THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 27, 1995 TAG: 9507250104
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 05 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALEX MARSHALL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
As anyone who travels frequently through Wards Corner knows, the area has a frustrating combination of too many cars and not enough shoppers. Traffic jams are common at Granby Street and Little Creek Road, yet once-prominent stores are vacant from lack of business.
The city's planning department, working with the private property owners, is working to improve both the area's traffic flow and the health of its retail operations.
Still in the planning stages, the plan would require some public funding but would be conditional on private business owners making investments as well, and agreeing to work with the city in a coordinated plan.
The basics of the plan are improving traffic flow by diverting some traffic around the main intersection, improving parking by adding some lots behind and beside existing stores, and sprucing up the facades of buildings and the street scape.
The combination should help restore Wards Corner to its role as a primary retail center for surrounding neighborhoods and the northern half of the city. When first developed in the 1950s, Wards Corner was one of the first retail centers to be built outside downtown, a city report says.
In building style, the area combines the suburban style of stores fronting on parking lots with the traditional downtown style of stores fronting on sidewalks close to the street. The now partly vacant Hofheimer building, for example, fronts directly on the main intersection and helps give the intersection a sense of place.
The shopping center on the opposite corner, with Uncle Louie's and other businesses, fronts on a parking lot. But with its curved facade, it's more dramatic in its design than a standard suburban strip mall.
Wards Corner has the potential to revive, city officials say, because its demographics are still reasonably strong compared to the rest of the city.
U.S. Census data tells the city that the average household income has increased in the Wards Corner area to $40,600 in 1990 from $36,900 in 1980. In the same time period, the population in the Wards Corner area has increased to 37,540 from 35,440.
But there is at least one sign that the area may be acquiring less affluent residents. The number of owner-occupied homes has dropped to 37 percent from 49 percent. In addition, the minority population has increased to 28 percent from 21 percent.
The most obvious problem for retailers is that traffic is so choked at the main intersection that shoppers are reluctant to go to Wards Corner and have difficulty getting in and out of stores when they do.
Then there's the lack of parking.
The city proposes several remedies for both of these problems.
One would be to expand parking behind the shopping center and open-air mall on the southeast corner. This ``back entrance'' to the mall would be expanded to make it more attractive, which should help the mall do more business. Cars would enter via Virginian or Louisiana drive without going through the central intersection of Granby and Little Creek Road. This combination of roads would be improved to make it a more viable option to get around Wards Corner.
Other suggestions are to improve the appearance of both the buildings and the street scape. The area could acquire a ``village'' theme that would be posted on banners or signs. The fronts of buildings could be redesigned.
The city has a number of other suggestions for the area, including the removal of some buildings, like the gas station on Granby Street. All of these proposed improvements would be done in coordination with private businesses, with the city paying to improve streets and sidewalks, and private owners paying to acquire property and improve store appearances. by CNB