THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 3, 1996 TAG: 9605030544
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MYLENE MANGALINDAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
Tidewater Community College unveiled the future centerpiece of its downtown Norfolk campus Thursday.
With it, the college hopes to recapture some of the city's past.
The 300 Granby St. building, formerly occupied by the Smith & Welton department store, will house TCC's library and the bulk of its campuswide computer network.
More important, city and TCC officials envision the campus as the catalyst for Granby Street's rejuvenation.
A bustling retail corridor in the early 1900s, Granby Street once provided residents and visitors a pleasant pedestrian shopping environment. TCC president Larry Whitworth thinks it can happen again.
``There was no possible way for the Granby Street corridor to come online'' without the community college, he said.
``We can't put in a massive shopping complex next to boarded-up buildings,'' Whitworth said. ``You needed to do something. We're the right use.''
Many think downtown businesses will open or expand to meet the growing needs of the campus, which serves, mostly, working adults about 30 years old.
Students' hunger for knowledge - and lunch - should be a boon to restaurants on and around Granby Street.
``We purposely did not put a cafeteria in the buildings because we want our students to be out and about,'' Whitworth said. ``We're not going to be an insulated institution that separates the town from the gown.''
About 1,000 students now take classes at the downtown campus, said David Neff, a U.S. history teacher at TCC who also was greeting visitors with some facts of the building's history.
By next May, 3,000 more are expected to attend.
It's a big goal for an academic site that was formally declared a campus only recently. It was considered just a center before, not an entire campus.
``This is the most wonderful thing,'' Neff said. ``Tidewater Community College has really brought back the community. It's the college that brought back downtown.''
Members of the Downtown Norfolk Council, a community and business group supporting efforts in the city's downtown, glimpsed some of the initial changes during a tour and morning presentation.
The past and the present mixed easily. New glass windows and reconstruction of the first floor showed an airy space for the library and a sweeping staircase to the mezzanine. Space occupied by the original Smith & Welton tearoom, renowned for its lunch counter, was pointed out. Original moldings were uncovered.
Built in 1913, the building was originally named the Martin Building after Alvah H. Martin, clerk of the Norfolk County court and president of the Merchants' and Planters' Bank. Smith & Welton bought the building in 1917 and opened it to the public that November. The store filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1986, and the building closed in 1988. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
VICKI CRONIS/The Virginian-Pilot
A video on the TCC project was shown to business leaders during a
tour of the former Smith & Welton building, shown below.
Map
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