THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 4, 1996 TAG: 9602030095
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY IDA KAY JORDAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 195 lines
WHEN THEY START DIGGING up the foot of High Street around the first of March, one of the most visible parts of the Vision 2005 plan will be under way.
Within a year, the area now known as Veterans Riverfront Park will be turned into High Street Landing.
The city has high hopes riding on the inlet, expecting to parley the project into a life-saver for Downtown Portsmouth.
Planning Consultant Ray Gindroz sees the inlet as ``the gateway to the city'' from the water.
City Manager Ronald Massie, a planner by training, calls it ``first class urban space.''
``I think it's instrumental to success for the downtown business district,'' City Councilman James C. Hawks said. Hawks is the council liaison with a committee of citizens working on this part of Vision 2005.
The construction work will be the first major project of the plan, which encompasses the entire area of the city from the downtown waterfront to Midtown.
The inlet will become the single dock for the Elizabeth River pedestrian ferry, which has been making two stops on this side of the river and causing some confusion for visitors who do not know where to get off the boat.
Tidewater Regional Transit got a federal grant to pay for $1.9 million of the $3.6 million contract.
``The motivating factor to get this project going was the TRT money,'' Hawks said. ``The beauty of this project is that it will put the ferry traffic in one place - on High Street, where we want them.''
The opening of the High Street inlet summer after next could herald the closing of Portside. Merchants in the tent at North Harbor could lease some of the space that will be available at the new ferry landing.
The project will require the removal of 95 feet of the Seawall.
Initially, the design of the inlet called for the removal of the flag installed and maintained by the Portsmouth Flag Associates.
Members of the organization opposed the plan because they did not want the flag removed. As it turned out, the plan had been drawn without a breakwater to protect small boats in the harbor.
``We'd needed that for the boaters and by adding the breakwater, we were able to leave the flag in place,'' Hawks said. ``So it all worked out.''
Since the city began work more than a year ago on the Vision 2005 plan, the High Street project has been considered crucial.
Then the TRT grant made the project ``a great bargain'' for the city, said Steve Herbert of the city Economic Development Department.
``We are marketing the High Street Landing as a major destination in Hampton Roads,'' Herbert said.
The landing will be a place for entertainment, replacing Portside activities.
Herbert said he expects a nationally known restaurant to go into the Seaboard Building in the space formerly occupied by The Max. In addition, some small retail businesses will be located in about 5,000 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor of the townhouses that are part of the waterfront condominiums originally known as Kings Crossing.
The unfinished project, which has been a blight on the waterfront for eight years, recently was acquired by a Florida firm and has been renamed Admiral's Landing.
The city maintained control of the commercial space fronting on High Street.
Space on the ground floor of the main condominium building facing the river will be controlled by the building developers. Herbert said some of the space will be used for recreation areas for condo owners and some may be leased to persons who will provide services to the owners.
The new owners plan to install an in-ground swimming pool between the building and the Seawall.
``They say they must have a swimming pool if they are going to attract buyers,'' Hawks said. ``That is the only place they have to put it.''
However, the city did maintain some public access to the Seawall at that point.
``We have 22 feet between the pool and the Seawall,'' Hawks said. ``I felt we should have some public access.''
Crawford Square Condominiums on the southwest corner of the High and Water intersection will be completed within the next couple of years also. In the original section of Crawford Square, ground floor storefront space is zoned for office and commercial use.
``I don't know how they'll finish that out, but we want to be very careful about what is on that corner,'' Herbert said.
City Manager Massie said the inlet construction should be ``a good incentive'' for W.B. Meredith to finish the space within the next two years.
``That's a really important corner,'' he added.
A third corner of High and Water is the site of the Naval Shipyard Museum and the fourth corner is a parking lot for the federal building, which houses the Coast Guard 5th District, soon to be Atlantic region, and a branch of the U.S. Coast Guard.
Gindroz and his fellow planners call for a major convention hotel on that corner.
