THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 6, 1994 TAG: 9410040114
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: In the Neighborhoods
SOURCE: Mike Knepler
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
Solving the problem of how to fill downtown's long-vacant 17 acres has created another riddle: what to do with the new 17 acres.
The old 17 acres, of course, will be the site of the $270 million MacArthur Center shopping mall.
But the shopping mall will produce a new 17 acres, some 65 feet up in the air - on the roof of MacArthur Center.
The question unceremoniously arose at City Hall: What will this look like from an airplane?
City planners, downtown designers and urban redevelopers don't seem to have satisfactory answers (besides boring stuff like skylights and air conditioning equipment).
It seems that all these experts were spending time trying to make MacArthur Center appealing from street level.
For example, there will be lots of landscaping on the east side of the mall to make suburban shoppers feel comfortable venturing off Interstates 264 and 464. For a moment, they might even think they're not in downtown Norfolk.
The north side of the mall also will be well landscaped to buffer the historic Moses Myers and Willoughby-Baylor houses. A small park is proposed, which may include in-ground outlines of sites where 18th century houses once stood.
Walls along Monticello and City Hall avenues - the west and south sides - will have an ``urban look'' - traditional downtown window displays instead of continuous concrete walls looming over shoppers.
Figuring out all this was nothing compared to the lofty question of what to do with the roof. The experts looked disheartened when Planning Commissioner Ewin Ottinger exclaimed, ``Another 17 acres. My goodness!''
Poor guys.
Maybe Norfolk residents should help. A few creative ideas from the citizenry could save a few dollars from going to consultants.
As a public service, The Compass hereby asks for your brainstorms.
Make them serious. Make them outrageous. But let's all help figure out what to do with the 17 acres on top of MacArthur Center.
Some starters:
A rooftop ice-skating rink. And, every summer, we could have ``Meltdown Fest,'' to celebrate the arrival of the long-desired Lake Smithwick, in honor of the city's development director who lured Nordstrom to Norfolk.
Speaking of Bob Smithwick, remember him trying to create a downtown golf driving range to replace the commuter parking lot at Monticello Avenue and Princess Anne Road?
Why not put the driving range on top of MacArthur Center? Of course, it would require very tall nets to keep golf balls from flying across downtown.
But think of how helpful a driving range would be for executives. They could relieve their stresses by blasting tiny golf balls at a backdrop of high-rise office buildings.
A tennis club and running track. But if you work downtown, be discreet. Your employer would need only to look out his window to spy you hacking away instead of closing a business deal.
A network of walls for graffiti artists. You know they're going to get up there anyway.
A giant used-car lot. They're going to need a place to go when the city cleans up East Ocean View.
But the ultimate idea may be 17 acres of parking lots. Sound familiar?
Send your ideas to ``Rooftop,'' c/o The Compass, P.O. Box 449, Norfolk, Va. 23501. MEMO: Comment or suggestion for Mike Knepler, call 446-2275, or write him at
The Compass. by CNB