Downtown Norfolk serves as the traditional center of commerce, government, and culture in the

Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond, and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's Point near whe ...

region.

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. It had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, third-most populous city ...

's downtown waterfront

shipping Freight transport, also referred to as freight forwarding, is the physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it has been ...

and

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...

activities historically played host to numerous and often noxious port and shipping-related uses. With the advent of containerized shipping in the mid-19th century, the shipping uses located on Norfolk's downtown waterfront became obsolete as larger and more modern port facilities opened elsewhere in the region. The vacant piers and cargo warehouses eventually became a blight on downtown and Norfolk's fortunes as a whole. But in the second half of the century, Norfolk had a vibrant retail community in its suburbs; companies like Smith & Welton, High's,

Colonial Stores Colonial Stores was a chain of grocery stores once found throughout much of the South. Most were transformed to Big Star Markets in the 1970s and later most became Harris Teeter or A&P. History David Pender Grocery Company The chain evolv ...

, Goldman's Shoes,

Lerner Shops New York & Company, Inc. (NY&C) is an e-commerce workwear retailer for women. New York & Company apparel and accessories are sold exclusively through their digital store. From 1918 to 1992, the company was known as Lerner Shops. Its name was then ...

Hofheimer's Hofheimer's was a Norfolk, Virginia-based chain of shoe stores that was once a leading East Coast retailer. Victor Strasburger founded the company with the three Hofheimer brothers in 1885. it specialized in upscale men's and women's footwear, in ...

, Giant Open Air,

Dollar Tree Dollar Tree, Inc. is an American multi-price-point chain of discount variety stores. Headquartered in Chesapeake, Virginia, it is a ''Fortune'' 500 (sometimes referred to as Fortune 200) company and operates 15,115 stores throughout the 48 ...

and K & K Toys were regional leaders in their respective fields. Norfolk was also the birthplace of Econo-Travel, now

Econo Lodge Econo Lodge is a budget motel chain based in the United States and Canada and one of the larger subsidiaries of Choice Hotels. The properties contain a minimum of 40 guest rooms and are often located near highways or highway access. All hotels p ...

, one of the nation's first discount motel chains. Similarly, the advent of newer

suburban A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

shopping destinations spelled demise for the fortunes of downtown's

Granby Street U.S. Route 460 (US 460) in Virginia runs east-west through the southern part of the Commonwealth. The road has two separate pieces in Virginia, joined by a relatively short section in West Virginia. Most of US 460 is a four-lane divided h ...

commercial corridor, located just a few blocks inland from the waterfront. Granby Street traditionally played the role as the premiere shopping and gathering spot in the Hampton Roads region. Retailers ranged from low-priced

variety stores A variety store (also five and dime (historic), pound shop, or dollar store) is a retail store that sells general merchandise, such as apparel, auto parts, dry goods, toys, household hardware, hardware, furniture, and a selection of groceries. ...

such as

Woolworth's Woolworth, Woolworth's, or Woolworths may refer to: Businesses Australia and New Zealand * Woolworths Group (Australia), the largest retail company in Australia and New Zealand; named after the American F.W. Woolworth company, but unrelated * W ...

and

Grants Grant or Grants may refer to: People * Grant (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Grant (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters ** Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885), the 18th president of the U ...

Photo of NorVa Theater
at Cinema Treasures, showing Lerners, Goldman's, Hofheimer's and Grants in vicinity on Granby St. retail corridor to more upscale department stores such as Smith & Welton (1898–1988),

Rices Nachmans Rices Nachmans was an upscale department store chain that, at its peak, had eight locations in Norfolk, Virginia and the surrounding Hampton Roads, Virginia, Hampton Roads area. Stores included Downtown Norfolk on Granby St. and Wards Corner (open ...

(1918–1985) and Ames and Brownley (1898–1973), and fine hotels and theaters lined its sidewalks. However, new suburban shopping developments promised more convenience and comfort. The opening of

Pembroke Mall Pembroke Mall was an enclosed shopping mall located in Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States. It was opened in March 1966 as the first shopping mall in the Hampton Roads metro area. It comprised more than 48 stores, including anchor stores Targ ...

in Virginia Beach, the region's first climate controlled

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, i ...

