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Just me thinking out loud here. With apparent declining retail for MacArthur Mall (like a lot of malls), could it be possible to re-purpose most of the mall to act again as a catalyst for downtown growth? keep the structured parking get an urban Target in one of the anchor spaces retrofit the building for better ground floor and street accessible retail for those retailers that can and want to stay retrofit the building with the 15k to 18k multi-purpose arena. retrofit the building to include a new convention center use the vacant anchor lot for a concept like the Starwood proposal/idea 2 light rail stops are in the immediate vicinity (no need to extend light-rail to not served areas) rewards Hilton and other developers who have taken financial risks by locating downtown right in the heart of downtown Norfolk easy access from the interstates Scope can stay as-is (historic/architecturally significant structure) proximity to the waterfront proximity to Granby Street and downtown commercial streets could help spur redevelopment in SPQ located centrally in the region water/sewer/electric/fiber infrastructure probably in place (I figure a mall has to have quite a bit of water/sewer capacity available) proximity to other attractions like Harbor Park, MacArthur Memorial, Nauticus and Battleship Wisconsin, Town Point Park, Scope and Chrysler Hall, Opera House, Chrysler Museum, Zoo, Botanical Garden, etc. (not stuck out somewhere where visitors don't have easy access to these things) would bring a lot of people downtown for hotels, food, shopping, etc. The arena could try to get MEAC, A-10, C-USA, NCAA tournaments What say you?

Decided to make a topic for this, obviously as the story for this land plot grows we can post updates, pictures, or even news stories about it here. Hopefully there will be some more talk about this area soon.

Great news! There might already be a discussion about this but I figured it would be fine to make a second or possibly first. As most of us have heard Norfolk is Getting the patriotic festival right in our downtown! Unfortunately this does come with the fact that oceanfront businesses could be affected by this and VB's Economy for the area alike. That being said its a great move for Norfolk and most of the area! Tell me and others what you think! Hopefully VB can pull out of its recent loss of THREE major festivals. Scorce: https://www.13newsnow.com/article/news/local/patriotic-festival-norfolk-virginia-beach/291-a573227a-c834-4023-9c5d-d4b763ddfb8d

I dont want to seem stupid, for asking after so long but are there any actual plans to expand the courthouse yet? That patch of grass has been sitting there giving the centre of our city some farmland. A city like Norfolk should never have fresh grass like that unless it was a valuable park but that grass is far from valuable or even needed. I bet developers would flock to that land to build something if the fed would open it up.