Virginia Beach off-topic

[varider]

https://www.pilotonline.com/government/local/vp-nw-city-council-retreat-0915-20210914-nbzb6e5bx5hmfofb3whimei7ey-story.html

“Councilman John Moss said he and Councilman Guy Tower are working on a plan to “build the best local beach and resort in the country,” and they support a new model for managing growth at the Oceanfront including Atlantic Avenue improvements, parking opportunities, public safety enhancements and community outreach.

The plan, dubbed “B-4 Conservancy, Inc.,” involves creating a nonprofit organization with a board of directors comprised of corporate executives and philanthropists that would be tasked with approving a budget for major improvements and community investments.

“The Virginia Beach Oceanfront and its surrounding neighborhoods represent the front door to our city and region,” Moss said. “This can really increase the resources available and get more corporate involvement.”

[vdogg]

5 hours ago, varider said:

https://www.pilotonline.com/government/local/vp-nw-city-council-retreat-0915-20210914-nbzb6e5bx5hmfofb3whimei7ey-story.html

“Councilman John Moss said he and Councilman Guy Tower are working on a plan to “build the best local beach and resort in the country,” and they support a new model for managing growth at the Oceanfront including Atlantic Avenue improvements, parking opportunities, public safety enhancements and community outreach.

The plan, dubbed “B-4 Conservancy, Inc.,” involves creating a nonprofit organization with a board of directors comprised of corporate executives and philanthropists that would be tasked with approving a budget for major improvements and community investments.

“The Virginia Beach Oceanfront and its surrounding neighborhoods represent the front door to our city and region,” Moss said. “This can really increase the resources available and get more corporate involvement.”

I'm wary of anything that Moss touches. He is vocally and vehemently anti-density, and I think that this may be a trojan horse. Let's make sure we read the fine print.

[varider]

https://www.wavy.com/news/local-news/virginia-beach/longtime-atlantic-avenue-businessman-were-witnessing-the-deterioration-of-the-vb-resort-strip-before-our-very-eyes/?fbclid=IwAR0k9SxTiHYd4I9K3Btg7dOp1g1mp_EjStrljrLumyH-Jw1GEbRWOR9o9WU

 

Even one of Virginia Beach’s loudest cheerleaders, Mayor Bobby Dyer, admits there’s lost momentum with COVID-19 and Something in the Water leaving.   

There are also frustrated business leaders like Richard Maddox.

“I think we are left with a resort, and I don’t think it is hyperbole to say, we are literally witnessing the deterioration, disintegration of the resort strip before our very eyes,” Maddox said.

Maddox expressed his frustration during an interview at his home in Virginia Beach.

“I think there is a great deal of despair on Atlantic Avenue that we don’t really know where we are going,” the Atlantic Avenue businessman said. “There’s no one at the helm, and there’s no master plan.”

[mintscraft56]

Why isint this chat so active?  Anyways Do you guys think they will expand Town Center anytime soon? If they want Town Center to grow into a downtown proper they will have to get expanding more out wards. 

[baobabs727]

On 10/25/2021 at 7:16 PM, varider said:

https://www.wavy.com/news/local-news/virginia-beach/longtime-atlantic-avenue-businessman-were-witnessing-the-deterioration-of-the-vb-resort-strip-before-our-very-eyes/?fbclid=IwAR0k9SxTiHYd4I9K3Btg7dOp1g1mp_EjStrljrLumyH-Jw1GEbRWOR9o9WU

 

Even one of Virginia Beach’s loudest cheerleaders, Mayor Bobby Dyer, admits there’s lost momentum with COVID-19 and Something in the Water leaving.   

There are also frustrated business leaders like Richard Maddox.

“I think we are left with a resort, and I don’t think it is hyperbole to say, we are literally witnessing the deterioration, disintegration of the resort strip before our very eyes,” Maddox said.

Maddox expressed his frustration during an interview at his home in Virginia Beach.

“I think there is a great deal of despair on Atlantic Avenue that we don’t really know where we are going,” the Atlantic Avenue businessman said. “There’s no one at the helm, and there’s no master plan.”

To those of you who “liked” this (yes, we can see who you are lol), what are your proposed solutions? Who are you blaming (if anyone)? 

First of all, Mr. Maddox is a failed recent candidate for the Lynnhaven district seat. I would caution you to view his comments in that context.

