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Norfolk Gateway (It’s Complicated)


tallguy81"

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I will believe it when i see them finally building them...i dont think we will see anything this tall in Norfolk....too many times we have been set up for disappointment....Remember the 38 story condo building called the Hoffler building that never came to be...Granby Tower that was killed by the feds...Our roads are terrible and i dont see them expanded enough to keep traffic down...no solidarity between cities....remember Vabeach, Chesapeake and Suffolk were all created to stop Norfolk from expanding...this region is full of history of disfunction...only way i see this to end is getting the good ol boys out of our govt and work together....They could do so much more if they all came together for the region...Transit and traffic etc would be so much better

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  • 1 year later...

Hasn’t been a SOC this good since Fraim announced Granby Tower. Here’s hoping everything goes through. :)

37 minutes ago, lammius said:

Exciting about the building at St Pauls and Waterside.  I wonder if this is a new concept for those "gateway towers" that we thought might come to the Civic Plaza station area?

I can almost guarantee it’s related to those. Every now and then we strike gold when we dig up these obscure websites. :lol:

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52 minutes ago, BFG said:

I like that it’s all-glass. Hopefully they go a little taller. 

They could definitely go taller if they make it mixed use. That’s probably as tall as it will get if it’s pure office however (unless they land another ADP or ADP expands).

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11 minutes ago, vdogg said:

They could definitely go taller if they make it mixed use. That’s probably as tall as it will get if it’s pure office however (unless they land another ADP or ADP expands).

I am actually surprised it isn't mixed use of some kind. Either office and residential or office and hotel. But just as an office building, it look like a good addition to the city. I would want to see it go a step further and be the beginning of redeveloping the whole city hall area with a new city hall being constructed.....or at least a huge renovation of the city hall building like they did up in Richmond.

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1 hour ago, urbanlife said:

I am actually surprised it isn't mixed use of some kind. Either office and residential or office and hotel. But just as an office building, it look like a good addition to the city. I would want to see it go a step further and be the beginning of redeveloping the whole city hall area with a new city hall being constructed.....or at least a huge renovation of the city hall building like they did up in Richmond.

I have a sneaking suspicion that a large portion of this tower will wind up being the new City Hall, with the top floors reserved for a private office tenant. That would be the easiest and quickest way to get this thing off the ground.

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Looks like a spec building, so I'd expect a conservative office footprint.  Would love to see hotel, residential, civic, something to raise the roof.  

Also, I just noticed it looks like they're going to de-map Union Street.  So if you have a parcel stretching from the LRT tracks to Waterside Drive, that's ~1,000 feet and plenty of room for two towers, with room to spare, or even three with less room to spare.  

2 minutes ago, vdogg said:

I have a sneaking suspicion that a large portion of this tower will wind up being the new City Hall, with the top floors reserved for a private office tenant. That would be the easiest and quickest way to get this thing off the ground.

Y'know, that would make a lotta sense!

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Well, that is one $$ piece of property. It should be able to support higher rents (ones necessary for better architecture)  for the views, alone. Thinking I really like the design, but it's a little bit stubby. All in all though, the bottom is fantastic and the rest has potential. Hopefully with added mixed uses we can get to ICON type measurements.  Still waiting for a 35-45 story tower. There are smaller markets around the country that have them. 

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I’m not sure how I feel about it tbh. It’s boxy and sleek at the same time. It’s got a modern look, but seems like the type of architecture that doesn’t age well. That said, it’ll have a massive presence from the freeway. Overall, I’m happy. Could’ve been worse.

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Tower, for now, is called “Norfolk Gateway”, see video at link. This confirms that this new tower is derived from the original “Gateway Towers” concept. That base could easily fit another tower on the city hall side. I’m thinking one tower residential and the other office.

http://wtkr.com/2018/03/09/norfolk-mayor-kenny-alexander-delivers-state-of-city-address/

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22 hours ago, 23320 said:

 

The comments  on this video highlight the real difference in attitude  between Norfolk and Virginia Beach. Everyone in the comments is very supportive and excited about this new building. If it were Virginia Beach, everyone would  be complaining, lol. I really wish people could be that supportive of projects out here.

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https://www.norfolk.gov/CivicAlerts/SingleAlertItem?alertID=3768

“Chairman Harvey L. Lindsay, Jr., whose vision for and commitment to the City of Norfolk and the region are well-known, is entering his 65th year in commercial real estate. “A lot of exciting developments are happening in Downtown Norfolk,” he says. “And I thought the timing was right and the market is ready for a new office tower in Norfolk.” Mr. Lindsay developed Dominion Tower, where his office is currently located, and which is directly across Waterside Drive from the proposed site...”

“For the next few months, the Harvey Lindsay team will be busy conducting the necessary studies, planning initiatives and leasing efforts to make this landscape-changing project a reality. Harvey Lindsay Commercial Real Estate intends to move its offices to this new building when completed. Billy King, President of Harvey Lindsay Commercial Real Estate, states that, “This work aligns with our plans for growth as we work to be part of the expansion of the Hampton Roads economy.” The company will handle leasing for the project with additional tenants to be announced in the coming months as development plans move forward.”

Sounds like they’ve already got a few tenants that they’re in talks with. Wouldn’t be surprised if ADP is one of them.

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Location. It’s right off the freeway and has a greater presence than it would on the Snyder Lot. It also creates a nice “Gateway” effect which is what the city was looking for, plus the city has already done a lot of the site work and cleared the land, which will reduce overall construction costs. The city probably pushed them in that direction for the aforementioned reasons.

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On 8/30/2016 at 12:04 AM, vdogg said:

28708633303_51f295be08_k.jpg

So, delete the right tower. Shorten the left one by about 200 ft, and you can see the presence this will have from the freeway. 300 ft there would be good, but 400 ft would be much better and something I think we have a real shot at. If they truly want this to be a gateway building, then they need to go tall. This is a true opportunity for a signature tower and will really have an impact when crossing the bridge.

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As rendered, this looks short of 300 feet. Those first 8 floors look like parking. I’m guessing this comes in around 260-270. Need the study to find more demand or that a smaller floor plate (sq feet per floor) is a smarter move for some reason to increase the number of floors. 

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4 hours ago, lammius said:

As rendered, this looks short of 300 feet. Those first 8 floors look like parking. I’m guessing this comes in around 260-270. Need the study to find more demand or that a smaller floor plate (sq feet per floor) is a smarter move for some reason to increase the number of floors. 

The giant "PARK" sign is a good giveaway that the lower portion of this building is going to be a garage, so I would say the 260-270 range would be more accurate. 

Just to throw out a hypothetical, I wonder if one of the tenants for this building would be the City Hall in a temporary sense. It would be a good way to move into a new building to vacate the current City Hall building. Then tear that building down and redevelop the rest of the land with a new City Hall build along with potentially other buildings. My guess would be a City Hall designed around the light rail stop. That is how I would do it if I was in charge.

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