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Peninsula Town Center Progress


PeninsulaKiddo

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April 27, 2005

HAMPTON -- The owners of Coliseum Mall think their property - the first mall developed on the Peninsula - has to start changing into the next big thing. They plan to do away with the 32-year old mall and develop a "town center" that would hold even more retail stores, plus residential condominiums, office buildings and possibly a hotel, Hampton officials said Tuesday......Full Story>>>Taken from www.dailypress.com

:) YES! I've mentioned in on the other threads in reference to my ideas about Pembroke, and now ya'll can see it in a bit more detail (albeit still vague). It's a big step for Coliseum Central though. It's starting to slowly turn around, and perhaps by 2010, it'll be back and booming. YAY OPTIMISM! :)

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Thanks for posting this kiddo but remember that we cannot post full articles on this site.

April 27, 2005

HAMPTON -- The owners of Coliseum Mall think their property - the first mall developed on the Peninsula - has to start changing into the next big thing. They plan to do away with the 32-year old mall and develop a "town center" that would hold even more retail stores, plus residential condominiums, office buildings and possibly a hotel, Hampton officials said Tuesday......Full Story>>>Taken from www.dailypress.com

:) YES! I've mentioned in on the other threads in reference to my ideas about Pembroke, and now ya'll can see it in a bit more detail (albeit still vague). It's a big step for Coliseum Central though. It's starting to slowly turn around, and perhaps by 2010, it'll be back and booming. YAY OPTIMISM! :)

Go to google and type in "Peninsula Town Center" (use quotation marks) and "Steiner". Hit "I feel lucky" and you will find out more about the redevelopment of Coliseum Mall. To the left of the article is a link to pictures of the model. Has this thing been publically announced, yet?

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" The Pennisula Towncenter "

This is almost as bad as Chesapeakes attempt :sick:

THIS IS THE PLAN TO REPLACE COLISEUM MALL! It's rather un-urban.. but MUCH better than the disaster that's there now! It reminds me of Fanieul (sp?) Hall and the surrounding shopping area in Boston, only without skyscrapers in the background (but perhaps one day)... The architecture of that model is excellent, it's low-rise... (meh...) but idk. This is at least a great sign of investment in that section of Hampton not directly related to The Power Plant or the Convention Center!!

Great find!

[[Though perhaps a little paltry for the designation of "town center"... lol]].

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I must say I think I like it! It has a very dense and compact look.. almost village-like feel to it. And I really like all the trees in the rendering. Hope they incorporate all of those if actually built. It does not come off as looking or feeling contrived to me. I like!

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Hmm... Don't know how I feel about this yet. I'll have to look at it a bit more. I'm not sure if it really fits the definition of urban or not. Should I add this to the projects listing?

I have the same feeling as you Vdogg. It kind of reminds me of the Williamsburg outlets. Why would they label it a TC anyways? I don't know how solid this is anyways.

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I have the same feeling as you Vdogg. It kind of reminds me of the Williamsburg outlets. Why would they label it a TC anyways? I don't know how solid this is anyways.

Its a development model that's gaining popularity these days. "Lifestyle Centers" is what I usually hear them referred to - suburban in character but incorporating decidedly New Urbanist elements without having to deal with the "smart growth rubbish." A good example of this actually are the new renovations going on at Patrick Henry Mall and, more especially, Short Pump Mall.

It's a welcome progression that at least people are moving away from the strip club model of the latter stages of the 20th century but when it comes down to it, it's still a suburban development.

I think it's nice that developers are at least beginning to recognize the profitability and desirability of urbanesque developments. In a way, these new hybrid things, while imperfect, could be a necessary bridge towards bona fide urbanism. In growing localities like Hampton Roads, it seems to be the only option.

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The Coliseum Town Center doesn't look too bad. It's actually what I want Pembroke to become: an open-air, multi-story mall with on-street parking and sidewalks. It is more of an urban village which is both its selling point and detraction. It's cozy but doesn't connect with its surroundings. Anyway, the upper stories may be office space and/or condos. That's what other projects shown on Steiner's website look like. Parking lots could be converted to garages with condos/apts on top when the market or zoning allows.

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The Coliseum Town Center doesn't look too bad. It's actually what I want Pembroke to become: an open-air, multi-story mall with on-street parking and sidewalks. It is more of an urban village which is both its selling point and detraction. It's cozy but doesn't connect with its surroundings. Anyway, the upper stories may be office space and/or condos. That's what other projects shown on Steiner's website look like. Parking lots could be converted to garages with condos/apts on top when the market or zoning allows.

Actually that was my dream to see Pembroke become. Maybe it could lead to ideas after the Coliseum mall turns into this. For Coliseum mall, there is land that can be developed north of it into a comercial district that could house towers (many of those buildings are replaceable).

One thing about Trump and Fort Monroe is that I would bet that Trump was interested in putting in a golf course and a hotel resort deal for the north end of the island. I think creating a small commercial district with some classic looking hotels and housing. That would be such a great money maker for the city.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Town Center proposed to replace Coliseum Mall

The city of Hampton may eventually have something in common with Virginia Beach and Newport News, a town center.....