Second, as to the departing events, the Marathon left because it had run its course. 20 years is a very respectable run.  Nothing lasts forever.  Also  after a nearly 20-year run, The Patriotic Festival left for reasons unrelated to any City leadership issues. Read their press on the matter.   SITW left for the very personal reason(s) which Pharrell has (sort of) stated.  He is entitled to his opinion, and that decision was solely his prerogative. I do have some lingering questions about whether there might have been other reasons for not continuing, but nothing anyone can prove (and no one‘s asking him any tough questions, so….).   

So you see, SITW was an exception to the rule here. 

Something to chew on:   COVID-19 likely nourished certain supporting circumstances for this perfect storm, thus accelerating the departure of the first two aforementioned  events. 

 

Edited October 28, 2021 by baobabs727

[baobabs727]

On 10/26/2021 at 8:47 PM, mintscraft56 said:

Why isint this chat so active?  Anyways Do you guys think they will expand Town Center anytime soon? If they want Town Center to grow into a downtown proper they will have to get expanding more out wards. 

I guess the word “active”” is relative.  I think if you look around this board you will see that Town Center is expanding, albeit slower than we might like, in most every direction.  Pembroke, Columbus, Bonney Road….

[BFG]

No idea why you felt the need to call anyone out but as someone who liked the post (and is aware of such), I am not doing it to point fingers or say "lol VB sucks". 

Plain and simple, it has not been a good month for Virginia Beach, and the losses of three major events obviously caught them off guard. Losing two of those events still hurts the region as a whole, so it would be silly to laugh at VB. Varider offered a valid critique of the city without veering into mudslinging, and I would have liked the post had it criticized Norfolk (which we do as well) or anywhere else in Hampton Roads.

Regardless of the circumstances, it would not look good for any city to lose that many events in a short time frame. Do I think it will bring VB to its knees and cripple the economy as Maddox implies? Of course not. Do I think they need to find a way to regroup and offer something more than the beach? Yes. The Mayor even admitted the city is hurting.

As far as what ideas I have? I mentioned several times here that I have visited popular tourism spots like Miami, Vegas, and Tampa, and that VB should relax some of the rules and offer a nightlife similar to those places. Yes, even Vegas has entertainment that families can enjoy. I also stated this in a survey VB put out a few years ago.

BTW, other cities have held the RNR Half Marathon longer than 20 years, so I do not think it just "ran its course". But that is neither here nor there.

[Qdeathstar]

1 hour ago, baobabs727 said:

To those of you who “liked” this (yes, we can see who you are lol), what are your proposed solutions? Who are you blaming (if anyone)? 

First of all, Mr. Maddox is a failed recent candidate for the Lynnhaven district seat. I would caution you to view his comments in that context.

Second, as to the departing events, the Marathon left because it had run its course. 20 years is a very respectable run.  Nothing lasts forever.  Also  after a nearly 20-year run, The Patriotic Festival left for reasons unrelated to any City leadership issues. Read their press on the matter.   SITW left for the very personal reason(s) which Pharrell has (sort of) stated.  He is entitled to his opinion, and that decision was solely his prerogative. I do have some lingering questions about whether there might have been other reasons for not continuing, but nothing anyone can prove (and no one‘s asking him any tough questions, so….).   

So you see, SITW was an exception to the rule here. 

Something to chew on:   COVID-19 likely nourished certain supporting circumstances for this perfect storm, thus accelerating the departure of the first two aforementioned  events. 

 

I don’t agree with bowing to the demands of an unelected businessman who has his own interested to protect (Farrell), but do you think that Virginia Beach has a well planned out processes for attracting top tier festivals and entertainers?

 

I have to agree with Maddox that it just appears Virginia Beach is asleep at the wheel.  

[mintscraft56]

3 hours ago, BFG said:

, and I would have liked the post had it criticized Norfolk

I might be lost in confusion but are you saying people need to criticize Norfolk's success more? 

[BFG]

Huh? All I’m saying is Norfolk gets criticized for its lack of vision and status quo issues as well. 

[vdogg]

15 hours ago, baobabs727 said:

To those of you who “liked” this (yes, we can see who you are lol), what are your proposed solutions? Who are you blaming (if anyone)? 

First of all, Mr. Maddox is a failed recent candidate for the Lynnhaven district seat. I would caution you to view his comments in that context.

