Norfolk Development

[br0guy]

I've heard from some guys that worked for NRHA that they do have plans on tearing alot of the projects down. Calvert Square was talked about for development going to Tidewater Drive.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If Calvert Square goes, that would most likely mean Tidewater Park is on the cuttin' board too. Those 2 housing projects are pretty much joined by the hip. I wonder if the city has any plans for the people who would be displaced in those communities?

[burt]

Looks like we have another mixed use development coming downtown. Stay tuned. 

"OSWALD HOFFLER, JR., for the following applications:

        1. To amend The General Plan of Norfolk, 1992 depicts from commercial/office to mixed uses

        2. To change the zoning from I-1 (Limited Industrial) District to D-2 (Downtown Regional) District on property located on the northeast corner of Tulip Lane and Posey Lane; property fronts 264 feet, more or less, along the northern line of Tulip Lane and 42 feet, more or less, along the eastern line of Posey Lane; property also fronts 228, more or less, along the southern line of Brambleton Avenue; premises numbered 549 Brambleton Avenue; The purpose of the rezoning is to facilitate a mixed use development"

Oswald Hoffler wouldn't be related to armada hoffler would he?

Below is a map of where the project is to be located.

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Tulip and Posey! What wonderful names for downtown lanes. It's names like these that add character to an area.

[vdogg]

Comments related to transportation/transit have been moved to the transportation thread.

[okinawatyphoon]

Emporis has been updated with a few paragraphs about Norfolk. (finally! )

Here is a sample:

"Norfolk is the central city of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. Hampton Roads is one of the world's finest natural deepwater harbors. It is home to Norfolk Naval Base, the largest in the United States, as well as the headquarters of NATO's Allied Command Atlantic. "

Go here for the rest of it.

[mistermetaj]

Emporis has been updated with a few paragraphs about Norfolk. (finally! )

Here is a sample:

"Norfolk is the central city of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. Hampton Roads is one of the world's finest natural deepwater harbors. It is home to Norfolk Naval Base, the largest in the United States, as well as the headquarters of NATO's Allied Command Atlantic. "

Go here for the rest of it.

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Now if only they would create the cool computerized picture to line the top!

[okinawatyphoon]

Now if only they would create the cool computerized picture to line the top!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Oh yeah!!! They sure should. If you go to "view all Norfolk photos" or something, they have a long pic of our skyline. Who knows, maybe they will make it from that!

[vdogg]

Comments related to Airports have been moved to the Airport thread.

[vdogg]

Vice Mayor Daun Hester is leading a crusade to include some sort of affordable housing for Norfolk, in light of the recent real estate boom. Full Story

[rusthebuss]

The problem with lower income is that it usually is a breeding ground for crime which is a big problem and people don't want to live in the city. And those people become a burden on the economy. They should worry about educating people instead of giving housing away and making actual working people pay for it.

[vdogg]

The problem with lower income is that it usually is a breeding ground for crime which is a big problem and people don't want to live in the city. And those people become a burden on the economy. They should worry about educating people instead of giving housing away and making actual working people pay for it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

But teachers, firefighters, etc. are already educated, they just need a place to live. People are really starting to be priced out of this region. I'm not talking about your average drug addict who is usually the one responsible for the crime which you allude to, I'm talking about honest and hardworking people who have nothing to do with that who are simply unable to afford this region anymore.

[PeninsulaKiddo]

The problem with lower income is that it usually is a breeding ground for crime which is a big problem and people don't want to live in the city. And those people become a burden on the economy. They should worry about educating people instead of giving housing away and making actual working people pay for it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

While low-income housing has and will likely indefinitely continue to be the breeding ground for most crime in cities, to make the generalization that most people living in low-income housing are uneducated slackers isn't fair. One of my friends spent about 3 years in low-income housing because his father went bankrupt overnight in the dot.com collapse. It took them a long time and many low-paying jobs to work their way back up to where they were and get out of debt, and now they're one of the wealthiest families in Tacoma, Washington again. It isn't fair to generalize an entire class of American society. If I said "Teresa Heinz-Kerry is a vindictive b**** who has no poise nor any tact, therefore all billionaires are like that" that wouldn't be true. Watch for big generalizations.

As far as the Norfolk education system, it's outdated, no doubt. If all the high schools were renovated and all the computer systems brought up-to-date it would cost many hundreds of millions of dollars. Hopefully, though, Norfolk will begin to seriously invest in its education system. They have many, many great assets to keep intelligent people in the region, and I think their OWN citizens need the same opportunities that people from Virginia Beach, Suffolk, and the Peninsula counties have.

[PeninsulaKiddo]

But teachers, firefighters, etc. are already educated, they just need a place to live. People are really starting to be priced out of this region. I'm not talking about your average drug addict who is usually the one responsible for the crime which you allude to, I'm talking about honest and hardworking people who have nothing to do with that who are simply unable to afford this region anymore.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Exactly, lol.

[rusthebuss]

But teachers, firefighters, etc. are already educated, they just need a place to live. People are really starting to be priced out of this region. I'm not talking about your average drug addict who is usually the one responsible for the crime which you allude to, I'm talking about honest and hardworking people who have nothing to do with that who are simply unable to afford this region anymore.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I really think you guys took what i said very wrong. Firefighters are not low income people and A guy I grew up with is one in Norfolk and has a decent house by Northside park. Alot of what she is talking is section 8 people and trying to cover it up with firefighters and such. I grew up in this city and know how they operate! I'm not any better off than a firefighter and such.