"The new development would have office space, residences, and entertainment, to go along with retail stores...."

The pilot dropped the ball on this one. :rolleyes: Good news for Hampton though.

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<_< blech! Nevermind. This is the same thing as the "Peninsula Town Center". Still don't know how I feel about it.

It'll be a mixed-use pedestrian-oriented development. The main question is how all these Coliseum area project tie into one another.

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:rofl: Its a fake TC. Hold maybe they really have something in common with Chesapeake :rolleyes::rofl:

First of all, the whole district there is more dense than all of chesapeake. That area was much like the pembroke area. Office buildings strewn throughout, (four to ten stories). These dense projects and the possible addition of towers could create a fill-in and create a dense area of mixed use. They have one thing going for them over Newport News if they are succesfful. Room to grow. Alot of the land is already owned by the City at the Convention and colliseum, there is already a dense area of hotels just above, the bass pro shops and power plant abuts it. The shopping center to the right of the mall has also been indentified to create a mixed use development. The notion that you need tall skyscrapers to create urban density is just silly. Look at all of the older cities in Europe. Most of these cities are huge without a single skyscraper. Density = need for sprouting up. Sprouting up does not equal density.

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I'm just not sure I like the overall design. The rendering that they have really doesn't have an urban feel to it. I don't care if it has skyscrapers, i'd prefer those stay downtown anyway when Hampton is concerned, I'd just like to see a better overall design for the project. That project would look great in Williamsburg. In Hampton, I think they should go in a different direction.

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I'm just not sure I like the overall design. The rendering that they have really doesn't have an urban feel to it. I don't care if it has skyscrapers, i'd prefer those stay downtown anyway when Hampton is concerned, I'd just like to see a better overall design for the project. That project would look great in Williamsburg. In Hampton, I think they should go in a different direction.

Thats the same opinion that I have. Urbanfan I think you miss read our comments. It doesn't feel urban to me but suburban. The design could be a bit better.

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Ok. If it's not a good design, how should it be modified to make it better?

:rofl: I'm not an architect hoobo, it's just an opinion. It's like I don't particularly like the design for the Westin, but don't have a clue what to tell you to do to make it better. I guess what bothers me about the design is that it's too village like for me. When I think urban i think more along the lines of cityview or even cornerstone. Dense urban housing like stacked town homes etc. mixed in with retail and the like. It doesn't have to have highrises but something along those lines. Look at what Gindroz proposed for midtown as an example.

effingham1202.gif

Something like this would be perfect there. The design presented for the Peninsula Town Center was a bit too theme parkish for my tastes. As I said, just and opinion.

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:rofl: I'm not an architect hoobo, it's just an opinion. It's like I don't particularly like the design for the Westin, but don't have a clue what to tell you to do to make it better. I guess what bothers me about the design is that it's too village like for me. When I think urban i think more along the lines of cityview or even cornerstone. Dense urban housing like stacked town homes etc. mixed in with retail and the like. It doesn't have to have highrises but something along those lines. Look at what Gindroz proposed for midtown as an example

effingham1202.gif

Something like this would be perfect there. The design presented for the Peninsula Town Center was a bit too theme parkish for my tastes. As I said, just and opinion.

I totally agree with you vdogg. I thought that I was looking at something that was in Willamsburg.

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Sorry if I came across a little curt, just trying to get an explanation. I understand where both of you are coming from saying it's theme-park-ish and village-like. It looks in on itself like Power Plant does and what every mall and shopping center does. It doesn't try to connect to the outside. That's the good thing about VB's TC; it opens up to the rest of Pembroke which is key in turning that place into a pseudo downtown. But then there's City Center which doesn't connect to anything. It is inward looking, centered around an ornamental lake. Peninsula TC will focus on a village green. It has a colonial motif as opposed to say VBTC's neutral color. Is it's theme really that bad? When all is said and done, the buildings there should be around 4 stories if this is to be a $200 million project. Anyway, Hampton shouldn't have competing downtowns. It's too small for that. Here are a couple links to comparable Steiner projects:

The Greene

Cooper's Crossing

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But then there's City Center which doesn't connect to anything. It is inward looking, centered around an ornamental lake.

I would have to respectfully disagree. So it's centered around a lake? Does that make Manhattan "inward looking" because of Central Park? Honestly, I mean the whole area surrounding it is basically the Peninsula CBD - the City Center idea is basically a major infill project to formalize and beautify that CBD. To transform it from a suburban office park into a bustling downtown. I'd say there is natural fluidity between the retail corridor, Port Warwick and CNU.

You don't need to disparage a good project in order to boost the profile of Hampton's. If you really have faith in it, then it will speak for itself. No reason to talk trash about city center.

As far as this Hampton project is concerned, I think that is a good idea if, for no other reason, it breaks from the current layout which is drab and uninspiring. Just introducing a good injection of density in the area may help bring it all together. It won't be quite a "european city," but it could end up rather pleasant. I wish them the best.

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