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vdogg

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ODU Master Plan

its from 2013 so it needs to be updated but they definitely at least long term plans for it. I think there's still two properties remaining:  a small apartment building next to the parking garage and Central Radio (who challenged the eminent domain).  Based on the plan, the space is proposed for research, admin, housing, and parking uses. 

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Last week, the city broke ground on new residential development in OV.  The plan is to build 40 new homes.

https://pilotonline.com/pdf_6dd15b16-4a43-11e8-9d4f-97cfb650802b.html

Great to see development happening on that stretch of town. Hopefully, we see more in the next year...not just single-family homes, but condos/townhouses, apartments and some high-rises. OV has a lot of potential.

Speaking of high-rises, are there still height restrictions over there?

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On ‎5‎/‎1‎/‎2018 at 11:22 PM, BFG said:

Last week, the city broke ground on new residential development in OV.  The plan is to build 40 new homes.

https://pilotonline.com/pdf_6dd15b16-4a43-11e8-9d4f-97cfb650802b.html

Great to see development happening on that stretch of town. Hopefully, we see more in the next year...not just single-family homes, but condos/townhouses, apartments and some high-rises. OV has a lot of potential.

Speaking of high-rises, are there still height restrictions over there?

The new development in OV is nice, but I still hate to see those beautiful oak trees destroyed.

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A few new details (11 in total) have been released about the new Skywheel downtown. Among them...

  • The team expects to have the ride fully assembled by May 15, with a soft opening two days later.
  • The $7 million Ferris wheel was built in the Netherlands and is outfitted with 36 enclosed, air-conditioned gondolas that are big enough to stand inside and accommodate wheelchairs. Each holds up to six people, but no passenger would have to ride with strangers.
  • The wheel will be in Norfolk for four months. The team likely will operate the ride between 11 a.m. and 11 p.m. daily. Though it’s scheduled to be a temporary visit, Schneider said it’s not out of the question that the wheel’s sublease could be extended if it’s successful.
  • Riders will be able to take food and cocktails bought at Waterside aboard the wheel. In other places, the company has offered date-night packages that include two tickets and chocolate or crackers, wine and cheese – promotions it might try in Norfolk as well.

https://pilotonline.com/entertainment/article_e656b99c-4f1a-11e8-9aa7-d70b7d0026a6.html

Edited by BFG
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  • 2 weeks later...

$14 a ride for adults and $12 for kids tho?  Do you want to take your family on a Ferris wheel ride or feed them for a week?  Not even the Coney Island Cyclone, long the benchmark of amusement ride ripoffs, approaches that level of extortion. </cheap old guy rant> 

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The Capital Wheel at National Harbor is a little more expensive and the view is not worth it. The view here is probably the best you're going to get in the area for this type of attraction.  I think it's a little dramatic to call it extortion. 

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Okay, I'll admit it. I was a bit meh bout the ferris wheel. But coming through the downtown tunnel at night on the way home and having that be the first thing that greets you is breathtaking. It has a phenomenal presence and really compliments the multi-colored lights on our Skyline. What a great addition.

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https://pilotonline.com/inside-business/news/retail/article_11b7f60e-59e4-11e8-b967-cf43f67fae43.html

The BB&T building is getting a bit of an upgrade to the exterior and interior. Plans include a possible lounge or restaurant on the ground floor. I'd love to see this part, however...

“The exterior is faded … you can tell where it was once a black shiny building, but now it’s faded from the sun,” Galanti said. The windows will be etched to bring back their transparency and black gloss will be added to metal elements.

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13 minutes ago, BFG said:

https://pilotonline.com/inside-business/news/retail/article_11b7f60e-59e4-11e8-b967-cf43f67fae43.html

The BB&T building is getting a bit of an upgrade to the exterior and interior. Plans include a possible lounge or restaurant on the ground floor. I'd love to see this part, however...

 

 

Are you saying you won't be able to see it because they're making the glass transparent?  I feel like I might be misinterpreting this. 

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I’m staying in the Miami area again, and I’m thinking of how they could develop the beachfront areas back home. Nothing elaborate, but a cluster of high rises, reasonably priced apartments, etc. could transform that area. Sorry, but I’m not blown away by the single family houses that start at a half-million dollars.

Anyway, does anyone know if this ever took off? Or if there’s anything else about what will be happening at the Greenie’s location?

https://pilotonline.com/news/government/local/article_a74dd6d7-223e-583b-b202-b44d965c5ab5.html

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  • 4 weeks later...

Norfolk State University is in the process of increasing on campus housing with the addition of new dorms.  I'm not to thrilled with all the parking spaces, but always cheer increased density.  https://pilotonline.com/inside-business/news/continuing-education-work-development/article_d9f8a08a-756b-11e8-ad22-634c8696e591.html

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On 4/11/2018 at 9:56 PM, BFG said:

This article from last year may explain the expansion ideas...

https://pilotonline.com/sports/baseball/norfolk-tides/article_5b91b8f1-1aae-5838-b99a-7f08c76f6311.html

Hopefully additional seating does happen. I heard there was a nice crowd on hand for the exhibition match against the Orioles.

Screen Shot 2018-04-11 at 9.52.45 PM.png

There's absolutely no reason to expand Harbor Park. I do agree that it could and should be freshened up. But if anything, they should actually reduce capacity some. The Tides haven't averaged more than 6k fans per game since 2008 (10 years).  In fact, they may very well not even get to 5K fans/game this year. It's true that they do sell out two of three times per year. But spending bunches of money on a couple games a year would not be a wise investment. 

