THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 19, 1996 TAG: 9609190020
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A16 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 47 lines
The expectation at City Hall is that the projected MacArthur Center superregional shopping mall downtown will, in the words of Mayor Paul D. Fraim, ``raise Norfolk to another level.''
What the mayor means by that is that the $300 million MacArthur Center, catering primarily to the now underserved upscale-merchandise market in Hampton Roads, will transform Norfolk into a destination city for shoppers, tourists and convention goers; a stimulus to economic growth (other retailing and offices, hotels, restaurants, townhouses and condominiums) in and close to downtown, a generator of thousands of jobs for low- and lower-middle-income residents; a substantial contributor of tax revenue to the municipal treasury, a shaper and enhancer of the perception of the old seaport city by its inhabitants, its neighbors and its visitors - and a source of civic pride.
The mayor's - City Hall's - expectation for the mall is large but reasonable.
John Simon, the Taubman Company's senior vice president for development, foresees for Norfolk the same benefits that accrued to Cherry Creek, Colo., and Columbus, Ohio, from the Taubman mall in each of those settings.
At yesterday's favorably received presentation of the latest - and essentially final - MacArthur Center design to an overflow crowd in the National Maritime Center, Nauticus' 350-seat theater, Simon challenged area architects and others who remain unhappy about the mall design to redirect their energies and expertise to reviving the Granby Street district as a thriving, exciting urban neighborhood filled with prosperous businesses.
The lower-Granby Street area has lately come alive with pleasing shops, galleries and restaurants. The near-completion of Tidewater Community College's Norfolk campus has precipitated the opening of new small enterprises along Granby Street farther up and renovation of some buildings.
MacArthur Center's plans call for three prestigious anchor department stores, 120 other retailers and a movie complex. The 1.2 million-square-foot center's design connects with key city streets, and the entrance on Monticello Avenue aims to link the center with the Granby Street district. On an average day, the center is conservatively expected to draw 30,000 shoppers; around holiday periods, 60,000.
As it is, Norfolk's downtown contains more than enough urban delights to lead a goodly portion of those shoppers beyond the mall. Grass-roots Norfolk will have as much cause to be as happy with MacArthur Center as will City Hall. by CNB