Gravity 400 (Under Construction)

[KJHburg]

Good to see new apartments even just mid rise ones downtown.   Downtown needs more housing for sure and every bit helps and puts more people on the streets and at the businesses downtown.  Today. 

[carolinaboy]

15 hours ago, KJHburg said:

Good to see new apartments even just mid rise ones downtown.   Downtown needs more housing for sure and every bit helps and puts more people on the streets and at the businesses downtown.  Today. 

Norfolk was visited by UP royalty I see. Love your photos and insights KJ.

[BFG]

[EJ_LEWIS]

Here is a picture of the Galaxy Norfolk that I took from our hotel room at the Sheraton Waterside.   

[varider]

[mintscraft56]

I like it ALOT. This building really added to the density feel. I miss the trees, but they really had to go to make way for a better, more complete, feeling downtown area in Norfolk. 

That said, I present my crappy phone pictures.

Edited June 12, 2023 by mintscraft56

[brikkman]

There is no retail/bar/restaurant associated with this development correct?

 

[BeagleAccountant]

On 6/13/2023 at 10:38 AM, brikkman said:

There is no retail/bar/restaurant associated with this development correct?

 

Due to them devoting most of the ground level to parking, there is very limited commercial space on the property.  I'd assume it ends up a bank or just used for their leasing office. Feels like a missed opportunity to not include a restaurant space on the top level with a rooftop patio.

[baobabs727]

Yes, you are correct. NO street activation. The UP crowd should be up in arms, right? Outraged! Alas, they are not.   

Edited June 14, 2023 by baobabs727

[mintscraft56]

1 hour ago, baobabs727 said:

Yes, you are correct. NO street activation. The UP crowd should be up in arms, right? Outraged! Alas, they are not.   

I mean, I think we should be happy with what we got here. I for one, never saw that sliver of land being of any significant value. I was totally surprised when I heard the first ,mentions of a new building going to be built there. I assumed it would be really short retail shops. But to my delightful surprise we got a 6+(ish) story building out of it. Which is a great deal and adds density to downtown and its skyline. 

[BFG]

Would I have liked a taller building similar to what Cordish built in KC? Absolutely, esp. if they added a courtyard for live events. Am I losing sleep? No. Like mintscraft said, that plot wasn't even on my radar for development downtown. I would like to see the few vacant lots remaining be developed in the next few years though. Our skyline looks mostly unchanged over the last 20 years.

[baobabs727]

Street activation trumps height! Sometimes. If you can only have one  

Oh my gosh don’t get me started on One Light and Two Light Kansas City.  Mr. Zedd of Cordish tried his best to get me and others to help him lobby the then new Council with whatever resources and connections we had way back in 2014 or 2015 (I still have the emails somewhere) to get this done over on the old Annex site (which was demolished). He wanted to take me to dinner…it seems like it was Ruth’s Chris or somewhere …and even though I was intrigued I declined because my neighbors in Freemason  told me I would probably be getting into a sticky wicket.  I didn’t know what I was getting into, frankly. Ok of course since that time we know that Norfolk CIty Council has demonstrated its absolute hatred  for Cordish …on multiple occasions… blocking their attempt to build a casino and any condominium towers along the waterfront, etc. I’m not gonna get into that right now because everyone here hates Cordish.  

Buddy G has the Council by their collective balls, so of course instead we got what we got. 
 

Edited June 14, 2023 by baobabs727

[mintscraft56]

1 hour ago, baobabs727 said:

Street activation trumps height! Sometimes. If you can only have one  

Oh my gosh don’t get me started on One Light and Two Light Kansas City.  Mr. Zedd of Cordish tried his best to get me and others to help him lobby the then new Council with whatever resources and connections we had way back in 2014 or 2015 (I still have the emails somewhere) to get this done over on the old Annex site (which was demolished). He wanted to take me to dinner…it seems like it was Ruth’s Chris or somewhere …and even though I was intrigued I declined because my neighbors in Freemason  told me I would probably be getting into a sticky wicket.  I didn’t know what I was getting into, frankly. Ok of course since that time we know that Norfolk CIty Council has demonstrated its absolute hatred  for Cordish …on multiple occasions… blocking their attempt to build a casino and any condominium towers along the waterfront, etc. I’m not gonna get into that right now because everyone here hates Cordish.  

Buddy G has the Council by their collective balls, so of course instead we got what we got. 
 

Well, maybe im just misinformed, but why do we hate cordish here? 

[baobabs727]

1 hour ago, mintscraft56 said:

Well, maybe im just misinformed, but why do we hate cordish here? 

