be the tallest because of the hills in downtown Nashville. This building will be constructed on one of the highest elevations in downtown. It's exciting times in Nashville with all the towers going up. My favorite are the JW Marriott and a newly proposed 38 story apartment tower designed by SOM. I'm glad I checked the board here and am excited to see some development happening here in Hampton Roads. Too bad Granby Tower never happens. Are there any plans for something on the former site to happen in the future?

 

The first building is the 38 story SOM building proposed by Buckingham Properties.  The current site only allows for up to 28 stories so they are waiting on a height variance approval from the city of Nashville.  The JW Marriott and adjoining office building will start to rise one the existing building is finished being demolished.  Since the Music City Center was built a couple of years ago there has been a demand for hotel rooms in the downtown core.  The Omni which was built along with the Music City Center falls short on rooms because they decided to only go 22 stories with 800 rooms.  I think it's safe to say they regret that decision now.  The Westin and JW can't go up fast enough.

 

 

 

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vdogg Megalopolis

vdogg

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So I'm not getting the sense that this is only going to be the height of the Dominion building (Trader). I think it's going to be taller. They've completed 5 floors, working on the 6th, and this thing has a serious presence. We've got at least 17 floors to go. I'm not seeing his coming I'm under 300, especially with that crown. If I had to guess I'd say closer to the height of the BOA building.

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vdogg Megalopolis

vdogg

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http://www.norfolk.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/06092014-412

 

This project is going before Design Review on the 9th (weird considering they've already started construction). Not sure why as they didn't link any documents. On a side note, why is everything with this project so secretive? I can usually find all sorts of documents related to construction, height in feet, materials used, etc. It's really unnecessary to keep that much under wraps, it's just a hotel. I hope we can get more access to information in the future.

This is the reason the hotel went through design review after it had already started construction.

http://www.norfolk.gov/themain

"Oh, this main news story almost didn’t happen. The developer added an additional 28 hotel rooms (bringing the total to 300) at the last minute and expanded the Presidential suite, when they finalized plans, as the market facts about Norfolk continued to suggest there is increasing demand for this kind of luxury hotel and conference center in Norfolk.

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brikkman Burg

brikkman

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This is the reason the hotel went through design review after it had already started construction.

http://www.norfolk.gov/themain

"Oh, this main news story almost didn’t happen. The developer added an additional 28 hotel rooms (bringing the total to 300) at the last minute and expanded the Presidential suite, when they finalized plans, as the market facts about Norfolk continued to suggest there is increasing demand for this kind of luxury hotel and conference center in Norfolk.

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How many rooms can go on a floor with that size foot print?

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