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Military Hwy Redevelopment


atp4984

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Hey Guys,

I'm a Norfolk native and a senior architecture major at CU Boulder. I'm working on a project that involves redeveloping part of Military Hwy, and was wondering if I can get some info from someone. I need to know what stores anchor Military Circle, and which, if any, of those anchor stores are empty. Thanks for your help, I've been lurking here a while and it's awesome to see how much things have changed back home since 2000.

Take it easy guys,

Aaron

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The main ones are Macy's, JC Penneys, and Sears. There is also a hotel and movie theatre attached that are still operational.

http://www.galleryat...m/MallInfo.aspx

And the rest is lower demographic filler stores..... the place is probably the worst mall in the region. I hope that it goes the way of Coliseum mall, although pretty much the entire area along Virginia Beach Boulevard has gone downhill......

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And the rest is lower demographic filler stores..... the place is probably the worst mall in the region. I hope that it goes the way of Coliseum mall, although pretty much the entire area along Virginia Beach Boulevard has gone downhill......

I agree with this.

Not only are the stores horrible, but it also smells like weed and must, most of the time.

Virginia Beach Blvd. should be so much more than it is.. It's the heart of Hampton Roads, yet all I see is rim shops and cash advances..

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And the rest is lower demographic filler stores..... the place is probably the worst mall in the region. I hope that it goes the way of Coliseum mall, although pretty much the entire area along Virginia Beach Boulevard has gone downhill......

This is true. IMO, Military Circle Mall is the worst and most ghetto mall in the area. The only thing that is holding it are the anchor stores. The Macy's there is awful. The sad thing is that JANAF has so much potential but I see its starting to go down...and Best Square and the Military Crossing Shopping Center is awful and run down.

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I think we would have to at the minimum, triple the population downtown before moving a sears downtown

How do you figure??

The combination of downtown and Ghent produce the highest population densities in Hampton Roads.. I think Ghent has something like 15,000 persons per sq. mile? But honestly.. when does the immediate population within walking distance surrounding a big box store have anything to do with where it locates? People could come from Suffolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, etc. to go to a downtown big box. Not just the downtown residents.

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How do you figure??

The combination of downtown and Ghent produce the highest population densities in Hampton Roads.. I think Ghent has something like 15,000 persons per sq. mile? But honestly.. when does the immediate population within walking distance surrounding a big box store have anything to do with where it locates? People could come from Suffolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, etc. to go to a downtown big box. Not just the downtown residents.

People are not going to come from Suffolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake for a Sears. Lets be real about this. It would have to be something that is not in those locals to have people drive to DT Norfolk.

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I thought what we had now was a redeveloped Military Hwy corridor, lol. A sea of one story buildings, I thought that is what the city wanted!

Unless all this talk surrounds military circle mall and crossing, hard to see what that can be in a sea of 1 sotry buildings...

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Sorry to go off topic here, but it's still related to my project. I need some more info from the locals:

How long does it take to drive from Norfolk to Richmond via I-64 any given weekday - in typical traffic conditions at say 8-10am?

How long does it take to drive from Richmond to DC via I-95 in those same conditions?

Feel free to ballpark it. Just need a real rough estimate. Thanks again.

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People are not going to come from Suffolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake for a Sears. Lets be real about this. It would have to be something that is not in those locals to have people drive to DT Norfolk.

Why not? They drive from Elizabeth City, Gloucester, James City County, and the Oceanfront to go to MacArthur Center. Some of those people pass one or two other shopping centers. You're looking at it wrong. It is true that nobody would drive from Suffolk to go to Sears. They would, however, come to Downtown if there was more for them. With a long drive, people will tend to save up small trips to run so that they can hit all the stops on one trip. If more places were Downtown, more people would come because it would be more convenient for them. 

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  • 1 year later...

I agree with this.

Not only are the stores horrible, but it also smells like weed and must, most of the time.

Virginia Beach Blvd. should be so much more than it is.. It's the heart of Hampton Roads, yet all I see is rim shops and cash advances..

I'm sorry but the weed and must thing is amusing. I had to laugh out loud ... But yes, the stores are horrible.

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  • 1 month later...

Military circle mall is losing Sears, not too much of a surprise but the mall is now solely going to be supported by Macy's:

http://hamptonroads....ll-slated-close

Edit: Oops, forgot JCPenny, still how long can it survive? The remaining anchor tenants need to have a serious discussion with the owners as the mall is going downhill.

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It's time for Military Circle to consider going the Coliseum route, and convert to a town center setup. I had lunch with a friend at Peninsula Town Center today, and am still amazed at how awesome that place is!

Keep the Doubletree, and tear down everything else other than the Macy's and JCPenney (which is what I believe PTC did), then build around it. All of that land could make for quite a few blocks of stores, restaurants, maybe even apartments. I think it could compete with MacArthur without taking business away.

Military Circle has been on a downhill slide for a good 15-20 years. They tried to revitalize it with a renovation c. 1996 (becoming "The Gallery At Military Circle") and it's still an afterthought. It's battling with Pembroke for biggest dump ghost town, which is sad considering they're the region's two oldest malls. Unfortunately, neither one has moved out of the mid-80s.

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I'd have to agree with tearing down the main mall except for the motel, Macy's, JCPenney's, and the movie theaters. I know of quite a few kids that will go to the Military Circle theaters over MacArthur. Quite a bit cheaper and they don't like to deal with the MacArthur security nazis.

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