I don’t. So you would have to ask the other boys and girls here.  

[vdogg]

2 hours ago, mintscraft56 said:

Well, maybe im just misinformed, but why do we hate cordish here? 

Cordish has had in the past, let's just say, *questionable business practices. They would often propose something quite substantial and visionary, and then the final product would turn out to be something uninspired and completely watered down, usually not even remotely close to what they proposed to the city. The power plant development in Hampton is a prime example. It was supposed to be a town center, and instead turned into a Bass pro shop. Unknown if they would have followed through here with the towers that they proposed, they have done good work out in Kansas City. They probably would have been better with the casino, but I still don't trust them quite yet.

Cordish also tried to sue the city over the casino, which I still don't think was quite right. Again, they may have been the better choice, but the way they went about conducting business was completely off-putting.

[Arctic_Tern]

15 hours ago, baobabs727 said:

Yes, you are correct. NO street activation. The UP crowd should be up in arms, right? Outraged! Alas, they are not.   

I mean, I don't like it, and have said as much. Right now we have this, the project near Chrysler, the potential development on the Greyhound plot and the potential development on the Church parking lot and if I remember correctly none of them have street level businesses, which to coin a phrase: "sucks"

 

It's sad that City Council is so short sighted with allowing it. I also agree, density>height. Tall buildings are 'sexier ' but getting a good use of space and higher building density is much more important. Get a good set of building plots, and tall buildings can fill in later as property values go up. 

[baobabs727]

14 hours ago, Arctic_Tern said:

I mean, I don't like it, and have said as much. Right now we have this, the project near Chrysler, the potential development on the Greyhound plot and the potential development on the Church parking lot and if I remember correctly none of them have street level businesses, which to coin a phrase: "sucks"

 

It's sad that City Council is so short sighted with allowing it. I also agree, density>height. Tall buildings are 'sexier ' but getting a good use of space and higher building density is much more important. Get a good set of building plots, and tall buildings can fill in later as property values go up. 

You speak the truth 

I drove by that project on Duke Street today,  the one by the Chrysler, and oh my God.  Design Board got into that one heavy. Bricks? They're literally using colonial era looking bricks along the first floor. Do you remember how funky fresh the original design was?  S i g h. 

Edited June 16, 2023 by baobabs727

[mintscraft56]

2 hours ago, baobabs727 said:

You speak the truth 

I drove by that project on Duke Street today,  the one by the Chrysler, and oh my God.  Design Board got into that one heavy. Bricks? They're literally using colonial era looking bricks along the first floor. Do you remember how funky fresh the original design was?  S i g h. 

Maybe its just me, but I like bricks. Brick buildings just light up an area for me. They give texture (litterly) to an area and give it a nice look if used correctly. 

[vdogg]

15 hours ago, mintscraft56 said:

Maybe its just me, but I like bricks. Brick buildings just light up an area for me. They give texture (litterly) to an area and give it a nice look if used correctly. 

Bricks are fine, but it's also the only material Norfolk seems to be aware of. We have plenty of brick in this city. I'm tired of seeing neocolonial crap, this isn't charleston. Let's have some modern architecture for once.

[mintscraft56]

13 minutes ago, vdogg said:

Bricks are fine, but it's also the only material Norfolk seems to be aware of. We have plenty of brick in this city. I'm tired of seeing neocolonial crap, this isn't charleston. Let's have some modern architecture for once.

True.

[baobabs727]

On 6/16/2023 at 4:33 PM, vdogg said:

Bricks are fine, but it's also the only material Norfolk seems to be aware of. We have plenty of brick in this city. I'm tired of seeing neocolonial crap, this isn't charleston. Let's have some modern architecture for once.

Truer words have rarely ever been spoken.

On 6/16/2023 at 12:40 AM, mintscraft56 said:

Maybe its just me, but I like bricks. Brick buildings just light up an area for me. They give texture (litterly) to an area and give it a nice look if used correctly. 

It's just that we have TOO many brick-clad everything in this region.

[BFG]

[varider]

[mintscraft56]

We need an update photo. I passed by on foot last night (too dark for pictures) and it looked completely different. It definitely makes the area more urban than it was before. The new ally way between ICON and Gravity 400 was spooky. 

[HRVA]

1 hour ago, mintscraft56 said:

We need an update photo. I passed by on foot last night (too dark for pictures) and it looked completely different. It definitely makes the area more urban than it was before. The new ally way between ICON and Gravity 400 was spooky. 

This is from a few weeks ago: