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Norfolk Development 2


vdogg

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Well they do say "major revitalization effort". Could they perhaps be talking about revitalizing the Union Mission Building? That seem about the right size for the number of apartments.

I could be wrong, but I can't see how there could possibly be enough room for 123 apartments in the Union Mission building. It seems likely to me this must be referring to something else.

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Norfolk businesses feel pinch of downtown construction

Club Soda customers have broken heels off their shoes, bottomed out their cars on potholes, and dragged dirt and debris over the restaurant's wood floor.

And those are patrons the eatery is lucky to get through the door, its owner said.

Club Soda sits on a block of West Tazewell Street in Norfolk that has remained torn up and closed to traffic for most of the past two years. Construction related to Harbor Heights, a development on Boush Street between Tazewell and College Place, began back in May 2005 and continues today.

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They also say mixed use, and I could've sworn I read somewhere that Norfolk was planning on using that as a temporary location for the central library. It could hold apartments and probably will someday, I'm just not sure if they would be this far into it this soon.

Honestly, when they say major "revitalization" I'm thinking more along the lines of DT plaza.

For the library's temp location, that is a different Union Mission building (storehouse) on the corner of St. Paul's Blvd and E Bute, across Wood St. from the newer looking fire station.

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Someone please explain to me why this newspaper milks every story to death. C.f., Ford Plant closing, Michael Vick dog-fighting, Beach immigration story, etc. etc. etc.

How many times have we read this EXACT same story in this paper? I'd say at least 5 times. Do they not have any things else to talk about? Any real news to cover, like national or world news? I mean, waste a few more trees for us, will you, Pilot?

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The entire outside? It's not going to be off-whiteish anymore?

It looked like they were pretty much painting it the same color, maybe a little closer to a tan than an off-white though. I saw people working on it as I drove across the Berkely Bridge so it was out of the corner of my eye.

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So I saw the Sheraton again today and they are painting a lot of it the darker brown/maroon color. It's going to be quite a drastic color change here in the next week. The color kind of matches Dominion Tower (Bank of Hampton Roads). Why do the Norfolk developers try to match colors of surrounding buildings so much?

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So I saw the Sheraton again today and they are painting a lot of it the darker brown/maroon color. It's going to be quite a drastic color change here in the next week. The color kind of matches Dominion Tower (Bank of Hampton Roads). Why do the Norfolk developers try to match colors of surrounding buildings so much?

Maybe they like to take after Virginia Beach? ... oy.

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  • 1 month later...

Request to add 1 story to a historic structure

There is an application up for vote tommorrow that request to add 1 story to an existing historic structure to make it a total of 7 stories in height. It is a request by Pete Decker. Judging by the overhead renderings, I think this may be the Clarion. Warning! .pdf file.

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From reviewing the document it looks like this is a proposal for a penthouse on top of the tazewell building which is on the corner of brooke and granby....I'm assuming that Pete Decker is losing his penthouse that is now on top of the other building set to be torn down for the Hilton so he is looking to build on top of this building. It's all stated in the PDF....his penthouse is going to be over 8,000 square feet...nice...

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Downtown living revisited

The April 10, 2007 cover story in Port Folio Weekly explored the past, present and future of the cultural and structural landscape of Downtown Norfolk.

At the time, the Granby Theater had just been put on the market in the wake of a shooting at the venue. The Harbor Heights condominium building was merely a concrete shell and the Granby Tower project had yet to break ground. The city was at a discernable crossroads.

Since then, the stretch of Granby Street from Waterside to Brambleton Avenue has seen a few promising developments

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  • 2 months later...

In the condo cooldown article in the Pilot today, some quotes regarding the Franklin Condos on Brambleton. 19 units in the building, and only one has sold, and that was to a relative of the developer. And besides the tower in the rear of the building this project has been stagnant for months now with no discernible progress. No interior work is being done either. Exterior windows and doors were added but they left two off like eight or nine months ago and the trash bags in their place still remain. It looks better than what was there (the old Social Services building) but marketing to high end select buyers right now is a good way to go belly up or run into difficulty (see Westin sellings the remaining 20%, GT, Harbor Heights high end) Disappointing.

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Hmm...Pilot beating the doom and gloom drum today? I haven't read the article yet, but i'm already underwhelmed. Same ole same ole. Everybody knows the condo market has cooled. The Franklin was never marketed that well in the first place, and while it looks better than I expected, it wouldn't surprise me if they had only sold one condo in a good market to be honest. The slow down will not last forever, the market will pick up again one day. You can most certainly count on the pilot however to come out with a sky is falling article per week until it does. :rolleyes:

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Ok, read the article. Not too bad actually. It tells us pretty much what we already knew though. There are a few silver linings in the article however, and i'm heartened that some of those developers realize that the market is indeed cyclical, and are forging ahead anyway. Gives me some hope for Granby Tower.

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And besides the tower in the rear of the building this project has been stagnant for months now with no discernible progress.

That's not true. I've seen workers out side of the place a few times over the past couple weeks. I don't drive by the place every day but a couple times a week. I haven't noticed that it was stagnant.

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That's not true. I've seen workers out side of the place a few times over the past couple weeks. I don't drive by the place every day but a couple times a week. I haven't noticed that it was stagnant.

I always see workers too, but my point was a lack of discernible progress. Interiors haven't been started, there's still windows and doors missing from the building, etc. They are building on a small tower addition to the rear of the building but besides that there's nothing really being accomplished on this project. It's approaching two years now, and while a conversion takes longer than new construction obviously i think the lack of sales or interest in this project is starting to take its toll on the developer. Yes the building looks much better than it used to be and so far looks great, but for a three story building, they're moving at a HH pace.

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