Military Circle Redevelopment

[HRVA]

1 hour ago, BeagleAccountant said:

They asked the wrong politicians. Jason Miyares introduced the bill. Lynwood Lewis was involved as well. Now the Pilot needs to find out who was assigned to the authority and ask them what they think and if they have been involved with this project at all. 
https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+SB787&201+sum+SB787

The city managers and mayors would know about any appointments to the arena authority. The law states that members are to be appointed by the Governor in consultation with the chief elected officer of each locality & confirmed by the General Assembly. The fact they haven’t heard about anything related to the authority and that there’s no information available beyond the text of the law establishing it and initial articles shows nothing has happened with it. I would of hoped the authority would be up and running before a member city had a proposal selected. 

Edited September 23, 2022 by HRVA

[urbanlife]

On 9/22/2022 at 4:02 AM, varider said:

So I just saw a clip of City Manager Filer telling WAVY that he expects regional tax dollars for the arena from Chesapeake and VB, then WAVY asked the other city managers/mayors if and why they'd support an arena at Military Circle and all they had to say was that there has been little to no discussion about an arena. Pretty embarrassing really, it made Chip look sorta clueless and dishonest.  WAVY said it would take a vote from each city council to support the arena. Chip said in about 4-6 weeks we will have a "clearer picture of where we are with this."  My faith that VB and Chesapeake join in on an arena at Military Circle is little to none. Just like the surf park, the casino, light rail, and pretty much everything else I've ever gotten my hopes up for in this region, I just don't see us pulling it off. 

Oh man, just reading this reminds me why I moved away and never came back. The whole metro should have created a regional government for big things like these rather than rely on all the cities to work together on their own.

[vdogg]

Obviously, we've been here before, so many caveats are in effect, but it looks like a deal -with an arena- is being negotiated between Pharrell's group and the city. I remain cautiously hopeful that something will come out of this, but not going to hang my hat on it just yet. We've got a long way to go.

https://www.13newsnow.com/article/money/economy/pharrell-military-circle-mall-redevelopment-proposal-norfolk/291-4005e540-2c50-498f-85f9-299d185b0ebf

[baobabs727]

 

So not only did Norfolk City Council make a big mistake by not issuing an RFP for the casino, when they actually did issue an RFP--for the redevelopment of Military Circle Mall--they didn't even follow their own guidelines in evaluating all three proposals submitted.  Indeed, instead of forming an audit committee and having the three plans scored, they (the Council members) simply closed the chamber's doors and did the scoring and evaluating ..."in their heads.... in secret. LMFAO. Trust me, when dealing with three highly complex, 600M to 1BN PLUS proposals, there is no one on that CC who possesses the analytical skills and the computational prowess to perform such a task.   LMFAO.

If I  have said this once, I've said this a dozen times:  This Norfolk CC is pure garbage.  

https://localtoday.news/va/norfolk-officials-behind-closed-doors-decided-on-the-developer-of-the-shopping-center-military-circle-deviating-from-their-own-guidelines-71690.html

[Norva757]

18 hours ago, baobabs727 said:

 

So not only did Norfolk City Council make a big mistake by not issuing an RFP for the casino, when they actually did issue an RFP--for the redevelopment of Military Circle Mall--they didn't even follow their own guidelines in evaluating all three proposals submitted.  Indeed, instead of forming an audit committee and having the three plans scored, they (the Council members) simply closed the chamber's doors and did the scoring and evaluating ..."in their heads.... in secret. LMFAO. Trust me, when dealing with three highly complex, 600M to 1BN PLUS proposals, there is no one on that CC who possesses the analytical skills and the computational prowess to perform such a task.   LMFAO.

If I  have said this once, I've said this a dozen times:  This Norfolk CC is pure garbage.  

https://localtoday.news/va/norfolk-officials-behind-closed-doors-decided-on-the-developer-of-the-shopping-center-military-circle-deviating-from-their-own-guidelines-71690.html

If they were smart they would build the casino in this development...light rail will eventually be extended to military circle

[baobabs727]

On 12/30/2022 at 9:48 AM, Norva757 said:

If they were smart they would build the casino in this development...light rail will eventually be extended to military circle

Good idea. That would placate  downtown business owners, as well. 

[baobabs727]

City Staff and the Mgr had not yet come to any consensus on a preferred proposal.  My source tells me there was significant disagreement internally amongst Staff, and CC took it upon themselves to make a decision without consulting Staff.  This notion is echoed in that article, above.  Weird.  Personally, I think they were star struck. Sorry, but that's the only logical conclusion. That coupled the fact that the Wellness Circle proposal included an arena--a real pet project for Mayor Alexander--made it easy for them to bypass protocols.

