http://www.wrtdesign.com/images/projects/detail/131/2.jpg

Does anyone have any updates on this project in Portsmouth?

http://www.wrtdesign.com/projects/detail/Portsmouth-Comprehensive-Plan/131

Light rail officially started today and the trains and park and rides were packed. I rode this morning and everyone on the train was excited and very impressed. This has a great future. :)

http://hamptonroads.com/2011/08/norfolks-tide-lightrail-line-rolls-real-starting-today

http://media.hamptonroads.com/cache/files/images/693181000.jpg

VirginiaPilot (http://hamptonroads.com/2011/08/leader-hampton-roads-port-goes-all-out-growth)


Leader of Hampton Roads port goes all out for growth

By Robert McCabe
The Virginian-Pilot
© August 21, 2011

Joe Dorto has helped run the port of Hampton Roads for 25 years. He's president and CEO of Virginia International Terminals Inc., the company that operates the state-owned facilities of the Virginia Port Authority. During his tenure, the port of Hampton Roads has grown to become the third-largest on the East Coast.

http://www.yorkcounty.gov/Portals/econdev/transport_clip_image002_0000.jpg

A month after Gov. Bob McDonnell overhauled the Port Authority board, citing stalled growth and too much concern with long-term capital projects, Dorto reflected on where the port has been and where he sees it going.

Q. From an operating standpoint, is anything being done differently now at the port in response to the changes made on the Port Authority board?

A. No. We still have to run a business here, regardless of who the VPA commissioners are. Our goal here is to be a successful business. We're in a competitive battle; we're in a recession. We can use all the outside help we can get. If that board has got connections or ideas or feels we should do things a little bit differently, we need to hear that and talk about it.

Q. Could the new board come in and say, "We want things to be done this way rather than that way"?

A. They are the commissioners appointed by the governor, and the state owns the Virginia Port Authority, so, I would imagine that if they wanted to make changes, they would have the right to do that. The good news, as I see it, is that that board has been appointed by the current governor. And that means they have a relationship with him. It's a good thing, I think, to have a board that has a relationship with the governor, so if we need something or we need to discuss our strategy or plan, they have access.

Q. You mentioned being in a recession. Is the United States in a recession?

A. I think we're in a recession. I mean unemployment is at an all-time high, the housing market is still in the tank. And there's just not been traction, in terms of growth in this country. And there's a lot of money sitting on the sidelines, not being invested by consumers and businesses. So, yeah, I would say we are in a recession.

Q. What does that mean for the port's success, especially given the takeover of APM Terminals last year and related financial obligations?

A. What people lose sight of is that this port has done well, very well, over the last 20 years. You can't look at the short term; you have to look at the overall picture, over the history of the place. You can't say, 'Well, we're in a recession, we're never going to get out of it, and things are always going to be bad,' because they won't; things go in cycles.

The decisions that we made involving APM Terminals in Portsmouth were made in view of the long term. We were in a recession when that happened, and I still believe - and I'll believe until the day I die - that it was the right thing for us to do.

That terminal gives us the ability to expand our operation when the growth comes back at a very efficient rate. And it also eliminated probably one of the strongest competitors in the port business. So, I mean, if you're struggling now because we're in a recession, where would we be if we had to go up against somebody who might have a 30 percent cost differential from our operation in two or three years from now?

Q. One thing Gov. McDonnell cited in overhauling the board is that New York/New Jersey and Savannah have seen cargo come back to pre-recession levels, but we haven't. What's going on?

A. I think if you look at it - and this is certainly not an excuse, it's just a reality - the port of Savannah has a dominant market share of business coming from the Far East, for two reasons. One is that the vessel rotation - as the vessels come through the Panama Canal and come up the East Coast of the United States, the first place they stop is Savannah. Geography-wise, it's the natural place to go. They've done a good job of attracting the distribution centers, as has Virginia. But they have more in Savannah. And keep in mind they also have Atlanta, which is a large population center.

The port of New York, simply said, what do they have, 15 million people? So they're the first in on the European services.

Now when we talk about Virginia and say everybody here wants to be No. 1 and we're going to grow and have all this capacity, that entails a change in the way the shipping companies do business, and we believe that change will come as the result of the widening of the Panama Canal.

When the Panama Canal is widened, ships are going to start coming around that are too large to get into Savannah and Charleston, unless they do some major dredging projects down there. But even if that happens, the smaller ports - the Wilmingtons, the Philadelphias - those guys are not going to be taking on those big ships. So there's going to be more cargo for the larger ports. And Virginia, whether we're as big as Savannah or New York, you know, we're still going to be in the mix.