Second, as to the departing events, the Marathon left because it had run its course. 20 years is a very respectable run.  Nothing lasts forever.  Also  after a nearly 20-year run, The Patriotic Festival left for reasons unrelated to any City leadership issues. Read their press on the matter.   SITW left for the very personal reason(s) which Pharrell has (sort of) stated.  He is entitled to his opinion, and that decision was solely his prerogative. I do have some lingering questions about whether there might have been other reasons for not continuing, but nothing anyone can prove (and no one‘s asking him any tough questions, so….).   

So you see, SITW was an exception to the rule here. 

Something to chew on:   COVID-19 likely nourished certain supporting circumstances for this perfect storm, thus accelerating the departure of the first two aforementioned  events. 

 

Good lord, you all are making my job extremely difficult as of late. 

Let's address this first. The status of Mr. Maddox's candidacy and whether someone likes a post or not is irrelevant to the points made. You either believe that his points have validity, or you do not. If you believe his points are invalid you can:

1) ignore them.

2) Say why you believe they are invalid in an attempt to engage in conversation with people that hold a different point of view than you.

As for everyone else, please, I beg of you, let's not carry over the same tit for tat from the Norfolk forum to this one. It's childish guys. Move on. I've already had to delete posts, and I've already issued a suspension.

Now, since you asked, I'll get to what's going right first. The expansion of and urbanization of the North End is a definite plus. This will pay dividends in the future.

I have high confidence that Atlantic Park, even though it's attached to "He who shall not be named", will be built. When it is, it will be a game changer for the oceanfront.

Unfortunately, as with the aforementioned projects, these things take time. Combined with the correctly pointed out issues with Covid, we find ourselves in a sort of limbo.

Now to what can be improved.

There has been far too much focus on "family friendly" to the exclusion of all else. We need to welcome back the young adults with disposable income who want to have a good time in a more upscale fashion. I'm not talking about the trashy clubs that exist now. I'm thinking more along the lines of South Beach, Nashville (a surprisingly fun town) and hell, even Uptown Charlotte.

A lot of Mr. Maddox's issues have to do with the PROCESS of getting anything done in this city. Have you ever dealt with the city? Trust me when I tell you he is 1000% correct in his critique, there is no daylight between me and him in that regard. My 3 most hated things.

1)The DMV

2) Hell

3) Dealing with the City of VB. They're making a strong run for that number 2 spot. The city's slow, cumbersome, bureaucracy makes it hard to get to yes on anything, and played a major part in 2 of these festivals leaving. More staff, a streamlined process, and a unified vision/message will go a long way towards fixing the issues he brought up.

[BFG]

6 hours ago, vdogg said:

Now, since you asked, I'll get to what's going right first. The expansion of and urbanization of the North End is a definite plus. This will pay dividends in the future.

Agreed. This area already looks good, but the next decade could be amazing with the development we're seeing. Anytime I've driven up that part of Atlantic, it feels like I've stepped into a different city.

[mintscraft56]

13 hours ago, BFG said:

Huh? All I’m saying is Norfolk gets criticized for its lack of vision and status quo issues as well. 

I must have read it wrong lol. It sounded like to me you would like it if it criticized Norfolk more

Edited October 29, 2021 by mintscraft56

[urbanlife]

On 10/28/2021 at 7:23 AM, vdogg said:

Good lord, you all are making my job extremely difficult as of late. 

Let's address this first. The status of Mr. Maddox's candidacy and whether someone likes a post or not is irrelevant to the points made. You either believe that his points have validity, or you do not. If you believe his points are invalid you can:

1) ignore them.

2) Say why you believe they are invalid in an attempt to engage in conversation with people that hold a different point of view than you.

As for everyone else, please, I beg of you, let's not carry over the same tit for tat from the Norfolk forum to this one. It's childish guys. Move on. I've already had to delete posts, and I've already issued a suspension.

Now, since you asked, I'll get to what's going right first. The expansion of and urbanization of the North End is a definite plus. This will pay dividends in the future.

I have high confidence that Atlantic Park, even though it's attached to "He who shall not be named", will be built. When it is, it will be a game changer for the oceanfront.

Unfortunately, as with the aforementioned projects, these things take time. Combined with the correctly pointed out issues with Covid, we find ourselves in a sort of limbo.