Edited January 4, 2023 by baobabs727

[EJ_LEWIS]

Military Circle is now officially closed.  I have a lot of memories of going to Military Circle with my family when I was young.  I hope the city doesn't mess up the redevelopment with needless in-fighting.  Get this redevelopment done! 

https://www.13newsnow.com/article/news/local/mycity/norfolk/military-circle-mall-closes-permanently/291-131ce676-360f-422d-bd2d-83b3b374a86b

 

[vdogg]

With Atlantic Park finally under construction, I'm hoping that gives Norfolk confidence in Pharrell's consortium to bring major projects to fruition. Perhaps that will be a catalyst for Norfolk to proceed with developing the arena project.

[BeagleAccountant]

Look out for silt fencing installation here soon.

[brikkman]

Demo on Military circle mall set to begin this week

Sooooooo, I maybe missing something, but was there anything determined what would go on this site? Last I remember, it was 3 options, perhaps pharrell's group got chosen, but not hard core plans... Did I miss something?

[mintscraft56]

I wonder if this will take long.

 

Edited April 25, 2023 by mintscraft56

[vdogg]

1 hour ago, mintscraft56 said:

I wonder if this will take long.

 

Don't expect anything from that rendering to come to fruition. We might get something decent, but don't expect it to look like that.

[mintscraft56]

23 minutes ago, vdogg said:

Don't expect anything from that rendering to come to fruition. We might get something decent, but don't expect it to look like that.

Maybe its a bad habit, but im gonna put my hopes high for this. I have the highest of all hopes in our Downtown and its development. However, these renderings make it look like a downtown 2.0. Its a very optimistic view, however im sure we can pull somthing off. 

Edited April 25, 2023 by mintscraft56

[baobabs727]

Status please?

[HRVA]

Three of the outparcels have been demoed. 

-China Garden

-Piccadilly 

-the strip center next to Piccadilly 

Courtesy of East Coast Demolition:

[BFG]

Spent many Sunday afternoons in that place, dating back to when it was Morrison’s. I knew the demo was coming but it still hurts a bit. 

[baobabs727]

Thanks!  Now, what is going on with negotiations? I haven't heard a peep, and the reportage from the Pilot has been scant to non-existent.

On another note.......  THE DUMP!   Legendary.

 

[mintscraft56]

Im not a huge fan of the double tower commie block looking things surrounding the arena. Added pictures of Commie Blocks for reference

[Arctic_Tern]

You mean, you don't want buildings around the arena portion?  I have no idea wtf you're trying to say here

[Urbanlooker]

I think he just means that he doesn't want an exact copy of the same building 10 times around the arena.

[Arctic_Tern]

It's also an overhead view from a render from a proposal that was made over 2 years ago.

I've attached the 3D render from the proposal. And yea, those two pronged buildings look similar. But a) since they are more interspersed with the rest of the buildings it doesn't give it that same "soviet cookiecutter" style he's so worried about, and b) is a render that probably is just a stand in for an X-square foot building that doesn't look like a cube, and probably wouldn't actually be built out in that precise manner.

Mint, my man, these renderings have been here for a while, why now for this very focused concern on these buildings?

[mintscraft56]

9 hours ago, Arctic_Tern said:

Mint, my man, these renderings have been here for a while, why now for this very focused concern on these buildings?

 

Damn calm down. Im just saying I didnt like what I saw now that I take a few double looks at it. 

[baobabs727]

On 8/5/2023 at 4:37 PM, Arctic_Tern said:

It's also an overhead view from a render from a proposal that was made over 2 years ago.

I've attached the 3D render from the proposal. And yea, those two pronged buildings look similar. But a) since they are more interspersed with the rest of the buildings it doesn't give it that same "soviet cookiecutter" style he's so worried about, and b) is a render that probably is just a stand in for an X-square foot building that doesn't look like a cube, and probably wouldn't actually be built out in that precise manner.

Mint, my man, these renderings have been here for a while, why now for this very focused concern on these buildings?

 

 

You must be a...COMMIE LOVER!!!! 

 

 

 

 

[Si7i]

Quote

The shaded land represents the 24-acres covered under the option to purchase. (Courtesy: Norfolk EDA)

The clinic, which would be similar to the one currently under construction in Chesapeake, would sit on the southern end of the more than 70-acre former mall property, and be the second largest facility in the Hampton VA Healthcare System behind the VA Hospital.

Who had a hospital on their bingo card for Military Circle?  With the VA behind this, I’m pretty sure this will get built. It's also will be interesting to see more people eyeing Military Circle for development being so centrally located. I wonder if anyone else will come out of the woodwork? How might this affect the other proposals? 

https://www.wavy.com/news/local-news/norfolk/new-va-medical-center-proposed-for-military-circle-mall-site/