THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 18, 1997 TAG: 9701180369
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 88 lines
The city's effort to lure private developers downtown continued apace Friday, with the announcement of plans to renovate two vacant turn-of-the-century buildings along the Granby Street corridor to include restaurants and upper-story apartments.
In addition, members of the Hampton Roads chapter of the American Institute of Architects unveiled plans to create design concepts to help market and redevelop downtown.
For city officials, Friday's development was the second piece of good news this week: On Monday, the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority announced the sale of four blocks of downtown to developer Arthur Collins Sr. of Collins Enterprises in Greenwich, Conn. Collins plans an estimated $22 million project that includes the construction of stores, 146 apartments and 45 townhouses on both sides of Duke Street.
Buoyant city leaders hailed the news as a strong start of the next key phase of revitalizing downtown - attracting private investment dollars. Mayor Paul D. Fraim said Norfolk's investment in such projects as the MacArthur Center mall and the downtown campus of Tidewater Community College has created the ``infrastructure'' needed to lure investors.
``We are going to be relying heavily on our friends in the private sector to carry the development forward,'' Fraim said. ``The city has done the pump-priming, putting in the infrastructure, and the private sector should be able to build on that and take it to the next level.''
The two Granby corridor renovations are estimated at $2 million:
The largest venture, at about $1.5 million, involves a four-story, 26,000-square-foot masonry building at 112 Brooke Ave. that has been vacant for at least seven years. It has entrances on both Tazewell Street and Brooke Avenue and once housed St. Elmos de'Barcelona pool exhibition hall.
The smaller project will be the relocation of the Virginia Club from the Selden Arcade to a historic former bank building at Granby and Main streets.
The old St. Elmos building, which was donated about six months ago to the NRHA, will be sold to a Norfolk corporation, S-K 112 L.L.C., for $100,000, NRHA officials said. The corporation is owned by Norfolk physician Sture V. Sigfred, according to public documents.
Plans call for constructing a first-floor restaurant and pool room with a World War II theme, six garden apartments on the second floor and seven two-story townhouse-style apartments combining the third and fourth floors, said Robyn J. Thomas of the Norfolk architectural firm Burkhart Thomas, which is designing the building's rebirth.
A smaller bistro also might be located on the first floor of the building, which is along a block between Granby and Boush streets.
Work on the building is expected to begin this spring and be completed in spring of 1998, NRHA officials said.
The Granby District Initiative, a community partnership formed in November by the city, the NRHA and the Downtown Norfolk Council, had targeted the building as a ``catalyst'' to spark private investment in the downtown.
``The way this is going to be is piece by piece,'' said David H. Rice, executive director of the NRHA, who said he expects the pace of development to pick up as word spreads of downtown's resurgence.
The Brooke Avenue project was especially appealing because of its residential and business mix, said Cathy Coleman, executive director of the Downtown Norfolk Council.
``I think it's a great model for other projects,'' Coleman said. ``It's an example of what we want to do.''
In the second project announced Friday, the Virginia Club, a private social club of business and professional people formed in 1873, has signed a long-term lease for a building at 101 Granby St. The club, which now gathers for daily luncheons in the Selden Arcade, will spend about $40,000 to equip the building for food service.
Their new home, constructed as a bank in 1908, is at Granby and Main streets and once housed the Auslew Gallery. The neoclassical structure, featuring examples of Roman and Greek architectural styles, is listed on both the national and the Virginia registers of historic places.
The group plans to lease about 1,400 square feet on the second-floor for office space.
Charles V. ``Chuck'' McPhillips, president of the club, said its 135 members represent a cross-section of South Hampton Roads' business, professional and political leaders.
Local members of the American Institute of Architects plan to hold a workshop or ``charette'' later this year for business owners and others to explore downtown redevelopment issues, said James E. Gehman, a past president of the local chapter and participant in the group's volunteer initiative. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Once a pool hall, 112 Brooke Ave. will house a pool room, restaurant
and apartments.
KEYWORDS: DOWNTOWN NORFOLK RENOVATION