Now to what can be improved.

There has been far too much focus on "family friendly" to the exclusion of all else. We need to welcome back the young adults with disposable income who want to have a good time in a more upscale fashion. I'm not talking about the trashy clubs that exist now. I'm thinking more along the lines of South Beach, Nashville (a surprisingly fun town) and hell, even Uptown Charlotte.

A lot of Mr. Maddox's issues have to do with the PROCESS of getting anything done in this city. Have you ever dealt with the city? Trust me when I tell you he is 1000% correct in his critique, there is no daylight between me and him in that regard. My 3 most hated things.

1)The DMV

2) Hell

3) Dealing with the City of VB. They're making a strong run for that number 2 spot. The city's slow, cumbersome, bureaucracy makes it hard to get to yes on anything, and played a major part in 2 of these festivals leaving. More staff, a streamlined process, and a unified vision/message will go a long way towards fixing the issues he brought up.

This is something that has always confused me about Virginia Beach, it has tried to be some mom and pop family friendly beach town with a huge suburb attached to it, which was fine and all for the 80s and 90s.  But Virginia Beach should have evolved by now, the beach has had various versions of itself over the years and the next move should have been with all inclusive resort hotels. It would make sense for the beach to have big campus hotels that cater to their guest needs. Then have Atlantic and Pacific be the streets lined with nightlife that can also draw interest during the days. There should have been a large concert hall to attract big musicians to the beach over by the Convention Center. They should have gone to town with timeshare highrises and residential towers. So many missed opportunities over the past 20 years.

 

Virginia Beach needs to stop acting like a suburban city with a small family friendly beach and start acting like a metro within a city because we all know VB isn't gonna work with its surrounding cities, but it can at least work within its own city.

[vdogg]

This is the type of development that turns small companies into big ones, and the fact that they’re a tech company is very good news as far as diversifying our economy and bringing high paying jobs.

https://www.pilotonline.com/business/vp-nw-droneup-walmart-1204-20211203-5joxdyl53ffkzcc57tciogyg5i-story.html

“Drone delivery is coming — and a Hampton Roads company might make your first order possible.

DroneUp, a Virginia Beach app developer and drone services provider, recently landed a deal with the largest retailer in the world. Walmart is now using DroneUp technology to launch a drone delivery service at three northwest Arkansas locations, with more to come. As part of the deal, DroneUp is looking to hire hundreds of people within the next year.”

 

 

 

 

[urbanvb]

Armada Hoffler reports it’s retail properties are bouncing back from the pandemic. Also, several new retailers (unnamed) will be opening at Town Center.

https://www.pilotonline.com/business/consumer/dp-nw-fz21-armada-20211226-y7e5n4tusngdbks6gz2fjxqkku-story.html

[vdogg]

7 hours ago, urbanvb said:

Armada Hoffler reports it’s retail properties are bouncing back from the pandemic. Also, several new retailers (unnamed) will be opening at Town Center.

https://www.pilotonline.com/business/consumer/dp-nw-fz21-armada-20211226-y7e5n4tusngdbks6gz2fjxqkku-story.html

While I'm happy for more retail, they need to stop punting on the Office Tower and the new apartments. They have two tenants and the city wanting to build a new high-rise office tower right now (this from the minutes of the meeting that the pilot got the information on these stores from). They need to stop dragging their feet and just go ahead and do it, it is now or never. They're delaying just because they want to make sure they can command higher rents, but they're going to find themselves in a position where the tenants just move on to another location. If these tenants need to expand, they're not just going to wait forever. Armada Hoffler is driving me crazy with this stuff...

Actually, I take that back. I hope they do wait. That way Pembroke Mall can poach their tenants and get their office tower off the ground... 

[urbanvb]

13 hours ago, vdogg said:

Actually, I take that back. I hope they do wait. That way Pembroke Mall can poach their tenants and get their office tower off the ground... 

Exactly my thoughts. AH overall has been a driving force in developing TC but it’s taken so many years. Without looking back, I believe it was 1999 or 2000 that TC began construction . It’s great that Pembroke Mall is stepping up and giving some competition to TC. And rest assure that AH is paying attention to what’s going on across the street. Perhaps this news will spur them to action.

