African Art Museum (On Hold)

[baobabs727]

$300M African Museum & 26 Story  Hotel proposed for city-owned  land adjacent "Pawmunkey land."

https://pilotonline.com/news/local/article_cef2d708-19a0-11e9-9c8e-1b0e684eba3b.html

 

[Up2313]

This is on the other side of harbor park, opposite of the Pamunkey casino site. 

[baobabs727]

Thx. I edited the post.

[Willy18]

I would like the planned condos from the casino proposal better on this site.  Unfortunately the casino looks like it's really far down the road...if it even happens.  

[vdogg]

https://www.wric.com/news/virginia-news/african-arts-museum-and-26-story-hotel-could-come-to-downtown-norfolk-near-harbor-park/1707620766

This article has a bit more detail on the scope of the project and where the financing will come from.

[Willy18]

I know it's in the early stages but I pray that they change the hotel design. Looks like a watch tower for a maximum security prison. 

[vdogg]

This would be a good project for the St. Paul’s lot.  And don’t worry, this won’t pass design review as is.

[BFG]

Having been to the NMAAHC in Washington, D.C., that was an amazing experience. The museum on Hampton's campus is another great one, so if this can be anywhere close to those two museums, Norfolk has a winner on its hands. This sounds very promising, esp. with the UN and National Endowment for the Arts behind it.

[lammius]

VERY cool project. I do hope the design changes, but this would be a great attraction for Norfolk. Looks like a new LRT station too? 

[urbanlife]

The design looks horrible, but a great idea overall. This would be a great step forward for creating an urban district around the ballpark.

[Cjnfkvb]

An ugly tower is better than no tower, however the design looks very preliminary.  Hopfully they can make it look better when things become more concrete.  Lets hope that they dont shave off some floors and build the thing out of brick though.

[NFKjeff]

On 1/18/2019 at 3:57 PM, urbanlife said:

The design looks horrible, but a great idea overall. This would be a great step forward for creating an urban district around the ballpark.

I think the design for the museum actually looks nice. The hotel tower could definitely use some tweaking IMO.

[Norfolk757Kid]

7 hours ago, Cjnfkvb said:

An ugly tower is better than no tower, however the design looks very preliminary.  Hopfully they can make it look better when things become more concrete.  Lets hope that they dont shave off some floors and build the thing out of brick though.

I disagree. An ugly tower is worse than no tower sometimes

[Willy18]

Agreed 

[Cjnfkvb]

1 hour ago, Willy18 said:

Agreed 

Ok, cant argue with that.

[vdogg]

2 hours ago, Willy18 said:

Agreed 

I feel the need to censor this image for some reason. 

[Willy18]

Definition of "mixed use" 

[baobabs727]

Tower design is ugly. Museum is kinda handsome with it's Egyptian- themed architecture.

[JPN0731]

The rendering looks pretty bad but I'm sure it's preliminary. To be honest, it looks better than the buildings at the VB TC and would fit right in there. 

[BFG]

The hotel rendering is pretty bad, but I'm hoping it's just something to show what could potentially go at that site. With the proposed casino, I hope they will definitely design something much more exciting and contemporary.

[BFG]

I went to Engage Norfolk at Norview High today, and there was a table talking about this. According to one of the reps, they hope to break ground this year and complete the project within the next 2-3 years.

[vdogg]

11 hours ago, BFG said:

I went to Engage Norfolk at Norview High today, and there was a table talking about this. According to one of the reps, they hope to break ground this year and complete the project within the next 2-3 years.

They've got a lot of work to do to get to that point. Design Review, Planning Commission, the fact that the city doesn't want to do anything with that land until the casino is finalized. Have they secured financing yet? I'm skeptical. If this thing actually gets off the ground before Gateway, it'll be both ironic and shocking.