The growth for us has to come from two ways. First is the rail - 30 percent of our business today is rail, and I think it could go as high as 42, 43 percent, when the canal is widened. The other is economic development and attracting industry. One of the things Virginia has not done as well as the ports in the South is attract industry.

Georgia, South Carolina have been very generous in terms of attracting industry and giving tax breaks.... The big companies down there have gotten tax breaks in the past that Virginia has not seen fit to match. Well, this governor has a different strategy, and he's started the process of putting the tax breaks out there. They're smaller, but it's a start. For the long term, we need to attract more industry here in Virginia that would use the port....

Our goal here is to make this port the most efficient port on the East Coast - the highest crane productivity, the best turn times, the best rail - those are the things that we're working on. Those are the things that terminal operators are judged by. And we do those things pretty well, but I want to do them better than anybody else.

Q. Do you really think we could grow to be bigger than New York?

A. Even though New York has that population, New York has an issue with expansion. They don't have a lot of room for expansion. The roads and the rails up there are more congested. If you look at the rest of the world and how it operates, this is the only place in the world where there really isn't a hub-and-a-spoke. You got ships that call on 13 ports on the East Coast. So I think at some point way out in the future, with Virginia's capabilities, that we could - with the Panama Canal being widened, bigger ships coming through - we could see a transformation. It's not going to happen overnight; it's going to be a long time into the future. But I think it's possible.

Q. So Hampton Roads could be to cargo what Atlanta is for changing planes?

A. Exactly. I mean, whoever thought that Atlanta would be the biggest airport in the United States? Right? I mean, New York was always the dominant airport. I grew up in New York; Kennedy Airport was the dominant airport. No one ever thought that would change. How do you have 15 million people - yet Atlanta has, you know, more passengers going through it. Because it was more economical for the airlines to make that happen....

It's going to take a lot for that to happen. And there are a lot of changes that would have to happen in the industry.... Are they going to happen tomorrow? No. Are they going to happen in the next 10 years? Probably not.

But, long term, the ability to grow here, with Craney Island and with the rail access that we have, positions this port as a place that people could look at and say, 'I know if I go to Virginia, I'm going to have the ability to grow for a long, long time.' And I don't think there's anyplace else on the East Coast that can make that claim.

[...]

Light rail officially started today and the trains and park and rides were packed. I rode this morning and everyone on the train was excited and very impressed. This has a great future. :)

http://hamptonroads.com/2011/08/norfolks-tide-lightrail-line-rolls-real-starting-today

http://media.hamptonroads.com/cache/files/images/693181000.jpg

:bow:.......:applause:

I'm only two hours away........closest light rail to me......the next closest is 5 hours away in Charlotte......can't wait to test ride it......

Just a critique......I'm all for bicycles on trains........however in that picture above, the width of that train and the size of her normal size bike and the lady makes it seem hella small.......seems like they could have expanded the width some.......unless they are going to have no bike rush hours which is going to be sorta defeatists some what too

Bank of the Commonwealth Fails (http://traffic.outbrain.com/network/redir?key=6e993aee4957485e23ec66e35ca81834&rdid=233587129&type=INMLT_def_stg&in-site=true&req_id=75d78fbf6b1409011928537af8c8ca7c&agent=blog_JS_rec&recMode=3&reqType=1&wid=102&imgType=0&refPub=486&prs=false&scp=false&version=42206&idx=2)

By Wallace Witkowski SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Bank of the Commonwealth, of Norfolk, Va. became the 72nd bank failure of the year, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Friday. Southern Bank and Trust Co. of Mount Olive, N.C., will buy $924.3 million of the bank's assets and assume $901.8 million in deposits. The cost to the FDIC's deposit-insurance fund is $268.3 million. The closure also marks the second failed bank in Virginia for the year.

Urban, I think that bike is in the flexible portion of the train car that bends at turns? Most sections of the train car are probably wider, although she could move her bike to a different section of the train.

BTW, this is the first I've heard of Norfolk getting a train - very nice!

Urban, I think that bike is in the flexible portion of the train car that bends at turns? Most sections of the train car are probably wider, although she could move her bike to a different section of the train.

BTW, this is the first I've heard of Norfolk getting a train - very nice!

He's kinda right though, I've riden a few times when bikes get on and they're sort of in the way. Some of the bike rack hangers are right over passenger seats, Don't know what they were thinking with that. Anyway, I digress, here's an update.

