THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 15, 1995 TAG: 9501130241
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY IDA KAY JORDAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 136 lines
ALTHOUGH THE MIDTOWN part of the proposed Strategic Plan for Economic and Community Development has been revised several times to deal with concerns of property owners and business people in the area, the concept has not changed.
If the plan is embraced by the city and property owners, Midtown would be more like a village by 2005. A lot of confusing bits and pieces of land, created by the now erratic courses of Airline and Frederick boulevards, would become part of a human-scale, business and residential neighborhood.
From his initial recommendations to the final draft that will be considered by City Council, Ray Gindroz, urban development consultant, has not veered from his contention that the area literally must be ``turned around'' if business in the area is going to turn around.
Gindroz immediately designated the almost-empty MidCity shopping center and the surrounding area as a ``first priority'' for city attention.
The shopping center, built in the '50s, once was the hub of the city and the first shopping center outside of Downtown. Despite excellent regional access from the interstate system, the center has gone nowhere but down over the past 15 years.
One by one, businesses left. An A & N store, one of the last long-time tenants in the center, plans to move to Churchland next month.
Noting that the area has ``very serious dysfunctions'' created by ``one of the worst traffic patterns I've ever seen,'' Gindroz called the property configuration ``the equivalent of shattered glass.''
The shopping center should be oriented toward High Street and the stable neighborhoods nearby, Gindroz said. ``Its orientation is simply wrong,'' he said.
A reconfigured strip of stores, fronting a new Airline Boulevard, would be an anchor for the entire Midtown district, he said.
Under the proposal, Frederick Boulevard would be re-aligned to run straight from Interstate 264 to High Street. Airline Boulevard would be reconfigured to pass in front of a repositioned shopping center to connect with Frederick at a perpendicular intersection.
One of the major changes from the first draft of the Midtown plan was the decision to leave the four-lane streets in place within the area. Such would allow free parking in front of and around most area businesses.
This plan would give almost every existing business frontage on a street with parking.
Frederick Boulevard would be straightened along Hamilton Avenue on the existing right of way.
``We were quite amazed when we looked at it,'' Gindroz said. ``It would not affect any residences and there are few existing businesses. It would be a very simple slice through there.''
The new roadway would claim some space from the back of the shopping center parking lot and eliminate one service station. Any other buildings in the path are empty or scheduled to be vacated. They include a space occupied by Virginia Power, which plans to close the office.
The north end of Frederick Boulevard between Airline and High Street would remain in place as a tree-lined main entrance off High Street into the business and commercial area. It also would serve as a link between the center and the businesses along High Street.
The revised plan now has the endorsement of the Mid Town Association.
``This really defines us as an area,'' Roger Davis, of Davis TV, said at a meeting of the Mid Town Association on Wednesday. The association came into existence independent of the city's decision to develop a plan that would include everything from Midtown to Downtown.
But the key to the future of Midtown is getting the owners of MidCity to fish or cut bait.
If the owners are not interested in refurbishing the area, the city will attempt to convince them to sell to others who will redevelop the area.
Sentinel, an investment group, owns not only the shopping center but many of the vacant buildings across Frederick Boulevard including the building that once housed a bowling alley.
Previous efforts to interest absentee owners in upgrading the area have been futile.
``The tripwire to action in the area is finding a developer for the center,'' assistant economic development director Steve Herbert told association members Wednesday. ``The city will work with the developer, contributing the new road system.''
Herbert's department has been ``hearing from developers that MidCity will work as a major retail center.''
Some businesses, he said, already have expressed interest in moving into the area if the plan were implemented.
The willingness of Gindroz to listen to area business people apparently has overcome some of their resistance to change.
``Ray Gindroz and the city have been very cooperative and very willing to work with our association and the property owners in Midtown on this,'' association president Mary Curran said. Curran is manager of Central Fidelity Bank adjacent to the shopping center on Frederick Boulevard.
``I understand why some of the property owners had concerns,'' said Saunders Early, owner of Robbie's Home Stores. ``I liked the plan from the beginning, but I think it's good that Ray Gindroz has worked with those who were concerned. I did not want us to end up with nothing.''
Specifics of the plan are not a major concern for Elbert Woodley, who owns Terri's restaurant on Airline Boulevard.
``We have to do something now or we won't have to worry about it at all in a few years,'' he said.
Gindroz has repeatedly said that nearby neighborhoods, such as Waterview and Glensheallah, offer an affluent market for business.
``But who wants to come here to an empty shopping center?'' Mary Curran asked rhetorically in a conversation Tuesday. ``We see a major obstacle in the shopping center owners and they own so much in the area.''
Curran, who lives in Waterview, is beginning to ``see hope for the future'' with the development of the plan, she said. ``I feel like it is coming together.''
In addition to business people representing a broad area of the middle part of town, the Mount Hermon Community League and the Mount Hermon Improvement Foundation, which represent homeowners in Midtown, have been involved with the association.
``The residents are very supportive of the association and of the plan,'' Curran said.
Although the association has focused on the plan, members have been simultaneously working on other problems, including security and beautification, Curran said.
In addition, some members are serving on a business development committee.
``We all have to take responsibility,'' she said. ``Whatever happens here affects us all.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Cover]
MIDTOWN REVISITED
[Color Map]
Staff photo by MARK MITCHELL
Bits and pieces of land, created by the erratic courses of Airline
and Frederick boulevards, would become a business and residential
neighborhood.
Staff photo by MARK MITCHELL
Mid Town Association president Mary Curran, manager of Central
Fidelity Bank adjacent to MidCity shopping center, looks over maps
of the area.
by CNB