THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 29, 1994 TAG: 9409290492
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TONI WHITT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
If they bulldozed MidCity Shopping Center, would people come back?
Rather than resuscitate a dying retail base, what if the city turned that area into a middle-class neighborhood? What if the MidCity area became MidTowne - an urban mix of apartments and upscale shops? Or maybe it should be more of a small-town Main Street area, with businesses dotting the primary thoroughfare and surrounded by homes and a nearby park?
Merchants mulled those possibilities and others at a meeting on Wednesday in which Ray Gindroz, an urban designer, unveiled his designs for the city's future.
For years, folks here have hoped the MidCity shopping center could be revived into a successful retail center along the lines of Norfolk's Janaf Shopping Center. But Gindroz had two words to say Wednesday: Forget it.
Gindroz wants to realign the roadways and demolish the building - which he described as a dinosaur in today's retail climate.
Gindroz redesigned the roads, which he described as a barrier to the businesses. He also wants to build neighborhoods filled with single-family homes for middle-class residents, then put in a grocery store and some shops. He left other existing commercial aspects in the area as they are.
One neighborhood is an extension of the Mount Herman area and crosses the shopping center area. Other neighborhoods extend out from Jeffry Wilson and Ida Barbour, two public housing complexes, and cross the old Norcom High School site. Gindroz said that, when owner-occupied homes are included in areas with public housing, crime goes down and community pride rises. Those things would benefit the nearby retail market, he added.
Sound wonderful? No one was sure. Gindroz was searching for suggestions to improve the plan. Most of the midtown merchants finally agreed that the roads need to be fixed, but they weren't convinced about the other aspects of the vision for midtown.
Wednesday's meeting with the merchants was part of a two-day session with Portsmouth residents in which Gindroz unveiled his designs for the future of the waterfront, the downtown and the midtown areas. During the sessions, which will end today, Gindroz said he hopes to discover new ideas and priorities for development.
His current plan includes a harbor and a festival marketplace at the end of High Street, a hotel and convention center at the old Coast Guard Station near the downtown tunnel, a marina on Scotts Creek and at the end of London Boulevard and rebuilding neighborhoods like Parkview, West Parkview and Shea Terrace.
Gindroz said his toughest task was deciding how to do a makeover of the MidCity area.
During the meeting, several business owners said they feared improving the roads will only make it easier for folks to travel to Chesapeake to shop. They want to see businesses that succeed at selling clothes, shoes, books and housewares, but they acknowledge those businesses have gone to the malls.
The merchants are not convinced that a mall won't work in midtown. Neither are they convinced that a Main Street-type shopping district wouldn't be just the ticket to revive the area.
But the one thing they know, said businessman Leo Shocklin: ``We can't just sit back and wait for something down the road.''
See today's Daily Break for details on Portsmouth's dreamers. Portsmouth readers can get more details on the Gindroz plan in the Thursday/Friday edition of the Currents.
KEYWORDS: PORTSMOUTH DEVELOMENT by CNB