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Hilton Norfolk at The Main


vdogg

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I agree that this is old news and that efforts to save those facades are untimely now. It probably isn't in the City's best interests to delay this thing over these old facades. What functional or historical role would they play if preserved? What great events or artistic accomplishment do they represent? Could the facades be removed and reassembled elsewhere and if so why would someone do it and who should pay for it? I know the immediate response is that they are part of our heritage--but in what significant way? Just old? A hair from someone's gramma imbedded in a brick? A drop of sweat from Lord Dunmore in the mortar? A chicken feather from an Elvis dining orgy under the sidewalk?

Elvis dining orgy? :)

They all have some historic significance worth saving:

From the Pilot:

The Watt Rettew & Clay building on Main Street was built in 1869 and is the oldest building on Granby Street. It was most recently occupied by Ikon Document Services.

The Decker building, built in 1915 , is a classic revival building with an ornate facade on Plume Street.

The old Beecroft & Bull building on Main Street is an art deco building that adjoins Selden Arcade and dates to the early 1930s.

These are priceless building that once gone will never be seen again. I guess what I am saying is that Norfolk is an old 325 year old city that has lost so much of its historical heritage to the wrecking ball. What if there was a preservation alliance in 1976 to fight against the destruction of the Monticello Hotel and its replacement with a very ugly Federal Building that use to have orange brick ugh!!!! It seems like a lost cause trying to save these buildings but lets at least pay homage to them by preserving their facades. I will probably never be a big proponent of this development given the excessive subsidies Norfolk is throwing at RLJ Development, but if an attempt is made to incorporate these historic buildings into the development it may go a long way towards easing some the anger felt towards the city for giving away such lavish subsidies to a billionaire.

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Let's hope that the Hilton is at least as useful and as interesting as the old Monticello Hotel was. I think that from a utilitarian opint of view, it will be. It will have a nice meeting and convention facility to boot. The Monticello was imposing, but not great architecture. But it was sure was worlds better than that awful federal building that replaced it. This whole issue really makes me wish that we had some control over the quality of design we get from the Hilton project. What I've seen and read so far makes me fear that this could be Federal building II in terms of the design.

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This has become a moot issue. I just passed by the site. Tons of flat bed trucks with heavy machinery in tow (like what's on the GT site now) are descending on the Hilton lot. I counted about 20 workers putting up barriers on main and plume. This doesn't look like they're doing a little site prep, it's full on construction. I think they're planning on pulling the same thing that happened with the warehouses in Fort Norfolk, I don't expect the buildings to last a week. Anyway, I'm off to go take some pics. Wouldn't be a progress thread without them. :camera:

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Keep in mind it was very hard to get street level pics do to all the activity. Some equipment is right up against the wall and can't be seen from any of the vantage points below. I'll have to try tommorrow when it's quieter to get more site level pics.

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Is that whole row of buildings on Granby going to go or just 1 or 2? It would truly be a shame to lose them. That parking lot is plenty wide enough to support a 20+ story building. Not every building in Norfolk has to be 200 feet wide!

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Is that whole row of buildings on Granby going to go or just 1 or 2? It would truly be a shame to lose them. That parking lot is plenty wide enough to support a 20+ story building. Not every building in Norfolk has to be 200 feet wide!

The big one on the left is the only one coming down as far as I know. Hopefully they keep that 5 story one next to it alive.

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With Hilton going forward now, I can't help but feel excited again like I was in 2005 with the first wave of construction with Trader, Harbor Heights, Harbor's Edge, Sentara Heart Hospital, and Bristol. While the facade of Decker will be saved, I wish Beecroft & Bull's facade could be saved too. As for Ikon, while it's age has significance, I have to agree with the city and say it isn't really worth saving since it looks nothing like it's original design after the numerous renovations and redesigns it has gone through the decades. Other than that, the next 3 years is going to be exciting watching Granby Tower, Hilton, LRT, Wachovia Center, Belmont at Freemason (hopefully), and (to a far less exciting extent) Fort Norfolk Plaza rise from the ground.

'

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I think we stryaed a little off topic here. Most of the posts on the last 2 pages had to deal with Norfolks history, and no the Hilton, so I moved them to the History thread.

Have they completed a formal contract with Johnson yet? I don't remember seeing anything about that. Not even a formal groundbreaking? Seems awfully strange.

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Have they completed a formal contract with Johnson yet? I don't remember seeing anything about that. Not even a formal groundbreaking? Seems awfully strange.

