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Fort Norfolk Plaza Progress


vdogg

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They may be doing more than soil testing for Dr. Newby, they may have a more intergral part to the engineering process based on their website. They even have a picture of centennial towers up there, which means they're working on that project as well. Perhaps Dr. Newby is further along than I thought. :unsure:

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R-11 Letter from the City Manager and an Ordinance entitled, “An Ordinance approving soil testing indemnification agreements with the Commonwealth of Virginia, Department of Criminal Justice Services, and with Dr. Keith H. Newby and Froehling & Robertson, Inc., and authorizing the City Manager to execute the agreements on behalf of the city,” was introduced in writing and read by its title.
Taken into context with whats below it looks like they finally finalized the deal. :yahoo:

The site is currently owned by the state of Virginia, which has agreed to sell it back to Norfolk,

said Jody M. Wagner, the state secretary of finance.The deal is complicated and involves an exchange of money and a 15-year rent reduction for the state forensics lab in the nearby Norfolk Public Health Center. The City Council already has approved the deal. General Assembly approv al is expected later this month. Newby plans to start building by late summer or early fall, and he’s optimistic. “I wanted to create something that was timeless,” he said

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They may be doing more than soil testing for Dr. Newby, they may have a more intergral part to the engineering process based on their website. They even have a picture of centennial towers up there, which means they're working on that project as well. Perhaps Dr. Newby is further along than I thought. :unsure:

They are a testing lab. We do work with them, mainly on larger projects such as schools and libraries. The do everything from soil testing to concrete testing.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I just learned over the weekend that a friend of mine is designing the office space for the Ghent South Tower project. I was also told that preliminary designs for the condos are very close to being completed. The project is still a long way from "breaking" ground but at least they're working on it. I'll keep you guys posted as I hear more...

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I just learned over the weekend that a friend of mine is designing the office space for the Ghent South Tower project. I was also told that preliminary designs for the condos are very close to being completed. The project is still a long way from "breaking" ground but at least they're working on it. I'll keep you guys posted as I hear more...

Thanks for the info. I figured it was still a ways off so I didn't get my hopes up on them breaking ground anytime soon. It'll be nice to get some new renderings out of this though. I'm really interested in seeing some street level renderings, that helicopter view just doesn't suffice for showing how the average person will veiw the tower(s) from the ground.

Also, any word on if the extended stay component panned out?

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Btw, was your drop of the s just a slip or is this project now one tower?

That was just my mistake. Still two towers proposed. Without getting into too many of the details. I'm going to assume the hotel component is still a go at this point considering I was told there were not very many condo units being designed at this time. The plan would be to build more condos if the hotel component does not work.

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  • 3 months later...

I received a booklet in the mail with new renderings for some of the projects in the area. Unfortunately i'm in the process of moving so I can't scan them just yet. The new rendering for ghent south seems to put both towers at 17 floors and it has a very bland, almost tan exterior with green (as in color) roofs. It was disappointing to say the least. It's not the height that's disappointing me but aesthetically I think the old rendering was much better. Hopefully they'll have a chance to refine it somewhat.

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I received a booklet in the mail with new renderings for some of the projects in the area. Unfortunately i'm in the process of moving so I can't scan them just yet. The new rendering for ghent south seems to put both towers at 17 floors and it has a very bland, almost tan exterior with green (as in color) roofs. It was disappointing to say the least. It's not the height that's disappointing me but aesthetically I think the old rendering was much better. Hopefully they'll have a chance to refine it somewhat.

ewww. I'm wondering why a clinic or whatever was supposed to be 11/12 floors earlier is suddenly 17. And we don't need 3 17-story towers in Fort Norfolk, we need some height!

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ewww. I'm wondering why a clinic or whatever was supposed to be 11/12 floors earlier is suddenly 17. And we don't need 3 17-story towers in Fort Norfolk, we need some height!

Well, it looks like the height of the 24-story one was reduced (likely due to condo demand) and the office one was increased (likely due to office demand). One came down 7 and one rose 3. I agree though, i'd like to see varying heights in Fort Norfolk instead of a wall of 17 story buildings. When you guys see how they incorporated the garage, I don't think the response will be all that happy either. <_<

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ewww. I'm wondering why a clinic or whatever was supposed to be 11/12 floors earlier is suddenly 17. And we don't need 3 17-story towers in Fort Norfolk, we need some height!

I'm not really worried with it being super tall. I want quality along with density. I would rather have 10 17 story buildings than 2 30 story towers there.

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I've always seen Fort Norfolk as more density than height myself but good lord, at least try to make the buildings mix well together. This thing next to Harbors Edge won't mesh well at all. I wish I could find it online right now so that I can post it and you guys can see what i'm talking about.

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Forgive me for not having all my informtion in order, but what is on that site now? Also what is the policy for new design and the surrounding structures that are already in place?

The site is currently just a surface parking lot. The guidelines as best as I can tell will be close to what is seen in the Fort Norfolk redevelopment rendering below. The new design for ghent south doesn't fit in with this at all, the old one did.

21637aa0.jpg

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It's still pretty crude, but the form is more coherent than that psuedo container ship was. Ten levels of garage would be hard to navigate. I think it would be better to extend the parking closer to the river and add more floors to the south tower. The building functions are segregated pretty well, but the whole doesn't add up to anything attractive. It looks a lot like a hospital to me. Actually, it makes me feel like it's something out of "Soylent Green," dense, institutional and dehumanizing. It wouldn't be hard to improve this beast. First step might be to disguise the parking deck openings a bit, then add some detail. The curved roofs are novel. Maybe some curved facades to echo the new Heart Center could work.

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