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Fort Norfolk Plaza Progress


vdogg

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Was walking down there the other day and I talked to some of the guys doing dirt work. They said that it is very temporarily (1 year) going to be used as a parking lot and then the Harbor's Edge 2nd building is going to be built on it.

Do you mean the location of the old warehouses along the water that were just torn down?

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  • 3 weeks later...

I didn't think it was possible, but I may actually get excited about this again. I may just have to drop the byline.

FNPday.jpg

FNPnight.jpg

I need more angles and clearer renderings to truly pass judgement, but it looks like they're stepping in the right direction.

Instead of a wall, it looks like they reoriented the taller building a bit, angling it towards downtown. This should give a harbors edge like presence coming over the brambleton bridge.

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Vdogg, I saw those a while ago but my thinking was that it was just a generic design for the hotel. Maybe there has been a major redesign (which would be nice) but I doubt it. I think that those were just focusing on the hotel and using some other random things for the background maybe. I could be completely wrong but I just have a feeling.

Because if so, then he has 3 different renderings of the same project on the same page. :lol:

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I guess the reason I like this more is because it adds a bit more variety and color, it's no longer so monolithic. In reality I don't like this one either, because I wanted "Ghent South Towers", but this is what we're stuck with. Of the last two redesigns I like this one better. Who knows, it may well change again before all is said and done. As okinawa said, the man has 3 different renderings on his website.

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I guess the reason I like this more is because it adds a bit more variety and color, it's no longer so monolithic. In reality I don't like this one either, because I wanted "Ghent South Towers", but this is what we're stuck with. Of the last two redesigns I like this one better. Who knows, it may well change again before all is said and done. As okinawa said, the man has 3 different renderings on his website.

I really wanted Ghent South Towers to.

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Vdogg, I saw those a while ago but my thinking was that it was just a generic design for the hotel. Maybe there has been a major redesign (which would be nice) but I doubt it. I think that those were just focusing on the hotel and using some other random things for the background maybe. I could be completely wrong but I just have a feeling.

Because if so, then he has 3 different renderings of the same project on the same page. :lol:

Yeah I think this is just focusing on the hotel with some random background. In fact, that building in the background likes strikingly similar to a building off of 495 North right outside of Tysons Corner...

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Yeah I think this is just focusing on the hotel with some random background. In fact, that building in the background likes strikingly similar to a building off of 495 North right outside of Tysons Corner...

Similar is an understatement. It is clearly the same building...

Which makes me think the foreground building is just a generic, plop this down whereever, creation. Not something designed to fit properly into it's surroundings.

forwebsitesmall.JPG

FNPday.jpg

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actually the area kind of does, just doesn't have the same kind of growth we are having. The difference is where the wealthy choose to live. Granted we have our areas for the mansions and the big homes, but I think in overall land mass Portland is a smaller city compared to all the Hampton Roads, or even Southside for that matter.

It would be interesting to see what the region would of looked like if VB was only the size of the upper half of Virginia Beach and the lower half stayed Princess Anne County. Then Chesapeake and Suffolk never happened and stayed county land. Of course with that what if would need to have, what if the region stuck to a green belt and never built past it.

Portland has stuck to theirs and currently it is forcing the city and the metro to think up and closer together.

I am by no means saying these are isolated problems for Hampton Roads, this is a traditional problem for most American cities. I have heard many times before from Europeans that Portland is the most European feeling American city. I am just suggesting that the rest of the US could learn a thing or two if they paid attention to how we do things. Not to say that Portland does everything right, but our people are there to call politicians on just about anything.....which means we whine alot.

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There is no shortage of whining in the HR area, trust me. Just look at any pilot article. In order to get better projects we need a stronger design review process. One in which the people who sit on the board actually take pride in what Norfolk looks like, and holds developers accountable when they stray so far from originally agreed upon design.

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There is no shortage of whining in the HR area, trust me. Just look at any pilot article. In order to get better projects we need a stronger design review process. One in which the people who sit on the board actually take pride in what Norfolk looks like, and holds developers accountable when they stray so far from originally agreed upon design.

Sometimes I think the competition among the cities cause this. They are so desperate to take a development from another city that they wll take anything thrown at them, unless its creative :rofl:. On a serious note, we might need some outsiders to come in and break up the good ole boy system that is in place with fresh new ideas. What i meant about Portland having more money is that we don't have the corporate presence of Portland. Don't get me wrong, there is alot of money here.

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I doubt we're gonna see anymore design changes. This project is now very much under construction. The site was cordoned off and there were numerous bulldozers and back hoes, as well as dump trucks hauling away dirt and pavement. I may try to sneak out and get some pictures this weekend.

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