, and

JANAF Shopping Center The JANAF Shopping Yard, commonly known as JANAF, is a suburban shopping center located in Norfolk, Virginia. Opening in 1959,Military Circle area, helped foment Granby Street's spiral into commercial obsolescence. With amenities such as ample free parking at the door of one's favorite store, and in the case of Pembroke Mall, climate control, the businesses of downtown's Granby Street found it harder and harder to compete. Beginning in the 1920s, Norfolk's city leaders began what would be a long push to revive the fortunes of its urban core.

Overview

Historic District

The Downtown Norfolk Historic District is a national

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains historic building, older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal p ...

listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1987 and expanded in 2001. It encompasses 97 contributing buildings in the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

of Norfolk. The largely commercial buildings reflect Norfolk's prosperity of the 1890s through the 1930s. The district includes notable examples of the

Classical Revival Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassic ...

, Beaux Arts, and

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century It ...

styles. Notable buildings include the Showcase Building (c. 1914), Seaboard Citizens' National Bank Building (c. 1935), Citizen's Bank (now Wheat) Building (1897-1899), Virginia Club (1903), Hotel Fairfax (1907), Colonial Theater (1907, now demolished), Lorraine (later the Hotel Thomas Nelson) (1905), Lynnhaven Hotel (1906), Royster Building (1912), Merchants and Mechanics Savings Bank (1913), Smith & Welton (1917), NorVa Theater (1922), Loew's State Theater (1926, now

TCC TCC may refer to: Companies * Taiwan Cement Corporation * The Clearing Corporation *Trammell Crow Company * Travancore Cochin Chemicals, Kochi, Kerala, India Organizations *Tanana Chiefs Conference *Theory of Cryptography Conference * Technol ...

Roper Center for Performing Arts),"Roper Center for the Performing Arts"
at ''Cinema Treasures'', retrieved Aug. 21, 2018 Selden Arcade (1931), and the Navy YMCA (1906). Located in the district are the separately listed Walter E. Hoffman United States Courthouse (1932–1934), Owen B. Pickett United States Custom House (1852), Monticello Arcade (1907), Wells Theatre (1913), and

Old Norfolk City Hall Old Norfolk City Hall, also known as the Seaboard Building and U.S. Post Office and Courthouse, is a historic city hall located at Norfolk, Virginia. It was built in 1898–1900, and is a three-story faced with rusticated stone and yellow brick i ...

(1898–1900). an
''Accompanying photo''
an
''Accompanying map''

Granby Street

To compete with the suburban shopping destinations, Norfolk city leaders tried to create the same mall experience on

. The city rebranded its commercial core the "Granby Mall." Granby Street was closed to auto through-traffic, repaved, landscaped and new street furniture and fixtures were installed. Granby Mall was a concept by city leaders with the best of intentions, but it actually ended up speeding the demise of Granby Street as a viable commercial destination. The closing of Granby Street to auto traffic actually made the district more inconvenient for potential customers and reduced the amount of pedestrian traffic that passed by the businesses. The reduced pedestrian and automobile traffic on the street created an atmosphere of abandonment and probably contributed to an increase in downtown crime, which further fueled customer fears of downtown, which in turn caused additional businesses to close, and on and on. This vicious cycle of abandonment and blight persisted for much of the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Urban Renewal

While Granby Street experienced its decline, Norfolk city leaders were also focused on the waterfront and its collection of decaying piers and warehouses. Federal urban renewal programs such as the

Housing Act of 1949 The American Housing Act of 1949 () was a landmark, sweeping expansion of the federal role in mortgage insurance and issuance and the construction of public housing. It was part of President of the United States, President Harry Truman's program ...

promised cities around the country millions of dollars in government grants for the purpose of removing blight conditions and preparing urban land for redevelopment. Norfolk, as with many other cities, took full advantage of these Federal urban renewal funds and began large-scale demolitions of broad swaths of downtown. This included slum housing that, in the mid-20th century, did not have indoor plumbing or access to running water. However, Norfolk's urban renewal also included the demolition of many prominent city buildings, including the former City Market,

Norfolk Terminal Station Norfolk Terminal Station was a railroad union station located in Norfolk, Virginia, which served passenger trains and provided offices for the Norfolk and Western Railway, the original Norfolk Southern Railway (1942–1982), Norfolk Southern Ra ...