And while the future Nationals may have been impressed with Norfolk back in 2005, I think the Hampton Roads area has been overtaken as a MLB expansion candidate by several metropolitan areas since (Charlotte for example is clearly a MUCH better option).

Edited by HRVT
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MLB will expand by 2 probably within the next 5-10 years and there are plenty of excellent candidate cities, Charlotte/Raleigh, Memphis/Nashville, Portland, Vegas and Montreal. Norfolk has a downtown stadium, something that these major league teams love. Plus Norfolk is pushing development towards the stadium. The Tides and the city are doing what they should to keep the stadium relevant.

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I think our best chance at sports lies with NBA or NHL, so I’d focus on getting Scope up to par, and then create a long term goal for a new arena at Military Circle. I really hope the city doesn’t sit on either one of those plans.

Moving the Virginia Beach FC team up to USL would be nice too. 

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7 hours ago, Virginia City said:

MLB will expand by 2 probably within the next 5-10 years and there are plenty of excellent candidate cities, Charlotte/Raleigh, Memphis/Nashville, Portland, Vegas and Montreal. Norfolk has a downtown stadium, something that these major league teams love. Plus Norfolk is pushing development towards the stadium. The Tides and the city are doing what they should to keep the stadium relevant.

MLB is waiting for the Rays and A's to decide what they will be doing, either staying where they are or relocating. Then the league plans on expanding two more teams. Currently, Portland is the most organized with trying to get a team, and based off what I am hearing, it is a pretty safe bet that one of the expansion teams will go to Portland if the A's don't move to Portland.

I have to agree with others, NBA or NHL would be the best shot at getting a pro team in Hampton Roads. Though I don't know if any teams are looking to move and I don't think the NBA is looking to expand. I know NHL is expanding, but are looking at much bigger markets than Hampton Roads with cities like Seattle courting them. I do think it would be ideal for Hampton Roads to go after getting a MLS team since they have been actively expanding into new markets and targeting places that have one or no pro teams.

Edited by urbanlife
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14 hours ago, Virginia City said:

MLB will expand by 2 probably within the next 5-10 years and there are plenty of excellent candidate cities, Charlotte/Raleigh, Memphis/Nashville, Portland, Vegas and Montreal. Norfolk has a downtown stadium, something that these major league teams love. Plus Norfolk is pushing development towards the stadium. The Tides and the city are doing what they should to keep the stadium relevant.

I'm not sold that that's even the case. Heck, a few years ago CONTRACTION was more of a possibility than expansion. The Marlins and Rays both draw fewer than 15K/game this season. Oakland, Pittsburgh, and the White Sox all draw fewer than 20K/game (and Cincinnati is JUST over the 20K mark).

But Charlotte, Nashville, Portland, Vegas, and Montreal are just a few cities that are ahead of Norfolk/Virginia Beach in the pecking order for a Major League team as far as relocation or theoretical (unrealistic) expansion. Raleigh would likely be ahead of Norfolk. And I could see Mexico City getting involved too.

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10 hours ago, urbanlife said:

I know NHL is expanding, but are looking at much bigger markets than Hampton Roads with cities like Seattle courting them. I do think it would be ideal for Hampton Roads to go after getting a MLS team since they have been actively expanding into new markets and targeting places that have one or no pro teams.

Vegas could help make the case for a smaller market like ours (I think their metro is just over 2M), but I think we would have a better shot at a relocated team, if there are still any teams in jeopardy in their current city.

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39 minutes ago, BFG said:

Vegas could help make the case for a smaller market like ours (I think their metro is just over 2M), but I think we would have a better shot at a relocated team, if there are still any teams in jeopardy in their current city.

Oakland and Tampa Bay are the two likely candidates. Miami's attendance recovered initially after they built the new stadium a few years ago, but it has fallen back to terrible (drawing just over 10K a game right now). 

FWIW, the Vegas MSA has about 2.2 million people. Not huge, but substantially larger than Hampton Roads. That said, new teams tend to see a lot of support and following. Let's see what happens to the Golden Knights over the next five years or so. I bet their fan support won't be so great once they have a down year or two. Let's see how the Raiders do once they move and have been there a few years.

Edited by HRVT
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I think another problem Hampton Roads runs into is a lack of large corporations to buy luxury boxes & advertising. We currently have three Fortune 500 companies. Our region needs to focus on diversifying the economy before attempting to attract any pro team. 

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I really don't see why we don't pursue mls more. They are in the process of exanding and are going to add a number of teams over the next ten years. Part of why you're hearing other cities names is because there are people making a case for that area. We have no one leading that charge. I think MLS has a 150 mil by in fee and likes urban stadiums to be apart of the proposal. 

Baseball will never happen hear because of mlb territory rights/laws. The O's barely allowed the nats and got the deal of a lifetime while doing so. No way they ever let a team relocate here. As you see that big banner in harbor park "This is bird land". 

Hockey will not be coming here ever probably. I love hockey and it's my favorite sport. But the truth is there's smaller cities/metros in Canada that can support a team easily. Look for Quebec City, Regina , and toronto (Second Team)to get a team before most USA cities. 

Basketball could work here, but without an arena its gonna be impossible to pull a team here. 

Just my 2 cents. 

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I agree that MLB is a long shot. Every MLB city also has at least one other pro team. Basketball would work great here but Scope won't work and we would need a new arena. I also don't think they have looked at expansion recently either and I can't see any teams relocating. Hockey would be popular but again arena issues. I've been hearing that the new team will probably be in Houston.  The longer we wait the harder it will be to get an MLS team as well. They just announced teams 25 (Nashville) and 26 (Cincinnati) and those 2 cities were competing against 10 others. Also they want an urban setting stadium which means the Sportsplex would not cut it.

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