Norfolk Off-Topic

[HRVT]

On 8/24/2018 at 2:12 PM, carolinaboy said:

This is a very poor attempt, but wouldn't Dominion Tower look cool with a crown/pyramid? Photo taken from Emporis. Poor drawing by me.

I get the idea and agree that it would look good. This particular drawing however looks like the building is wearing a dunce cap.

[BFG]

It would require our architects and Planning Commission to think outside the box, but I want downtown Norfolk's next tower (not counting the Gateway) to have some sort of crown at the top. Similar to the Bank of America tower in Charlotte or the US Bank tower in L.A. If it changes colors like the latter, then even better.

 

[urbanlife]

17 hours ago, vdogg said:

This is the only building I actually liked. I'd love to see something like this in Norfolk. 

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.

[jeffconn]

The City of Norfolk is hoping to get someone to take over the empty spots on Granby Street across from the Main.

https://pilotonline.com/business/real-estate/article_2c3d1de4-a4c9-11e8-a76f-ffb508bc0be2.html

Personally, i don't  think they are going to get many (if any) takers. The storefronts are under a parking garage and are set WAY far back, so much so that you don't even notice it from the road. Did anyone actually walk next to the storefronts, except when it was raining?  Did anyone actually notice, or shop at, the stationery store that was there?

[ORF flyer]

1 hour ago, jeffconn said:

The City of Norfolk is hoping to get someone to take over the empty spots on Granby Street across from the Main.

https://pilotonline.com/business/real-estate/article_2c3d1de4-a4c9-11e8-a76f-ffb508bc0be2.html

Personally, i don't  think they are going to get many (if any) takers. The storefronts are under a parking garage and are set WAY far back, so much so that you don't even notice it from the road. Did anyone actually walk next to the storefronts, except when it was raining?  Did anyone actually notice, or shop at, the stationery store that was there?

I believe this would make a great outdoor style cafe with the overhang. Very roomy and out of the rain. Unlike much of Granby St. 

[zeppelin14]

Whatever they put in across from The Main will need some serious neon signage to let people know businesses are there.

[urbanlife]

On 8/27/2018 at 1:19 PM, ORF flyer said:

I believe this would make a great outdoor style cafe with the overhang. Very roomy and out of the rain. Unlike much of Granby St. 

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. 

[Norf Native]

There should be a Cheesecake Factory downtown. 

[Norf Native]

Norfolk Southern may relocate headquarters to Atlanta. 

https://pilotonline.com/business/ports-rail/article_67d98782-b2b8-11e8-8561-3faac9e3c8b7.html

 

Edited September 7, 2018 by Norf native

[Up2313]

We cant  afford to loose the NS headquarters. I hope the city meets with them about this, maybe provide them with incentives to build a new HQ here and consolidate the Atlanta employees here. 

[baobabs727]

Whispers about this have been around for ages ...pure devastation... one of only 4 Fortune 500 HQ Cos.  in HR ... The loss of philanthropy, executive level salaries & prestige will be huge.

[HRVA]

NS has been moving employees from the HQ for years. The best we can hope for is that they keep some offices here and not completely move out. 

Edit:  I believe this will leave us with 2 Fortune 500s (Dollar Tree & Huntington Ingalls). 

Edited September 7, 2018 by 23320

[BFG]

There’s also ADP and then Stihl in VB. Hopefully they can work out a deal, as I’d hate to see them go. 

However, how many younger professionals do they have? Doesn’t NS skew a little older?

EDIT: Amerigroup and Smithfield Foods are also in the Fortune 500, so we're at about seven, including NS. But downtown, we need as many F500 companies as possible.

Edited September 7, 2018 by BFG

[Urbanlooker]

Norfolk and honestly the region(as it would and does affect it as a whole) should put together an incentives package to get NS to stay and consolidate here. 

3 hours ago, BFG said:

There’s also ADP and then Stihl in VB. Hopefully they can work out a deal, as I’d hate to see them go. 

However, how many younger professionals do they have? Doesn’t NS skew a little older?

EDIT: Amerigroup and Smithfield Foods are also in the Fortune 500, so we're at about seven, including NS. But downtown, we need as many F500 companies as possible.

You can't really put ADP or Amerigroup and the list though as they aren't headquartered here. They have pretty big operations in HR yes but the executives and majority of the staff aren't here.

Edited September 7, 2018 by Urbanlooker

[urbanlife]

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.

[skylinefan]

A friend of mine told me that the biggest drawback for Norfolk in keeping NS headquarters there is the airport.  It is just too costly and too hard (Connecting flights) to get from Norfolk to major hubs.  Altanta's  airport is huge and offers direct domestic and international flights.  NS employees are able to find a lot more direct flights to where they need to go for business.  Norfolk International needs to be greatly improved. 

[BFG]

Downvoting because of the airport situation, not your very valid point. Hopefully ORF and city leaders are paying attention to all this. 

[skylinefan]

I understand your down vote.  My friend works out of the DC office but he travels frequently to the Norfolk Headquarters.  I talked to him Friday about the situation with NS and he also added on top of the air service that NS owns a lot of land in Midtown Atlanta and for cost efficiency it may be better to consolidate corporate employees into one location and build on the land NS already owns.  

Edited September 19, 2018 by skylinefan

[urbanlife]

On 9/18/2018 at 8:10 AM, skylinefan said:

A friend of mine told me that the biggest drawback for Norfolk in keeping NS headquarters there is the airport.  It is just too costly and too hard (Connecting flights) to get from Norfolk to major hubs.  Altanta's  airport is huge and offers direct domestic and international flights.  NS employees are able to find a lot more direct flights to where they need to go for business.  Norfolk International needs to be greatly improved. 

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.

[Norfolk757Kid]

The church on the corner of 35th Street and Colonial in Park Place is for sale, including the big lot behind it, parking lot as of now. This used to be the largest congregation in the state but declined to about 20 members over the last couple years. Whoever takes this place on, probably needs a ton of work, could be a cool mixed use project. Would make an awesome place for a bunch of artist studios...Anyone heard anything about this?

 

[BFG]

On 9/25/2018 at 12:42 PM, Norfolk757Kid said:

The church on the corner of 35th Street and Colonial in Park Place is for sale, including the big lot behind it, parking lot as of now. This used to be the largest congregation in the state but declined to about 20 members over the last couple years. Whoever takes this place on, probably needs a ton of work, could be a cool mixed use project. Would make an awesome place for a bunch of artist studios...Anyone heard anything about this?

 

Not 35th, but a few blocks down on 31st and Colonial, there are plans for something like this.

https://pilotonline.com/news/local/history/article_33f49d88-43ca-11e8-8eae-d30aca3dd1b1.html

Edited October 3, 2018 by BFG

[BFG]

If you're a homeowner and want to rent out rooms on Airbnb, you'll have to get a business license and pay taxes starting January 1.

https://pilotonline.com/business/article_fd203458-d711-11e8-879b-c7613fa3e8b3.html

I just started doing this...I don't mind per se, but it's one extra step I don't feel like going through.

[BFG]

Damn.

 

[zeppelin14]

The city of Norfolk really dropped the ball on this one. This is a huge loss.

[EJ_LEWIS]

According to my friend who works for Norfolk Southern there is nothing that could be done to keep NS in Norfolk.  Norfolk has a substandard airport and NS has a plan to consolidate employees into one location.