(the Union railroad station), The Monticello Hotel, and large swaths of urban fabric that, were they still in existence today, might be the source of additional historic urban character, including the East Main Street district (where the current civic complex is located). At the water's edge, nearly all of the obsolete shipping and warehousing facilities were demolished. In their place, planners created a new boulevard, Waterside Drive. In place of the piers and warehouses rose: the Waterside Festival Marketplace, an indoor mall created by the

Rouse Company The Rouse Company was a publicly traded shopping mall and community developer from 1956 until 2004, when General Growth Properties (GGP) purchased the company. It was founded by Hunter Moss and James W. Rouse in 1939. Beginnings: Moss-Rouse Com ...

and similar to Baltimore's

Inner Harbor The Inner Harbor is a historic seaport, tourist attraction, and landmark in Baltimore, Maryland. It was described by the Urban Land Institute in 2009 as "the model for post-industrial waterfront redevelopment around the world". The Inner Harbo ...

Pavilions; the waterfront

Town Point Park Town Point Park is a waterfront city park on the Elizabeth River in Norfolk, Virginia, USA. The park hosts major outdoor concerts, award-winning festivals and special events each year to include Norfolk Harborfest, Bayou Boogaloo, and 4 July Cel ...

- an esplanade park with wide open riverfront views; and the Norfolk

Omni Hotel Omni Hotels & Resorts is an American privately held, international hotel company based in Dallas, Texas. The company was founded in 1958 as Dunfey Hotels, and operates 51 properties in the United States and Canada, totaling over 20,010 rooms and ...

. On the inland side of Waterside Drive, the demolition of the warehouses and wharves created new parcels on which most of the highrise buildings in Norfolk's

skyline A skyline is the wikt:outline, outline or shape viewed near the horizon. It can be created by a city's overall structure, or by human intervention in a rural area, rural setting, or in nature that is formed where the sky meets buildings or the ...

now stand.

Waterfront

In contrast to the failure of the Granby Mall initiative, the redevelopment of Norfolk's waterfront turned out to be an almost immediate success. Town Point Park created a pleasant and inviting new public space at which Norfolkers gather, whether for formally planned events like Harborfest, or for more passive enjoyment of the views, breeze, and people watching. The Waterside festival marketplace opened in June 1983, creating a new space for entertainment and shopping and serving as a catalyst for downtown renewal. However, by 2012 the Waterside's popularity was in decline; as restaurants and shops had closed, leaving much of the building vacant. With sentiment growing among citizens and city officials that the structure may have outlived its usefulness, the city council was considering several plans for use of the space.

Nauticus Nauticus is a maritime-themed science center and museum located on the downtown waterfront in Norfolk, Virginia, also known as the National Maritime Center. History Nauticus was incorporated under the National Maritime Center Authority in Febr ...

, the National Maritime Center, was constructed on a former pier adjacent to Town Point Park. Adjacent to Nauticus, the Halfe Moone Cruise and Celebration Center, a cruise-ship terminal and event venue, opened in 2007. The is docked for permanent public exhibition. The clearance of the obsolete warehouses and wharves from the waterfront also created real estate development that has brought hundreds of millions of dollars of investment in office buildings. The transformation of downtown Norfolk's waterfront skyline is so dramatic that it is largely unrecognizable to anyone who may have left the city in the early 1980s.

