urbanlife

I get that, but districts like this have to start somewhere and usually it is with the 4-5 story buildings to build up the bones for an urban district. Though it would be nice to see some form of retail space incorporated into the development because that is how you begin creating a street life in these types of places to help increase demand for bigger developments.

Something's better than nothing. Also this is pretty much the standard type of architecture for Norfolk these days.

The details do look good with these new buildings, if the area has this overall look, it will definitely work. My biggest issue with these buildings is that they should be 4-5 stories with the first floor being as much retail as possible. The more mixed use these buildings are, the more pedestrian activity they help create.

I so wish the whole metro would have gotten behind building a new airport out in Northern Suffolk because they could have had a much better airport by now that would have been able to keep up with other major metros. Though without it, that does make sense that a company like NS would be looking to leave. I know my biggest drawback to Norfolk International is how small it is, for me to ever fly back it would cost a small fortune, and honestly I would rather spend that much money flying to someplace better.

That would be horrible if NS moved out of Norfolk and a major loss for the city. It is unfortunate that this might be happening when it should be the other way around where they are building a new tower in downtown to grow their headquarters in Norfolk. Hopefully the city can come to an agreement to keep them in the city and help them expand within the city.

That is true, places like Virginia Beach don't have a history of urban developments and their zoning makes it so suburban developments are still the more ideal forms. Therefore getting a developer to take a risk on building urban towers and having banks willingly loan for those buildings is a hard pressed thing to get. Much easier to build office parks and strip malls in a city that is known for that and I don't see that changing much in the future even with the developments that have happened at the Town Center.

If the Convergence buildings would have been built into a couple urban buildings a part of the Town Center, it would have added two Clark Nexsen size buildings to the downtown.

That is awesome, we have them in Portland as they become more popular and real estate becomes more limited. A great way to create an urban gathering area around food options.

That is hilarious, besides, what did the people who created Bird think was going to happen.

I would say either doing something like this or bringing out the storefronts to be flush with the garage which would make the retail spaces larger and bring them out to the sidewalk.

The distance from the City Hall stop to Freemason St is about 1/4 of a mile and to Brambleton is just over 1/2 of a mile, so that puts this development well within TOD requirements. If a second light rail line is run up Church St, then the SPQ would definitely get another light rail stop right in the middle of it. Also another reason why they should be looking at much more dense outcomes for this whole area. Granted in most cases, it is best to plan for a conservative result but hope the area becomes attractive to developers for larger buildings. Though with it being Norfolk, it wouldn't shock me if in the end what gets built looks similar to what has been proposed.

Probably my most favorite hotel in Vegas, also order anything you want in the casino area, their free drinks are actually amazing and will bring you just about anything. As for Vegas architecture, you are right, most of it is awful and very Vegas, though I do like the Cosmopolitan the most, as well as the whole ARIA casino and City Center, lots of great architecture in that massive complex. Vdara Hotel is also pretty cool, which it is also a hotel in the City Center complex.

That is a mighty fine big trash heap they have there.

Very disappointing looking, but here is hoping that it is at least full of mixed use with plenty of retail throughout so that it creates a neighborhood that is attractive to foot traffic. Though at least along St Paul should be a location for taller buildings rather than 4 story apartment buildings. I am surprised they aren't trying to seek out developers that might be interested in investing in large developments in SPQ.

Based on the article I read about this, I wouldn't expect them to consolidate their office space to any one spot, they are probably just going to rent office space in an office park of some sort. The possibility of redeveloping the current site is huge for Norfolk, though what was interesting was there was mention that this might be a location for the community college to move to with their current redeveloping of the old bus station. I am wondering how realistic this would be since they have invested so much in their current location. It would be odd for an urban community college to spread out in that manner between two very different locations. If they did make the Pilot site their new campus, that would really open up a possibility for their current site to be renovated into apartments and office space, which could generate revenue for the college.