THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 24, 1995 TAG: 9509220208
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 41 lines
Another season of itinerant boats is here, and we still have an empty, half-finished building as the most visible sight on the Downtown waterfront.
Every spring and every fall, thousands of pleasure craft pass here on the Intracoastal Waterway. What most of them see from their boats is all they know about Portsmouth and they probably are the best potential word-of-mouth advertising we have to reach other parts of the country.
Kings Crossing does not convey the best image of the city in its present state. Over the years it has sat empty, it has been vandalized on the water side, and that's what boaters see. Most of them have no knowledge of the history of the building and of the fact that it never has been occupied. They don't know about the foot-dragging by the developer and the consequential bankruptcy of the project. They must assume the worst, that the building is a slum, from what they see.
They must shake their heads in dismay at what appears to be deterioration on the waterfront. Certainly that vacant shell of a building looming over the water does nothing to encourage them to stop and explore Portsmouth.
Planning consultant Ray Gindroz has said that the completion of Kings Crossing is a first priority for the Vision 2005 economic development plan. Everybody around here agrees with that.
The Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority claims it has sold the building and the prospective owners already have occupied some of the building. However, the sale apparently has not been completed, so anything can happen between now and closing.
If work does not begin soon to complete the building, City Council needs to step in and get something done to change the negative image projected by the emptiness and vandalism. by CNB