Well, according to this quote from the city it appears that they have.

City Manager Regina V.K. Williams said the city has an ironclad deal with developers of the hotel that officials can't break - and wouldn't want to break.

"This is a very complicated project," she said. "We want to work with the historic preservationists to do what we can, but we're not going to kill the project. It's too important for the city."

That 7.5 million incentive they offered was to get the contract signed. Oddly enough, Granby Tower is the only project downtown I remember ever having a "formal" groundbreaking.

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Well, according to this quote from the city it appears that they have.

That 7.5 million incentive they offered was to get the contract signed. Oddly enough, Granby Tower is the only project downtown I remember ever having a "formal" groundbreaking.

Given the huge amount of public subsidy involved, I thought they would have.

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Nice pics Vdogg. I'll be looking forward to the updated ones. If they tear down BeechCroft & Bull and the Decker building, along with Ikon, they will still have that row of five beautifully faceted buildings to look at. Losing the three will be a loss, but not a complete and utter loss of historic appeal. However, I admit, I'm trying to find the silver lining so I won't have to be bummed out about something I, as a Norfolkian, have no control over. Assuming the city tears down these buildings, and it looks like the train is already rolling unfortunately; I hope the city stops there and leaves the rest of the historic architecture alone. As far as the Hilton is concerned, I'm excited to see it come to fruition, but I have yet to see any drawings or drafts of what it will look like. Have any of you seen visuals yet? :dontknow:

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Nice pics Vdogg. I'll be looking forward to the updated ones. If they tear down BeechCroft & Bull and the Decker building, along with Ikon, they will still have that row of five beautifully faceted buildings to look at. Losing the three will be a loss, but not a complete and utter loss of historic appeal. However, I admit, I'm trying to find the silver lining so I won't have to be bummed out about something I, as a Norfolkian, have no control over. Assuming the city tears down these buildings, and it looks like the train is already rolling unfortunately; I hope the city stops there and leaves the rest of the historic architecture alone. As far as the Hilton is concerned, I'm excited to see it come to fruition, but I have yet to see any drawings or drafts of what it will look like. Have any of you seen visuals yet? :dontknow:

Surely you jest. We have renderings for every project ever conceived (j/k :lol: ). Seriously though, if you ever have a question about the scale, scope, or progress of a project stop by the P&C thread (just don't post in it).

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Oh, I thought they were going to tear down the Beechcroft & Bull and Decker buildings too...or is it that they will save the facades of those two?

Beecroft and Bull are being torn down. They're saving the facade of the Decker side though. Neither of these builidings is in the pictures I posted however. The only structure being torn down in the pics I posted is the large grey building which was the Ikon building.

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Surely you jest. We have renderings for every project ever conceived (j/k :lol: ). Seriously though, if you ever have a question about the scale, scope, or progress of a project stop by the P&C thread (just don't post in it).

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Okay...am I like...welcome here or what? I'm trying to figure out if your response was completely in jest. I can post anywhere I like as long as I'm being courteous and not attacking anyone...very strange.

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Okay...am I like...welcome here or what? I'm trying to figure out if your response was completely in jest. I can post anywhere I like as long as I'm being courteous and not attacking anyone...very strange.

Wow. :huh: I'm looking over my post to see what you took offense too. You are of course welcome to post here and I don't know where you got that you weren't. I said don't post in the P&C thread because I don't let anyone post in there. It is simply set aside as a repository of information so that people can quickly scroll through and look at the status of all projects that are going on in Norfolk without having to scroll through a lot of posts. I used to have that thread closed but I got tired of closing and reopening it everytime I had to make a change so I just left it open, with the understanding that no one was to post in there. I hope that helps explain it somewhat. I meant no offense.

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Okay...am I like...welcome here or what? I'm trying to figure out if your response was completely in jest. I can post anywhere I like as long as I'm being courteous and not attacking anyone...very strange.

OMG. a little touchy are we? why would you post there when each project has its own individual thread? :blink:

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Now this is what i'm looking for. Coherent plans and reasoning as to how and why a building should be kept. This is how they should have been doing it all along. This one letter did what countless others failed to do. It has provided a convincing argument as to what changes should be made and what the affect of those changes would be. I like the resturant idea and the parking garage idea. She may have won a convert here.

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Okay...am I like...welcome here or what? I'm trying to figure out if your response was completely in jest. I can post anywhere I like as long as I'm being courteous and not attacking anyone...very strange.

:rofl: Sorry, but that was just way to funny!

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