``We have no commitment from General Services, so I stop short of saying that's going to be a hotel site,'' City Manager Massie said.
``But a convention and conference hotel is incredibly important,'' he said. ``It can make a lot of money for the city and bring tourists to the city.''
Massie, as assistant city manager of Norfolk, was involved in bringing the Omni and the Marriott to downtown Norfolk. In addition, he was instrumental in getting the Airport Hilton and other hotels to locate in Norfolk.
``We have spelled out the potential of all the sites we have and we already have been talking to a couple of developers,'' he said.
Massie said he does not anticipate that the city will have to spend a great deal more money to get High Street Landing off the ground.
``If done well, and it will be, a project like this can leverage a lot of things,'' he said. ``Something will happen there. It's some of the finest urban space in Tidewater.''
Massie said the city needs to do a lot more work with private developers to build on existing strengths downtown.
``This is too good a space not to work,'' Massie said. ``But it's going to take all the brain power we have and the best talents to be sure it works.''
Councilman Hawks also believes ``it's going to happen.''
``I think the Landing will bring us more of Norfolk convention business via the ferry boat,'' he said.
Hawks too believes the city needs a convention hotel.
``The city lacks a good hotel with enough meeting room, a conference center,'' Hawk said. ``That will be the big item for us to get in this century.''
Hawks noted that his committee of citizens has not discussed future uses of the area that is the site of Portside.
In the plan originally proposed by Gindroz, that area was marked for residential condominiums with private piers.
``But I think it is important for us to keep some public access to the waterfront in that area, too,'' Hawk said. ``I don't know at this time just how we'll do that.''
The city also owns the rights to the Signet Bank parking lot and might entice a hotel to that location.
``If we get a major development there, we would need to give them some use of North Harbor,'' Hawks said. ``And we could use that area for larger character vessels since we won't be able to dock them at High Street.''
Hawks is optimistic about the entire plan, he said.
``I have heard nothing but praise for the Vision 2005 plan from citizens of Portsmouth,'' he said.
The city manager said he believes the plan can be sustained even though elected city officials may change.
``The people here are committed to the good ideas,'' he said. ``The quality of the ideas is important if we are going to focus our effort.''
Massie said Portsmouth has all ``the right ingredients'' to make the plan work.
``Portsmouth has a good small-town atmosphere,'' he added. ``That is important and an asset to cultivate.'' ILLUSTRATION: File photos
This photo was taken from the base of the American flag in Veterans
Riverfront Park at the foot of High Street. The flagpole will stay
in place to form a breakwater for the new inlet. The area between
the flagpole and the old Seaboard building in the background will be
dug out to make way for a new ferry dock.
Mark Jowers and Bo Benson break in the new water fountain in
Riverfront Park in 1985. The fountain will be taken up to make way
foor the inlet that will be known as High Street Landing.
Mark Jowers and Bo Benson break in the new water fountain in
Riverfront Park in 1985. The fountain will be taken up to make way
for the inlet that will be known as High Street Landing.
Drawing
The sketch of the ferry inlet site at right and on the cover show
how the area will look when the Vision 2005 project is completed,
which is expected to be in 13 to 15 months. The design also offers a
pleasant spot for pedestrians to sit.
DESIGN IS ALSO BOATER FRIENDLY
The contract for construction of High Street Landing has been
signed, and construction is set to begin early in March and
completed in 13 to 15 months.
A terraced bulkhead on the inlet will provide a place to sit and a
place to dock small boats and come ashore.
Pedestrian walkways around the trapezoid shaped-inlet with be 50
feet wide on the south side and 70 feet wide on the north side.
The inlet will be 148 feet wide at Water Street and 175 feet long.
The space easily will accommodate the existing Elizabeth River
Ferry boats and any number of small craft, said Steve Herbert,
manager of Vision 2005.
The wave screen around the flagpole will permit some vessels to tie
up on the outside of the inlet.
by CNB