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Norfolk Light Rail and Transit


urbanvb

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Dude I really hope that gets built. I wonder what else the city has up its sleeve with all of this going on. I wonder if we have anything else going to be built. I would like to see a Best Buy or something like that DT.

Best Buy????

Not unless its in the bottom of a tower! I dont think i want any kind of box building DT.

You agree Rus?

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Best Buy????

Not unless its in the bottom of a tower! I dont think i want any kind of box building DT.

You agree Rus?

That's what I meant or build a mid rise building with those retailers around a high rise condo tower. I think if they build a couple more condo towers they should put them in the bottoms of the towers! :thumbsup: The reason why i say this is to make it where people don't have to leave DT and walk to get anything they need!

Edited by rusthebuss
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That's what I meant or build a mid rise building with those retailers around a high rise condo tower. I think if they build a couple more condo towers they should put them in the bottoms of the towers! :thumbsup: The reason why i say this is to make it where people don't have to leave DT and walk to get anything they need!

Thats exactly what I was thinking.

Any new busniess coming to DT should be on the bottom of a high or mid rise tower. Thats what gives a city the real "city" feel. Thats what Norfolk lacked for so long. But, were finally starting to turn the tide!

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Are there any other renderings of the Fort Norfolk area? That pdf file about light rail was the only picture I saw of what fort norfolk was supposed to look like and it looks great.

Nah i haven't found any but it looks awesome! I hope that it does look like that when its finished. Some of the land has not been bought and the owners are trying to hold out to get the best price they can. :(

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Exactly what the hell were they thinking? They really just shot themselves in the foot on this one. It's sad to see all those years of hard work thrown away overnight. The worse part about it is that they provide no explanation for taking this action. I would assume there is a valid explanation.....right? <_<

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I can't tell you what they were thinking, but I do have an idea or two. It doesn't always work to create consumer discomfort and limit transportation modal choices before you have your alternatives in place. Look at our local HOV performance. Once the higher densities are achieved (along with high fuel costs and more vehicle congestion), then you set the stage for successful rail transit, not before. Note that Norfolk's CBD is roughly one third as large as the one in Portland Oregon. You'll find nation-wide CBD comparisons will generally not favor light rail for downtown Norfolk. Granted, that isn't the only criteria, but it's an important indicator, and we've got a long way to go on that count. I think we've just got to keep adding more jobs and households downtown.

Other than that, garages can charge higher fees for parking and achieve similar results, making transit more attractive. I know a lot of light rail proponents disagree with me on this one, and I'd really like to see passenger rail service and rail transit in our area, but we have got to make it work.

Also, the cruise terminal may be a factor. It would be nice to drive to Norfolk from say Charlotte or Raleigh or Richmond and be able to leave your car in a downtown garage (like the airport travellers do).

Edited by Padman
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Well if you look at the SunTrust building, the TC AH tower and the Trader Tower all three have something in common: they are sitting on top of massive garages. Most of the new towers in this area seem to have a few floors of parking as a requirement. So if Norfolk is to ban all new garages, they might be shutting out another tower (or more). That might be worth more than a LR system to the city council, I dunno.

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Well if you look at the SunTrust building, the TC AH tower and the Trader Tower all three have something in common: they are sitting on top of massive garages. Most of the new towers in this area seem to have a few floors of parking as a requirement. So if Norfolk is to ban all new garages, they might be shutting out another tower (or more). That might be worth more than a LR system to the city council, I dunno.

I think there meaning single standing parking garages. I doubt the city would stopa 40 story tower from being built cause they want to build a parking garage underneath the building.

If they do want to stop all parking garages, and lose out on a potential tower, that would be crazy. I dont see that happening. I think they want people to stopp using extra land to build a parking garage. That makes sence to me.

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I think there meaning single standing parking garages. I doubt the city would stopa 40 story tower from being built cause they want to build a parking garage underneath the building.

If they do want to stop all parking garages, and lose out on a potential tower, that would be crazy. I dont see that happening. I think they want people to stopp using extra land to build a parking garage. That makes sence to me.

I agree I think they want to stop stand alone garages from being built taking much needed land DT. I don't think this will stop them from building parking under a tower.

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I also wonder if some of the garges that are stand alone are going to be torn down for development like the freemason garage.

Now that would open up a lot of development doors downtown. Replacing all or just some of the stand alone garages with towers would do wonders for the CBD.

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I also wonder if some of the garges that are stand alone are going to be torn down for development like the freemason garage.

That would be great! There is Prime real estate on Montecello(sp?) that is either parking garage, open fields or parking lots. they could prob. fir 5 or 6 towers just on that road.

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I'm assuming the Freemason garage is the one on Freemason and Monticello. It is also surorunded by parking lots (the prime real estate that greekboy80 speaks of). The Downtown master plan shows that site as one of two locations for a new arena, the other being just west of Harbor Park. Alternatives for those two sites, depending on where the arena goes, are mixed-use (currently listed as mid-rise) at Freemason/Monitcello and mid-rise residential at the Harbor Park site.

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I'm assuming the Freemason garage is the one on Freemason and Monticello. It is also surorunded by parking lots (the prime real estate that greekboy80 speaks of). The Downtown master plan shows that site as one of two locations for a new arena, the other being just west of Harbor Park. Alternatives for those two sites, depending on where the arena goes, are mixed-use (currently listed as mid-rise) at Freemason/Monitcello and mid-rise residential at the Harbor Park site.

Yeah, I do think thats it. they need to scrap that whole area and Scope and start over. That land is not being put to use. There is also an open lot right directly beside Macauthur mall that is just sitting there not being used for anything, not even benches. A developer could easily fit a tower there. The foot print is probably as big as trader, if not bigger.

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Yeah, I do think thats it. they need to scrap that whole area and Scope and start over. That land is not being put to use. There is also an open lot right directly beside Macauthur mall that is just sitting there not being used for anything, not even benches. A developer could easily fit a tower there. The foot print is probably as big as trader, if not bigger.

That was left green for a reason. It will not be developed. I go downtown during the summer and people sitting on blankets and enjoying that area. Don't expect that area to get developed.

Edited by rusthebuss
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