MacArthur Center

In the mid 1990s, with the fortunes of the waterfront looking brighter and more solid, Norfolk leaders once again turned their attention back to the historic Granby Street core of downtown, which continued to lag behind the waterfront in terms of revitalization. After the failure of the Granby Mall project, city leaders were intent on finding some way to bring commercial activity back to downtown in a major way. The idea of creating an upscale regional mall on the cleared during urban renewal just one block east of Granby Street had remained in the minds of Norfolk's economic development officials for many years; at one point, vice mayor, and later judge, Joseph Jordan proposed an enormous, enclosed shopping center to be known as Norfolk Gardens, so elaborate as to include indoor amusement park rides, presaging the development years later of Bloomington, Minnesota's

Mall of America Mall of America (MoA) is a large shopping mall located in Bloomington, Minnesota. Located within the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, the mall lies southeast of the junction of Interstate 494 and Minnesota State Highway 77, north ...

. Norfolk had long courted upscale Seattle-based retailer

Nordstrom Nordstrom, Inc. () is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin in 1901. The original store operated exclusively as a shoe store, and a seco ...

to locate in Norfolk and economic development officials made numerous appeals to the luxury department store. In late 1997, Norfolk officials made the announcement that they had finally received a commitment from Nordstrom to open a store in a new downtown shopping mall. Norfolk officials named the mall,

MacArthur Center MacArthur Center is a shopping mall in Norfolk, Virginia, United States, in the center of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. Built by the Taubman Company, the mall is owned by S.L. Nusbaum Realty since August 2023. The mall is adjacent to th ...

, in honor of the five-star World War II General whose tomb is located across the street from the proposed site. In return for opening a store at the new mall, Norfolk officials allocated nearly $100 million in public funds to infrastructure improvements and construction of parking garages to support the shopping mall. Construction of MacArthur Center began in late 1996 and the mall opened in March 1999 to much acclaim. MacArthur Center opened as a three-story enclosed shopping mall with

Dillard's Dillard's, Inc. is an American department store chain with approximately 267 stores in 29 states and headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. Currently, the largest number of stores are located in Texas with 57 and Florida with 42. The company a ...

and Nordstrom as the first two anchor department stores.

Regal Cinemas Regal Cinemas (also Regal Entertainment Group) is an American movie theater chain that operates the second-largest theater circuit in the United States, with 5,720 screens in 420 theaters as of December 31, 2024. Founded on August 10, 1989, it ...

operates an 18-screen stadium seating

movie theater A movie theater (American English) or cinema (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as a movie house, cinema hall, picture house, picture theater, the movies, the pictures, or simply theater, is a business ...

on most of the third floor of the mall. There is space for a future

anchor store In North American, Australian and New Zealand retail, an "anchor tenant", sometimes called an "anchor store", "draw tenant", or "key tenant", is a considerably larger tenant in a shopping mall, often a department store or retail chain. They are ...

at the northwest end of the mall. MacArthur Center introduced upscale retailing to the Hampton Roads region and it featured the premier of a number of retailers that did not previously exist in Hampton Roads ( White House Black Market,

Pottery Barn Pottery Barn is an American upscale home furnishing store chain and e-commerce company, with retail stores in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Australia. Pottery Barn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. The company is hea ...

Z Gallerie Z Gallerie is an American chain of home furnishing, art and decor retail stores founded by siblings Joe Zeiden, Mike Zeiden, and Carole Malfatti in Sherman Oaks, California in 1979. The operation began as a small poster shop and started opening ...

, Nordstrom,

Johnny Rockets The Johnny Rockets Group Inc., commonly known simply as Johnny Rockets, is an American restaurant franchise whose themed decor is based upon 1950s diner-style restaurants. As of April 2024, the company operates 90 locations in Arizona, Californi ...

, Chico's,

Coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

, among others). MacArthur Center's entry to the Hampton Roads market heightened the competition in the retail industry and prompted waves of upgrade and investment at numerous other shopping malls around the region, especially at MacArthur Center's main competitor,

Lynnhaven Mall Lynnhaven Mall is an enclosed super-regional shopping mall in Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA. It opened in August 1981. At of gross leasable area, it is the largest mall in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of southeastern Virginia and one of t ...

