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Hey gang. I live on the corner of College and Wealthy and drive down Wealthy all the time. I love visiting The Wealthy Street Bakery, and like what is happening with some of the stores such as Wealthy and Charles and the antique store. I think that Wealthy Street is coming together slowly (especially down by the wealthy street theatre) but there is still plenty of work to do. I thought I would post pictures of all the buildings that I think need still need some help. I would love to know the history of the buildings and also if there are any plans for renovating them. If what ideas you have for the buildings if there are no current plans. I will list the images in the order I encountered them, from College and Wealthy down to the Diamond area... this is the least inviting eatery on the street, not to mention that there is no sidewalk, just asphalt, I think it would be nice without the bars and would benefit from a sidewalk. The sign between these two buildings reads: "Developing Soon" I hope so, this could be a cool storefront Pretty sure this place isn't still doing business This would have been an interesting store to visit when it was actually selling beer... Somerdyke Plumbing and I think some law offices are right next to the thin beer store... they need some exterior help too Across the street is another service station that could use a little cleanup here and there and next to that, a house/storefront/BBQ and ice cream place? Again back on the south side of the street is a building that I think would make a great little specialty food store. on the adjacent corner is a recently sold building But next to that, it the bane of my existence, the biker building where all the loud bikes gather and then scream past my house while i sleep. I have always said to myself, what this street needs is a grim reaper riding a chariot to spice things up. and next to that, an equally ugly building, was the mural added to make it look nicer or worse? not sure. Back on the north side, this gas station would be nice to have, if it was actually in operation and not BRIGHT yellow on the south side next to Wealthy and Charles is EToys? Then going down the line towards Eastern Ave (skipping over the buildings that are ok) this building looks cool but is it going to be anything else besides blinds? same question for this: Interesting design and color... on the corner of Eastern and Wealthy. Was this a bank? is something happening here? I really like this building I know this building is being used by a screen printer but does he really need all the old garages etc? there was one more that I didn't take a picture of, and that is that yello ice cream place by the wealthy theatre... someone please do something with that too. when I was trying to think about what would go well in these places, I couldnt really think of much. I think with the big box stores of today, the small retail storefront which used to house hardware stores, shoe stores, clothing stores, furniture stores (I imagine) the only thing these storefronts could house would be offices and specialty stores with low rent... sorry if this was too many photos, but there is a lot of work yet to be done on Wealthy Street.

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?

The Triad has some impressive restoration projects underway, ranging from Revolution Mill and Proximity Printworks in Greensboro to the Pepper Building and Innovation Quarter in Winston-Salem. Here is a list of some Greensboro projects underway or planned... https://preservationgreensboro.org/greensboros-top-10-preservation-projects-for-2017/

I've posted about this building before-the yellow former hotel that is across the street from First Presbyterian and diagonally across from the Aloft hotel. I've always been intrigued by it. Why hasn't it been renovated like the Poinsett Hotel was? Is its interior just nothing to be excited about, and too costly to fix up? Are there are any plans or rumors about it? It's certainly a good location now. I assume that there are so many new hotels coming downtown that it would be a while before such a large block of hotel space would be needed. I also remember going to the Poinsett Hotel in the '80s when it was senior housing. The main restaurant (overlooking Main Street) was open then, even though the rest of the building was a retirement center. I wonder if the main restaurant space in the Greenville Summit could be fixed up and open to the public in that way? I remember when it was a dumpy hotel in the '70s, then closed, and then derelict, and then fixed up in the '80s, but it's looking pretty ragged again (not as bad as it was, though). Couldn't it be turned into better housing than it is now-perhaps a small hotel and condos? While I'd be reluctant to move its current residents, such a prime piece of real estate surely hasn't found its best use as low-income housing.

The Kmart at 1 Kmart Plaza, near the main hospital, is closing, as per USA Today. I am told that Bi-Lo is closing as well at some point. What will happen to the site? It's been a shopping center for at least 50 years. With this Kmart closing (clearly the store incurred next to nothing in ongoing capital expenses and likely had very low rent), what does that say about the Haywood Mall Sears closing at some point?