Light Rail ridership exceeds expectations (http://hamptonroads.com/2011/10/ridership-norfolks-light-rail-exceeding-expectations)

With a full calendar month of collecting fares, The Tide is averaging 5,056 daily weekday trips. Hampton Roads Transit projected that 2,900 trips would be taken each weekday the year the rail opens, and 7,130 daily rides by 2030.

Counting weekends (The Tide runs a shortened schedule on Sundays), average daily ridership has been nearly 4,870.

ODU/Base extension in planning stages (http://hamptonroads.com/2011/09/norfolk-start-planning-light-rail-extension-navy-base)

Light rail exceeded all ridership projections when it opened last month, so giddy city officials pleased with its success want to begin the process of extending it to Norfolk Naval Station.

During their annual retreat in Smithfield this week, council members discussed three proposed extensions to the Navy base:

• Beginning at the Medical Center/Fort Norfolk Station, Fraim suggested extending The Tide around West Ghent and over the Elizabeth River to 26th Street, then up Hampton Boulevard past Old Dominion University to the base.

• A proposal from Councilman Paul R. Riddick would begin downtown and use the city's right of way on Granby Street to extend through Wards Corner to the base.

• A long-studied extension from the Newtown Road Station on the Virginia Beach border, parallel to Interstate 64 to the Navy base.

Councilman Tommy Smigiel suggested building light rail in the HOV lanes on the interstate, which would reduce land-acquisition costs. He also recommended the city reach out to residents.

"We need their input," he said.

What do you guys think? Which of the three extensions would you choose?

All quiet in Tidewater...:bash: Any development news, anyone?

All quiet in Tidewater...:bash: Any development news, anyone?

Quite frankly, there hasn't been much positive news besides port stuff and the new Tide light rail transit system. Hampton Roads is still bottoming out economically and the details are not worth posting here.

Quite frankly, there hasn't been much positive news besides port stuff and the new Tide light rail transit system. Hampton Roads is still bottoming out economically and the details are not worth posting here.


I spent 8 years in the area between Chesapeake, Hampton and Va Beach. I always had high hopes for Norfolk and Va Beach. Since I left 25 years ago, I have returned 10 times and something has always changed in dramatic form such as the Hampton Roads Beltway, light rail and the addition of Va Beach Town Centre. It would be nice to go down in the next couple years and find a new tallest, probably won't happen though...:bash:

I spent 8 years in the area between Chesapeake, Hampton and Va Beach. I always had high hopes for Norfolk and Va Beach. Since I left 25 years ago, I have returned 10 times and something has always changed in dramatic form such as the Hampton Roads Beltway, light rail and the addition of Va Beach Town Centre. It would be nice to go down in the next couple years and find a new tallest, probably won't happen though...:bash:

The twin engies of high rise development, banking and condos are just not happening. Unless a hotel operator decides to lay down a big marker, it could be years before we see some new towers springing up there. I'd love to see some tall apartments and hotels built around Lynnhaven Mall personally. :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vdogg/6723351053/.jpg

Not happy with the convention center design, but I'll take 2 hotels and an office tower



A local developer wants to transform the downtown waterfront to include a new conference center, two additional hotels, an office building, marina and seafood restaurant.
Harvey Lindsay Development, a Norfolk-based company, pitched their $200 million plans recently in response to a request for proposals to redevelop Waterside. Under the proposal, the dated and struggling Waterside facility would be a thing of the past, one local bank might expand its downtown presence and another firm would move its regional offices there.

http://hamptonroads.com/2012/01/conference-center-marina-pitched-waterside

PeoplExpress Hopes To Fly Again - Out Of Hampton Roads! (http://www.vosizneias.com/100943/2012/02/13/norfolk-va-peoplexpress-airlines-hopes-to-fly-again)


Norfolk, VA - A new airline with a name that evokes the early days of the low-fare, no-frills airline business hopes to launch this summer and succeed by flying to cities that are underserved after industry consolidation.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/People_Express_Boeing_747_at_London_Gatwick_in_June_1983.jpg
PeoplExpress 747 at London 1983

PeoplExpress Airlines announced Monday it will be headquartered at Newport News-Williamsburg International Airport in southeastern Virginia. The airline plans to offer East Coast flights this summer if it’s approved by regulators. It will fly used Boeing 737s.

The original PeoplExpress was in service from 1981 to until February 1987, when Continental Airlines took it over.