in Virginia Beach, which announced a strategy to renovate the mall and upgrade the tenant mix to reposition it as a worthy competitor to its new Norfolk neighbor. In a touch of irony, the primary element that nearly killed Granby Street as a commercial destination - the climate controlled shopping mall - is probably what saved Granby Street from wholesale abandonment and breathed into it new life. During the construction of MacArthur Center, Norfolk invested additional funds on infrastructure improvements throughout downtown. Sidewalks were rebuilt, additional lighting was added and streets were repaved throughout the area. A parking garage on Monticello Avenue north of MacArthur Center was partially demolished in order to reconnect the western and eastern segments of Freemason Street, which were previously blocked by the garage. With the promise of thousands of new shoppers coming to nearby MacArthur Center, owners of properties throughout downtown reinvested in their buildings and made them ready for new retail and residential uses.

Tidewater Community College Tidewater Community College (TCC) is a public community college in South Hampton Roads, Virginia, with campuses in Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk, and Virginia Beach. It is part of the Virginia Community College System and is accredite ...

opened its Norfolk campus and central administrative offices on Granby Street, locating its library in the painstakingly renovated former Smith & Welton department store building. The formerly vacant storefronts on Granby Street have been repopulated by so many trendy restaurants and bars that the street, once a destination primarily for homeless and vagrant individuals, has become a new hub for the sophisticated segment of the Hampton Roads region's nightlife. The residential population of downtown continues to grow as unused commercial buildings are converted into lofts and condominiums and new residential developments rise on formerly vacant land. One such building, the Norfolk Rotunda Buildin

located on St. Paul's Blvd. and in front of MacArthur Center, opening in 2007. Formerly a bank, the building now holds 66 luxury Condominium (living space), condominiums, and stands seven stories tall, the top two stories being penthouse suites. Since MacArthur Center's opening, three new office towers have been completed: 150 West Main Street (located at Boush Street and Main Street, completed in 2002, 20 stories, tall), the Dominion Enterprises Building (150 Granby Street, completed in 2007, 20 stories, tall), and the

Wells Fargo Center Wells Fargo Center may refer to: * Wells Fargo Center (Los Angeles), California * Wells Fargo Center (Sacramento), California * Wells Fargo Center (San Francisco), California * Wells Fargo Center for the Arts, Santa Rosa, California * Wells Fargo C ...

(440 Monticello Avenue, completed in 2010, 23 stories, tall) which contains an office tower, street level retail, and apartments.

Ongoing revitalization benefits

Norfolk's efforts to revitalize its downtown have attracted acclaim in economic development and urban planning circles throughout the country. Publications such as the

American Planning Association The American Planning Association (APA) is a professional organization representing the field of urban planning in the United States. APA was formed in 1978, when two separate professional planning organizations, the American Institute of Pla ...

's monthly '' Planning Magazine'', have hailed the tremendous rebound in the downtown residential population, and ''

Money Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are: m ...

'' magazine proclaimed Norfolk as the number one city in which to live in the South in 2005. The rising fortunes of the downtown area have helped expand the city's coffers which has in turn been able to direct its attention to revitalizing other neighborhoods of the city. Located just northwest of downtown, the

Ghent district The Ghent District is a historic neighborhood in Norfolk, Virginia. It comprises Ghent, West Ghent, and Ghent Square. Other portions of surrounding neighborhoods are often attributed to Ghent as an extension of its commerce including Chelsea, No ...

of Norfolk is one of the Hampton Roads region's premier urban residential communities. Ghent has the highest residential densities of any other area in Hampton Roads, and is home to a diverse array of people - artists, strivers, lower income to wealthy, etc. Many other areas of Norfolk are also being revitalized, including

Fairmount Park Neighborhood The Fairmount Park neighborhood is a culturally and ethnically diverse neighborhood the City of Norfolk, Virginia. Fairmount Park consists of nine distinct neighborhoods including Fairmount Park, Willard Park, Lafayette Annex, Fairmount Manor, ...

, Ocean View and East Beach, the latter both on the Chesapeake Bay.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Norfolk, Virginia Italianate architecture in Virginia Beaux-Arts architecture in Virginia Neoclassical architecture in Virginia 1682 establishments in the Colony of Virginia Neighborhoods in Norfolk, Virginia

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