NORFOLK
The Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority acquired its 12-story headquarters in 1977, when downtown was struggling and city leaders were looking for a way to breathe life into the city's core.
But today, the redevelopment agency's building at 201 Granby St. is surrounded by busy offices and restaurants.
Now authority leaders are looking to move out of the downtown Royster building and redevelop the historic structure to bring more residential or private offices to the area.
"One of the reasons we moved into this building was to help revitalize Granby Street," said Jim Gehman, the housing agency's assistant executive director. "Our presence here has done that."
The housing agency's board will hear a plan in September that involves building a new two- or three-story headquarters at the agency's maintenance offices at 901 Ballentine Blvd. and then selling the Royster building.
The plans are the result of several years of weighing options that ranged from moving elsewhere to staying put, Vice Chairman Peter Meredith said.
Doing nothing was one of most expensive options, Gehman said.
Staying in place would mean having to upgrade the Granby Street building's outdated heating and cooling systems and making other major infrastructure improvements. The redevelopment agency still has $2 million in debt payments on the 96-year-old Royster building, which recently was appraised for residential redevelopment at $6.5 million.
If the board approves the move in September, the housing agency's new headquarters would be within walking distance of a planned light-rail station and blocks away from where the Salvation Army and the city intend to build a $30 million Kroc Center.
"It's a great location," Gehman said. "And our presence there would bring hundreds of white-collar workers to that area."
The Ballentine operations center currently houses some of the redevelopment agency's offices, warehouse space and some unused maintenance workshops where employees years ago built cabinets and other items for the city's public-housing complexes.
Gehman said operations could be consolidated to make more space on the property.
Meredith said moving all its offices to Ballentine makes sense. In recent years, the housing agency has reduced its staff, leaving its headquarters dotted with empty offices.
"Economically, this building is inefficient," Meredith said. "It's a lot more space than we need."
Meghan Hoyer, (757) 446-2293, meghan.hoyer@pilotonline.com
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Ghentite
well said. I agree with you 100%.
silly...
Prairiedog, why is it that conservatives such as yourself are utterly unable to make a point without gratutious use of caps lock, extra punctuation, and silly spelling errors?
I would think the fact that the housing authority has cut its staff would have delighted you, as would the fact that the agency is attempting to find ways to save money.
The comments section on the Pilot is really my daily reminder that you can't please a Republican, because all they really want is a free lunch for themselves and a good cold shoulder for everyone else.
New Offices
"Doing nothing was one of most expensive options," Gehman said. So....what's new, the authority never does much and when they make a move, it costs the taxpayers billions. What can we do about it???? NOTHING. They are an authority and no one has control over an authority. Remember that when city council wanta to appoint an authority.