Initial destinations include Pittsburgh, Newark, N.J. and West Palm Beach, Fla. Chief Operating Officer Michael Morisi, who worked at the original airline, aims to avoid large cities served by other airlines. The old PeoplExpress called overexpansion one of its fatal mistakes.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vdogg/6723351053/

Not happy with the convention center design, but I'll take 2 hotels and an office tower

http://hamptonroads.com/2012/01/conference-center-marina-pitched-waterside

Interesting!

http://insidebiz.com/files/ibiz/imagecache/fulllsize/pictures/waterside_harvey_lindsay_rendering.jpg
http://insidebiz.com/news/sports-arena-waterside


Posted: January 27, 2012

A Norfolk company has renewed its efforts to build a sports complex in Hampton Roads, this time at Waterside Festival Marketplace in downtown Norfolk.

Drakkar America's proposal to build a 22,000-seat arena where Waterside now stands at the Elizabeth River waterfront is one of five proposals Norfolk City Council is pondering in the hopes of reviving the struggling complex. The city has attempted for years to figure out what to do with Waterside, which had its heyday in the 1980s but is now a shell of what it once was.

Drakkar's "entertainment and multi-use pro sports complex" includes an option to seek a National Basketball Association franchise. Norfolk was in the running for an NBA team in 2002 before the Charlotte Hornets decided to relocate to New Orleans. Earlier this year, Drakkar proposed building a similar arena near the Virginia Beach Oceanfront, but the Virginia Beach City Council rejected the idea.

David Tollaksen, the chairman of Drakkar America, said Norfolk "absolutely" could support the arena and that he is in talks with the NBA to bring a team to the area. He said the arena project in Virgina Beach fell through because the city did not want to risk its Triple A bond rating, although, according to Tollaksen, due to bond structure financing, the city would not have been responsible for any costs, unless a catastrophic event caused the arena to fail completely. Tollaksen said he is not asking for any money from Norfolk for the project - just the land itself.

Norfolk City Manager Marcus Jones and Assistant City Manger Stanley Stein briefed the council on the Waterside proposals last week.

The other four proposals are:

* Tearing down Waterside and replacing it with a conference center. Developer Harvey Lindsay wants to build two hotels, a conference center and an overhead walkway that would link the center to the Norfolk Waterside Marriott. The proposal also includes an office building, an expanded marina and a "signature" seafood restaurant.

* Keeping the building intact and turning it into a "Norfolk Sound" beach music venue. The proposal by John X. Aragona includes three restaurants, a beach music lounge, a supper club, a shag dance club, theaters and broadcast studios, and a comedy club.

* Building a green development with 150 hotel rooms, three nightclubs, a private members club, two large restaurants, a sushi and oyster bar, and an outdoor deck bar. The proposal, called "Project Neptune III," is from Alvin James Development Group and includes IMAX and 4-D movie theaters.

* Turning Waterside into an entertainment and restaurant-themed complex that would include live entertainment and more than a dozen restaurants, as proposed by The Cordish Cos.

City Councilman Tommy Smigiel questioned the feasibility of a conference center. "It's my feeling large conventions are out the window now," he said.

http://insidebiz.com/news/sports-arena-waterside

[...]

By Aaron Applegate
The Virginian-Pilot
© January 30, 2012
VIRGINIA BEACH

Nearly four years ago, a Texas businessman wowed city officials with his vision for an entertainment megaplex at the Oceanfront: A 2,500-seat Broadway-style theater, an ice rink, a "moving" theater, children's amusement rides, a 185-foot-tall Ferris wheel with dining gondolas and more.

The city gave Michael Jenkins, president of Leisure and Recreation Concepts Inc. in Dallas, an exclusive eight-month window to deliver the plan for the long-vacant site of the city's entertainment venue, the Dome. After five deadline extensions, officials still are waiting. Some are getting impatient, and the City Council has sent a message.

More from the Pilot...http://hamptonroads.com/2012/01/virginia-beach-demands-action-developer-dome-site

Dendron reaffirms approval of $5 Billion coal-fired plant (http://hamptonroads.com/2012/03/dendron-reaffirms-approval-5b-coalfired-plant)

http://maceandcrown.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/the-smokestacks-would-measure-at-600-feet.jpg


They moved the meeting to the garage of the volunteer fire station, and crowds parked in frost-covered fields before engaging Monday night in another battle over one of the biggest projects to surface in Western Tidewater: a proposed $5 billion power plant.

Two years ago, the Dendron Town Council voted in favor of what would be the largest coal-fired power station in Virginia, about 60 miles west of downtown Norfolk, but a Surry County judge ruled the vote illegal and negated the result.

So opponents - environmentalists, students, scientists, would-be neighbors, concerned parents - geared up for another chance Monday to sway the council, whose six members and mayor have all endorsed the project as an opportunity to create hundreds of jobs, expand the local tax base, pay for public improvements and spark a slack economy.

