THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 21, 1995 TAG: 9508210016
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALEX MARSHALL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 121 lines
Mention Granby Street, the city's once-bustling shopping district, and many people envision nearly empty sidewalks lined with vacant storefronts and tired shops.
But in the 100 block of Granby these days you can frame a picture, buy a funky piece of artwork, consult about decorating your home, get a good meal - and buy a fine cigar for afterward.
It's something people thought they'd never see again on Granby Street: an entire block packed with artsy shops that take advantage of their historic setting and can't be found elsewhere in Hampton Roads.
The 100 block of Granby Street has come back. If successful in the long term, it will set a pattern that the rest of the once-bustling shopping street could follow.
It's the result of a fairly simple set of principles that other cities around the country have used to revive their downtowns: Think of older buildings as assets, not liabilities, and work with them to create an urban, city-like environment.
The 100 block is not the only bright spot downtown or on Granby Street. Over the past 10 years, new stores and restaurants have sprouted on Granby and its side streets, even if vacant buildings still exist. But the 100 block, in just the past year, has achieved a coherent flavor and style.
Many of the storefronts have been underused or vacant for decades. In the early 1970s, this now-elegant row of shops was a slugger's row of bars that catered to sailors out for a night of carousing. It was the last vestige of what Norfolk's downtown used to specialize in.
At the restaurant Open Wide, owner Philip Haushalter said ``old-timers'' will pop their head in the door and tell tales from when it was home to the bars Murray Jr. and Wolfy's Tavern.
``This was the last shot at a drink and a girl before you got on the troop ships,'' Haushalter said.
The modern street has somewhat of a split personality. On the east side is the line of older buildings that give the block its character. On the other side is the red-brick Town Point parking garage. It has freshly built storefronts underneath, but it cannot compete with the opposite side in flavor and personality.
Merchants now call the block Granby Row. Its character seems planned, but it comes from building and shop owners making individual decisions and taking risks over the last three years.
In 1992, Norfolk Stationery moved into a shop underneath the Town Point parking garage. The store's historic home a few blocks away was torn down by the city to make way for a parking garage for Nauticus.
About the same time, the Palmer-Rae art gallery moved to Granby from Virginia Beach. In the past year, the art galleries Calvin & Lloyd and Zeitgeist have taken up storefronts. In the past few months came Emerson's Tobacco Shop and, finally, as a centerpiece, restaurant Open Wide.
``So now we have galleries and food and stationery,'' said Joan Buckle, of Morgan Real Estate Group, whose own offices are located on the block. ``It's a nice mix.''
The openings depended not only on adventurous business owners, but on building owners taking risks as well. The landlord of Open Wide invested considerable time and money in uncovering and then improving the intricate facades of that building.
``Without that willingness, that entrepreneurial spirit, you don't get anywhere,'' said Robert Smithwick, Norfolk's director of development. ``It was not only important, it was a necessary ingredient.''
The interior of Open Wide has exposed beams in the ceiling, exposed brick and a doorway formed from an I-beam. The front of the building features a stone facade and an arched brick window, which had been buried underneath earlier modernizations.
It may be difficult to re-create what is happening on the 100 block elsewhere downtown because so few such coherent blocks are left. The extensive urban renewal in the '50s and '60s has left downtown filled with blank spots and vacant lots.
``There is a rhythm to that street that existed many years ago,'' said Cathy Coleman, executive director of the Downtown Norfolk Council. ``With all the demolition in the city, some of that rhythm has been interrupted. With that block, the rhythm is still there.''
Haushalter, of Open Wide, would like Granby street to emulate Shockoe Slip and Shockoe Bottom, two areas of downtown Richmond that have become centers for art galleries, shops and night life.
``Norfolk is really 300 years old, but it doesn't have a sense of it,'' said Haushalter. ``Norfolk is older than Richmond, than Charleston, but it doesn't have the flavor.''
Coleman said several decisions by the city should help Granby Street. The opening of Tidewater Community College a few blocks up Granby Street, centered on the renovated Smith & Welton building, he said, should pump people onto the street.
One difficulty is the lack of easy parking, a problem common to urban areas. In fact, if parking were plentiful, then the historic street-feel of the block would not exist. But merchants say the city has made parking more difficult by raising violation fines this year.
A person who puts 50 cents in a one-hour meter risks getting a $25 fine if he misses the one-hour maximum.
``It's an absolutely horrible fine,'' said Archer Seely, owner of Zeitgeist. One such fine will drive a customer away, Seely and other merchants say. ``We've all been stung by it.''
There's a reason the city raised parking fines.
City officials say the increased fines are expected to raise $1 million extra a year, which in turn will help pay to build new parking garages for the planned MacArthur Center mall.
It's all part of the city's strategic plan to revitalize downtown, much of which downtown merchants like. In the past decade, the openings of Nauticus, Waterside, Town Point Park and the Marriott hotel have attracted people downtown - which then have attracted business owners willing to take a risk, Coleman said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
[1972 photo shot by freelancer]
Bars that catered to carousing sailors helped give Norfolk a
reputation that the city government has fought hard to dispel.
[1995 photo shot by Bill Tiernan]
Merchants have taken risks and, independently of one another,
crafted a row that's developed in the past year.
KEYWORDS: GRANBY STREET REDEVELOPMENT by CNB