THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 17, 1995 TAG: 9509150178
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Ida Kay's Portsmouth
SOURCE: Ida Kay Jordan
LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines
It's strange that City Council is so reluctant to grant at least one more extension to the developer of Crawford Square Condominiums on High Street between Crawford and Water streets.
The request by the developer, W.B. Meredith, to delay until next July seems reasonable.
The developer bought into the planned Downtown Renaissance in 1987, when there was an optimism abroad in this city and when the Downtown waterfront seemed ready to move quickly toward a new day.
The streetscape was moving along out High Street. Portside was coming alive.
The old Seaboard building was being renovated and The Max was being created. The city had sold the prime waterfront spot for development of a project that came to be known as Kings Crossing.
W.B. Meredith first completed the parking garage in partnership with the city and then started on the building that would house commercial space on the first floor with condos on top.
The first of the Crawford Square dwellings went on the market in March 1989. After early sales, the pace slowed - but not because the apartments weren't nice or the price wasn't right.
Basically, the city's upscale waterfront began to fall apart and the city seemed powerless to hold it together.
The folks who were supposed to be building Kings Crossing had messed around since 1985, missing one deadline after another imposed by the city.
As former Portsmouth editor Sam Barnes wrote in a Currents column in 1989 (a few weeks after the Crawford Square project opened), the ``crown jewel'' looked more like ``the crown joke.'' At that time, the Kings Crossing site was an embarrassment to the community.
For a long time, it was a gaping hole in the ground surrounded by a chain-link fence. It was ugly and gave a sort of bombed-out look to Portsmouth. Visitors walking on the Seawall felt uncomfortable as they passed the large unpleasant area.
When Sam wrote about the company's request for yet another extension, he mentioned some reinforced steel being put in on one end of the project area. The waterfront definitely was marred by this project and, remember, that waterfront is all a lot of people ever see of Portsmouth.
At that time, The Max already was in trouble. It could have benefited a great deal from the presence of 61 condominiums. And business from across the water might have been better if we had not had that mess on the waterfront that was sort of like having a broken washing machine on the front porch.
Crawford Square sales got slower and slower. And no wonder! Who wants to buy a home overlooking a gaping hole in the ground or even facing an unfinished building, as Kings Crossing has been for the past several years?
Furthermore, until recently, the space formerly occupied by The Max was a big question mark. Residents already invested in Crawford Square were among those who showed up at City Council to report on noise and other problems caused by Riverfront Cafe. Now the restaurant is closed.
Councilman Jim Hawks, who first spoke against extending the deadline for Meredith to complete construction of another segment of Crawford Square, noted the city's plan to dig an inlet into the foot of High Street up to Water Street. That certainly could enhance buyer interest in the project, whether it is completed as offices, condos or retail space.
But at the present time, the potential financiers for the project are not willing to lend the money. I can't blame them or Meredith for hesitating.
The city says it is going to force completion of Kings Crossing. It says it is going to create a boat haven at the foot of High Street. It says it is going to do a lot of other things to make the area more interesting and attractive.
I believe those things are going to be done. But I can see why Crawford Square builders and lenders as well as potential occupants want to wait and see what happens.
The city was too lenient with the Kings Crossing project six or seven years ago. We would not encourage them to continue to be as lenient. However, it's a little unfair to W.B. Meredith to try to force them on the Crawford Square project which has suffered through a rough time on the Portsmouth waterfront that was not of their own making.
Council members hesitating to extend the contract to next July seem to have forgotten very quickly all of these problems. The city owes the the developer one more extension to make up for the indignities visited upon Crawford Square for so many years. by CNB