Critics argued that the plant would rain tons of pollutants such as mercury and arsenic on children, streams and the Chesapeake Bay and represents a dirty, dinosaur technology amid cleaner alternatives in a changing world.

They urged the council to conduct an independent study, to delay action, and some challenged members directly and personally. "You are your brother's keeper, and I see blood on your hands," Helen Eggleston, a Dendron resident, told the council.

Nearly 60 speakers stepped to the podium, with opponents outnumbering plant supporters, who also got overheated at times. Joe Hancock, who lives in nearby Wakefield, spoke near the end of the three-hour marathon and said the safety and environmental concerns raised by those who traveled from Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Williamsburg and elsewhere were "pure hogwash." Motioning to some local critics and homeowners in the audience, Hancock said "it was so good" to drive into Dendron on Monday night and "see some for-sale signs on some houses."

In the end, the council asked no questions, made no comments, held no discussion, and voted unanimously for three zoning changes and a conditional-use permit that allow the project and its developer, Old Dominion Electric Cooperative, to move forward.

Cargo ship in Portsmouth marks a first: 48.5-foot draft (http://hamptonroads.com/2012/03/cargo-ship-portsmouth-marks-first-485foot-draft)


By Robert McCabe
The Virginian-Pilot
© March 5, 2012

http://media.hamptonroads.com/cache/files/images/801861000.jpg

When the MSC Roma departed Thursday for the Suez Canal, it was so packed with exports that it required 48-1/2 feet of water - a first for a container ship in the port, according to the Virginia Port Authority.

"No other port on this coast can even consider handling a ship that needs 48.5 feet of water to operate," Jerry A. Bridges, executive director of the authority, wrote in a blog post. "Virginia has the deepest water on the coast and today we proved it: The Port of Virginia can handle the biggest ships afloat."

The Liberian-flagged MSC Roma is one of the biggest container ships ever to call on the port, able to carry 9,200 standard 20-foot containers.

It was the ship's second stop here in recent weeks, part of Mediterranean Shipping Co.'s Golden Gate Service linking Asian ports with the East Coast through the Suez Canal.

The ship also had scheduled stops in the ports of New York/New Jersey, Baltimore, Charleston, S.C., and Savannah, Ga., as well as Freeport in the Bahamas. Hampton Roads is the only port called on twice - once inbound and the last stop before the ship heads back to the Suez.

Hmm, I always thought the port was fairly shallow (they always seem to be dredging) Good to know it isn't!

Desert, do you have Tidewater connections?

Hmm, I always thought the port was fairly shallow (they always seem to be dredging) Good to know it isn't!

Desert, do you have Tidewater connections?

I lived for a time on Maryland's Eastern Shore. I'm pretty familiar with the area! :)

I have Tidewater connections.

But my ancestors moved in the 1600's. ;)

I have Tidewater connections.

But my ancestors moved in the 1600's. ;)

Roflmao...:lol:

hamptonroads.com (http://hamptonroads.com/2012/05/work-begins-72m-newport-news-shipbuilder-campus)


Work begins on $72M Newport News shipbuilder campus

http://www.dailypress.com/media/photo/2012-05/69721969.jpg

By Robert McCabe
The Virginian-Pilot
© May 4, 2012
NEWPORT NEWS

Ground was broken Thursday on the site of a new downtown campus for the 93-year-old Apprentice School at Newport News Shipbuilding.

Gov. Bob McDonnell, U.S. Reps. Scott Rigell, Bobby Scott and Rob Wittman, and Newport News Mayor McKinley Price were among those on hand to mark the occasion. "There's no program at a Virginia college and no textbook you can go to that says how to build an aircraft carrier," McDonnell said. "But you can do it here at the Apprentice School. They teach people how to do that."

The $72 million campus, which will occupy about three city blocks, is expected to be completed by late next year."This is going to be a phenomenal place for the Commonwealth of Virginia," McDonnell said.

Newport News Shipbuilding, the city of Newport News and the state have partnered to build the new complex, between 31st and 34th streets, bordered by West and Washington avenues.

Plans include an 80,000-square-foot school, workforce housing, retail space and a parking garage, said Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc., the parent company of Newport News Shipbuilding.

[...]



http://weblogs.dailypress.com/news/local/inside-newport-news/apprentice%20school%20rendering.jpg
http://weblogs.dailypress.com/news/local/inside-newport-news/2011/06/

http://www.dailypress.com/media/photo/2011-06/62832449.jpg
http://articles.dailypress.com/2011-06-28/news/dp-nws-apprentice-land-20110628_1_apprentice-school-superblock-armada-hoffler