THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 7, 1996 TAG: 9608070001
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A15 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Opinion
SOURCE: Glenn Allen Scott
LENGTH: 71 lines
A decade ago, Norfolk City Council and Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority decided to designate the long-vacant 17 acres between the MacArthur Memorial and the historic Moses Myers House for use as an office park. Promoting the site for office buildings, city officials had concluded, was the most-promising approach to transforming the unproductive site into a tax-revenue-generating asset.
The Virginian-Pilot editorially opposed the office-park concept, arguing that the city should aggressively market the 17 acres to developers as the prime place for a shopping center appealing to consumers throughout Southeastern Virginia and Northeastern North Carolina.
The editorial noted that upon completion of the Monitor-Merrimac Bridge Tunnel, then under construction, major highways linking all components of Hampton Roads would pass through downtown Norfolk. Thus, the empty 17 acres at the heart of Southeastern Virginia would be a plausible setting for the truly regional - supperregional - shopping center that would be built someday somewhere in Hampton Roads - a region of expanding population.
Yes, Norfolk had experienced nothing but disappointment in its attempts to interest developers in the 17 acres, cleared of slum housing and dilapidated commercial structures in the 1960s. The proposal for an enclosed retailing/entertainment complex to be named ``Norfolk Gardens'' was nixed by a City Council fearful of the magnitude of the financial commitment the city would have had to make to the project. And the late James Rouse, whose festival marketplaces revitalized run-down commercial areas in several cities (as it has the Norfolk waterfront), was frustrated by his inability to breathe life into the 17 acres.
Yes, senior real-estate experts specializing in shopping centers advised Norfolk to abandon all thought of returning retailing in a big way to the old seaport city's downtown, especially the 17 acres. Better to attempt the possible, said the experts, and City Hall agreed. New office buildings had been built downtown. More could rise on the 17 acres.
No office park blossomed on the tract, which contained only parking spaces until a few weeks ago. But after years of persistent, arduous prospecting by the city's political, business and professional leaders, construction of the projected MacArthur Center, which will be a magnet for upscale shoppers, is about to begin.
Some of those who believe that MacArthur Center's inward focus makes it incompatible with its neighbors also seem to believe the mall is being plopped into the city without reference to an overall design.
But that's not the case. The city's ever-evolving downtown plan - currently titled ``Norfolk 2000'' - has long called for commercial uses for the 17 acres. Meanwhile, also in accordance with the downtown plan, a sparkling waterfront has emerged from ruins of decayed wharves and warehouses, increasing the 17 acres' attractiveness.
That the site is near leading Hampton Roads arts-and-cultural institutions, which the city has fostered in accordance with the downtown plan, further enhances the 17 acres' value in the eyes of Taubman Company, MacArthur Center's developer, and the Nordstrom and Dillard's executives whose department stores will be the most prominent presences in the mall.
Virginia Beach long ago surpassed Norfolk in population and wealth. Chesapeake's population will soon exceed Norfolk's, and the city's average household income is high.
By contrast, Norfolk has lost population and its average household income is the second lowest in South Hampton Roads.
But while many other aged U.S. central cities have succumbed to rot, Norfolk has checked blight, seen several of its oldest neighborhoods revive and created new neighborhoods, enticed outside investment, enlarged its tax base and positioned itself as the financial, cultural, medical, higher-education and maritime leader of Hampton Roads. These achievements are the product of hard work, some good luck - and not-a-little planning. MEMO: Mr. Scott is associate editor of the editorial page of The
Virginian-Pilot. by CNB