Edited December 28, 2021 by urbanvb

[urbanlife]

I would have imagined there would have been a new residential tower or two going up every year with the whole Pembroke area with some shorter apartment building fill ins. Then with the occasional office tower going up when the market allowed for it.

[Lluck002]

So as some of you may know, I work at the Virginia Beach Department of Planning & Community Development. Because we use a Form-Based Code now for the Oceanfront Resort, developers need a lot of hand-holding to understand what is acceptable to develop there. We have been helping them by coming up with some design examples for each developer as suggestions for some different things that can be developed.

A developer contacted me asking to help him with designs for development of parcels at Atlantic & Laskin, where the BP and Bank of America are currently located at the Oceanfront. He wants to put two mixed-use towers; a hotel tower on the BP parcel, and a residential tower on the Bank of America parcel, both with ground-floor retail!

This is the center of the Oceanfront Resort area and I think developing to the maximum density allowed here will be amazing! It’ll also give the skyline more dimension with a greater number of towers farther back from the beach. That strip of blocks between Atlantic & Pacific was starting to just become massive parking garage after massive parking garage, so this potential development is something I’m going to be watching very closely and heavily encouraging.

[HRVA]

That’s probably the best location at the Oceanfront that’s not on the Boardwalk. With the park across the street it’ll have unobstructed views of the beach. Glad to see the property owner recognizes its potential. 

[vdogg]

7 hours ago, Lluck002 said:

So as some of you may know, I work at the Virginia Beach Department of Planning & Community Development. Because we use a Form-Based Code now for the Oceanfront Resort, developers need a lot of hand-holding to understand what is acceptable to develop there. We have been helping them by coming up with some design examples for each developer as suggestions for some different things that can be developed.

A developer contacted me asking to help him with designs for development of parcels at Atlantic & Laskin, where the BP and Bank of America are currently located at the Oceanfront. He wants to put two mixed-use towers; a hotel tower on the BP parcel, and a residential tower on the Bank of America parcel, both with ground-floor retail!

This is the center of the Oceanfront Resort area and I think developing to the maximum density allowed here will be amazing! It’ll also give the skyline more dimension with a greater number of towers farther back from the beach. That strip of blocks between Atlantic & Pacific was starting to just become massive parking garage after massive parking garage, so this potential development is something I’m going to be watching very closely and heavily encouraging.

I think we have a thread for this one if it's the one I'm thinking about. We had some questions about the design and how they'd orient it. I'll link to the thread here.

[vdogg]

8 hours ago, Lluck002 said:

So as some of you may know, I work at the Virginia Beach Department of Planning & Community Development. Because we use a Form-Based Code now for the Oceanfront Resort, developers need a lot of hand-holding to understand what is acceptable to develop there. We have been helping them by coming up with some design examples for each developer as suggestions for some different things that can be developed.

A developer contacted me asking to help him with designs for development of parcels at Atlantic & Laskin, where the BP and Bank of America are currently located at the Oceanfront. He wants to put two mixed-use towers; a hotel tower on the BP parcel, and a residential tower on the Bank of America parcel, both with ground-floor retail!

This is the center of the Oceanfront Resort area and I think developing to the maximum density allowed here will be amazing! It’ll also give the skyline more dimension with a greater number of towers farther back from the beach. That strip of blocks between Atlantic & Pacific was starting to just become massive parking garage after massive parking garage, so this potential development is something I’m going to be watching very closely and heavily encouraging.

Is this the same location?

https://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/topic/120622-homewood-suites-by-hilton-under-construction/?do=findComment&comment=1759973

 

[HRVA]

4 hours ago, vdogg said:

Is this the same location?

https://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/topic/120622-homewood-suites-by-hilton-under-construction/?do=findComment&comment=1759973

 

It’s adjacent. The Homewood site stops where the Forbes store was. The BOA site was purchased by the owner of the BP site last fall.

[Lluck002]

1 hour ago, HRVA said:

It’s adjacent. The Homewood site stops where the Forbes store was. The BOA site was purchased by the owner of the BP site last fall.

Yeah, it’s not the Homewood Suites. That’s already under construction. This is literally fronting Laskin. The developer is still in very very early conceptual design stages, hence why they’re working with our Department for inspiration. The developer agrees that they should build to the maximum height and density allowed on these parcels so I’m excited! Sadly, the maximum height is of course 200ish feet because of Oceana’s radar

Edited February 3, 2022 by Lluck002