[lammius]

I really think you guys took what i said very wrong. Firefighters are not low income people and A guy I grew up with is one in Norfolk and has a decent house by Northside park. Alot of what she is talking is section 8 people and trying to cover it up with firefighters and such. I grew up in this city and know how they operate! I'm not any better off than a firefighter and such.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think in most states if you earn 80-90% of the area's median household income (it's 80% in Jersey, 90% in New York, I'm not sure about Virginia) you can qualify for "workforce housing."

Russ's firefighter friend in Norfolk may be doing ok for himself but how many children does he have to support? I think the others are right on. In most major US metros "workforce" people are being priced out. Housing is simply too expensive and jobs such as firefighting, teaching, policing, etc do not provide what those families need in order to stay in their communities. Unaffordability is one of the ways in which I hope Norfolk does NOT become like Manhattan. It's my hope that as Norfolk begins to find itself a desirable playground for wealthy urbanites it will commit to allowing other residents to remain.

[PeninsulaKiddo]

I think in most states if you earn 80-90% of the area's median household income (it's 80% in Jersey, 90% in New York, I'm not sure about Virginia) you can qualify for "workforce housing." 

Russ's firefighter friend in Norfolk may be doing ok for himself but how many children does he have to support?  I think the others are right on.  In most major US metros "workforce" people are being priced out.  Housing is simply too expensive and jobs such as firefighting, teaching, policing, etc do not provide what those families need in order to stay in their communities.  Unaffordability is one of the ways in which I hope Norfolk does NOT become like Manhattan.  It's my hope that as Norfolk begins to find itself a desirable playground for wealthy urbanites it will commit to allowing other residents to remain.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well put.

The first thing I ever wanted to do with my life was to teach, but seeing that I couldn't teach in this area and live in nice housing in any of the 7 cities, I changed my mind. I think that at least for future generations, they should be allowed to teach or fight crime/fires and be able to pursue those dreams without having to worry about whether or not they can afford to live in the city they teach in or protect.

In certain ways, I love projects like Westin TC, but the fact that it's outrageously priced for this region makes me think twice. Hopefully City View will be less expensive and the huge Cornerstone project just down the way is very affordable, so I'll give credit where credit's due.

[rusthebuss]

Well maybe the cities should buy housing areas and have them developed for teachers and other public jobs as that. They could build complete subdivisions for these people and keep the prices down or have programs for these people with housing grants as part of their benefits

[PeninsulaKiddo]

I like the idea of for every 2 units of upper-income housing in one of those huge developments, make another 1 unit affordable. So for 2 $450k units in Granby, have another development with a unit that's only $150k. That way it keeps it relatively balanced. I think that Norfolk had an underutilized amount of luxury living (if that sentence makes any sense) so a lot of the higher-end, downtown developments are making up for what the city was lacking.

[rusthebuss]

Cost of housing is really the people's fault for paying more than what the houses are really valued. People need to wake up and stop driving prices through the roof

[urbanvb]

Cost of housing is really the people's fault for paying more than what the houses are really valued. People need to wake up and stop driving prices through the roof

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There are a lot of variables that go into the price of housing but mostly the demand drives the market prices which is what is happening around here. Because of the lack of land (for new construction) as well as a reduction in the number of homes for sale (due to low interest rates) the price of housing has soared to record highs. Frankly, unless a recession or something of that nature happens I don't see an end to this. Suffolk is the outermost city of the area and they have a building frenzy on their hands. Folks are even starting to move to far out places such as Moyock NC, etc.

[lammius]

I like the idea of for every 2 units of upper-income housing in one of those huge developments, make another 1 unit affordable.  So for 2 $450k units in Granby, have another development with a unit that's only $150k.  That way it keeps it relatively balanced.  I think that Norfolk had an underutilized amount of luxury living (if that sentence makes any sense) so a lot of the higher-end, downtown developments are making up for what the city was lacking.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That is indeed an excellent idea. Many states require that 15-20% of all units in a development of 8 units or more be affordable. Again, I'm not sure what (if any) affordable housing requirements Virginia has.

[krdarden]

That is indeed an excellent idea.  Many states require that 15-20% of all units in a development of 8 units or more be affordable.  Again, I'm not sure what (if any) affordable housing requirements Virginia has.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Vdogg, I think that you will be getting lots of new attention now that the pilot has picked up on our discussion topic of a new 40 story tower downtown. Man, you are now a celebrity!

[vdogg]

Vdogg, I think that you will be getting lots of new attention now that the pilot has picked up on our discussion topic of a new 40 story tower downtown. Man, you are now a celebrity!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No sir, I am quite happy in my obscurity actually . The attention i want is attention for all of HR. For far too long this area has been underappreciated, and this article will go a great ways towards making people realize this. Even if this tower never goes through (but i hope it does), there are now that many more developers looking at the possibility. People are actually saying "Hey, this might be possible" and, as you can tell, it's generated a bit of excitement.

[mistermetaj]

No sir, I am quite happy in my obscurity actually  . The attention i want is attention for all of HR. For far too long this area has been underappreciated, and this article will go a great ways towards making people realize this. Even if this tower never goes through (but i hope it does), there are now that many more developers looking at the possibility. People are actually saying "Hey, this might be possible" and, as you can tell, it's generated a bit of excitement.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

what article are you talking about. is it on pilotonline?

[vdogg]

what article are you talking about.  is it on pilotonline?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Post plus link to article

[mistermetaj]

OMG, i just found and read the article. I didnt realize they directly labeled us as the website. That is amazing. This is definitely going to get more attention to the area once people start to scan the board. Congratulations Vdogg, your plan has come true.