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GSA/Federal Courts Expansion issue

vdogg

By vdogg
in Norfolk

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mercuex Whistle-Stop

mercuex

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You mean the 125 million dollar question?

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Thats really funny ... I work right adjacent to that property and me and my boss were cussing about it. I can see why they might want to build a new courthouse but to scrap the tower would be obscene.

My boss seems to think it doesnt look good for granby towers.

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vaceltic Hamlet

vaceltic

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I'm attempting to post the July 12th article about Granby Tower's problems on Planetizen, a forum that discusses politics, development, and anything you can think of relating to the urban planning process. It gets wide exposure and hopefully they will post it up by tomorrow morning.

www.planetizen.com

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rusthebuss Metropolis

rusthebuss

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Thats really funny ... I work right adjacent to that property and me and my boss were cussing about it. I can see why they might want to build a new courthouse but to scrap the tower would be obscene.

My boss seems to think it doesnt look good for granby towers.

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Can they stop him from building even if they don't even have the money to purchase the land???? What could happen if he started to build the tower and then they come up with the money. There has to be a threshold for the damn govts. power. This will actually hurt the cities progress and then i think we should go outside the courthouse and have a major protest and get this nationally viewed of how the GSA monster is out of control. We have to stop it. We can not let them win this one people! :angry:

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vdogg Megalopolis

vdogg

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My boss seems to think it doesnt look good for granby towers.

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Why? I agree that it's an ugly situation but Granby Tower does have some things going for it.

1.) They can't even legally build this by their own rules!

2.) That site is not an ideal location for their courthouse.

3.) They have agreed to work with the city to look at alternatives.

4.) It would be far more expensive for them to take Buddys land and then build an

annex than it would be to just build a new damn courthouse elsewhere.

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rusthebuss Metropolis

rusthebuss

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Why? I agree that it's an ugly situation but Granby Tower does have some things going for it.

1.) They can't even legally build this by their own rules!

2.) That site is not an ideal location for their courthouse.

3.) They have agreed to work with the city to look at alternatives.

4.) It would be far more expensive for them to take Buddys land and then build an

    annex than it would be to just build a new damn courthouse elsewhere.

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From what I'm seeing the GSA doesn't use logic and they could take Buddy's site and just build a completely new courthouse and abandon the old one so the part where they can't legally build by their rules isn't necessarly true. I don't understand why the hell they waited so long to do this and especially with no funds! Buddy has been keeping the feds in the loop the entire time and has anyone heard from the senators yet?

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vdogg Megalopolis

vdogg

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From what I'm seeing the GSA doesn't use logic and they could take Buddy's site and just build a completely new courthouse and abandon the old one so the part where they can't legally build by their rules isn't necessarly true. I don't understand why the hell they waited so long to do this and especially with no funds! Buddy has been keeping the feds in the loop the entire time and has anyone heard from the senators yet?

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But by that logic, why build on Buddys land instead of finding land elsewhere in the city where you have the space to grow. The only reason Buddy's land is in jeopardy is due to it's proximity to the courthouse. If they plan to completely abandon that courthouse then it would be useless to build an annex on his land, they'd be right back where they started. It would make much more sense to use the bus station land which they can basically get for free. Hell, i'd even give up downtown plaza if it would keep those morons away from this project.

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wrldcoupe4 Metropolitan Area

wrldcoupe4

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Why? I agree that it's an ugly situation but Granby Tower does have some things going for it.

1.) They can't even legally build this by their own rules!

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They are allowed to connect two buildings by underground tunnels correct? So they could potentially tunnel under the street level to connect the employees in both buildings. I agree this would suck if the feds did this but its something to think about....

Man am I glad they decided to build the new Federal Courthouse in Richmond on a block that everyone was glad to see demolished. Glad we didn't have to get a shock like this!

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vdogg Megalopolis

vdogg

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They are allowed to connect two buildings by underground tunnels correct?

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From the pilot: "However, officials have said previously that building the annex across from the courthouse on Granby Street would be difficult. Federal rules that took effect after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, prohibit the construction of pedestrian bridges or tunnels between new federal buildings."

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mercuex Whistle-Stop

mercuex

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GSA UPDATE

I found this article on the Virginia Pilot today. I'm sure many of you have read it but for those of you that have not here it is...

Apart from the abuse of power, it is hard to find anyone who thinks this is a wise idea, most especially the federal judges. They have been on record since the mid-1990s favoring an expansion to the south, but the GSA has ignored them. The judges have not consented to an annex across Granby.

Neither has Norfolk City Hall, which has already begun the process of closing portions of Bute and York streets for Granby Tower. It regards the skyscraper as a symbol of Norfolk

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vdogg Megalopolis

vdogg

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GSA UPDATE

I found this article on the Virginia Pilot today. I'm sure many of you have read it but for those of you that have not here it is...

Read it all.

Maybe we'd better start writing our congressmen!!

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Thanks mercuex. Yeah, i linked to it in the Granby Tower thread as well. With all this negative press they're getting I really don't see how they can proceed. Our entire congressional delegation and their own judges are against this so i don't see why this issue hasn't been dealt with yet anyway. It begs the question, who controls these people?

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rusthebuss Metropolis

rusthebuss

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Thanks mercuex. Yeah, i linked to it in the Granby Tower thread as well. With all this negative press they're getting I really don't see how they can proceed. Our entire congressional delegation and their own judges are against this so i don't see why this issue hasn't been dealt with yet anyway. It begs the question, who controls these people?

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Because point blank they don't give a damn. They don't care what anyone thinks.

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rusthebuss Metropolis

rusthebuss

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Why are they stealing our smidgeon of NY?? And what can we do to stop it!? It seems a hopeless situation. Hopefully our federal reps have enough clout to do something to reconcile this horrible situation.

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Hopefully this will not stop Buddy if they do take the land, which i pray they don't. Its like they know how important this development is to the city and they want to show who is more powerful. I'm hoping Buddy will come up with another building after this one. Maybe a little bit taller.

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vdogg Megalopolis

vdogg

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I'm really trying to remain optimistic on this one. Our senators/congressman have a lot of clout in washington (i.e. BRAC) and with the federal government and city on our side i'm confident they can find some sort of solution. The difference between us and the San Diego situation is that they did not have their Senators, reps, etc. backing them up. We do.

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