Norfolk wants more time to decide on plan for Waterside

In spite of a yearlong study with input from several influential business groups, urban experts and more than 3,000 residents, the new city manager says he wants "almost a clean slate" and more time to figure out what to do with the troubled Waterside marketplace.

The City Council had pledged to have a plan for the city-owned facility last year. But City Manager Marcus Jones, who started in February, said he will ask the council to delay a decision until at least this summer.

"I don't think we can make an informed decision at this point," Jones said. "There are a lot of ideas and a lot of concepts, but as I talk with some of the key people on our staff, they are not in agreement with a lot of those ideas and concepts."

Waterside's future is also too important to rush, he said. In February, political leaders pushed Jones to support the Midtown Office Tower, a project that would have been built on city property. Three days after the council approved the development, officials from a nonprofit that was to rent office space there announced they had financial problems and would not participate. The city then pulled out of the deal.

Jones said not fully investigating the project was a mistake he won't make again.

Opened in 1983, Waterside sits on prime riverfront land downtown. The marketplace, which recently was billed as a center for nighttime entertainment, is more than half empty after the loss of many of its tenants over the past two years. Remaining are a handful of stores, half a dozen restaurants and a lot of empty space.

Developers, residents and business owners have pitched numerous ideas for the building, ranging from turning it into a casino or wedding facility to reverting it back into the community market that existed when it opened.

Jones said he wants to assemble another group of experts and have at least one "community conversation," in which groups of people would sit with city officials to discuss Waterside. The city spent about $27,000 on the most recent group of five urban consultants who met with residents and businesspeople to devise a long-term vision for the facility. That included $5,000 payments to each consultant and expenses of about $2,400.

The group's recommendation in January called for the city to solicit bids to turn the facility over to a private operator.

"I'm sure if you talk to 10 people familiar with Waterside, you will get six or seven opinions," Jones said. "This thing is a game-changer. We've got to get it right."

"I know this isn't what the City Council wants to hear," he added.

It certainly wasn't what some residents wanted to hear.

"People don't want to talk about it anymore, to tell you the truth," said Kevin Murphy, president of the Downtown Civic League. Murphy said he has confidence in the new manager, but his civic league supports the most recent panel's recommendation.

"The work has been done," Murphy said. "We have been beaten down by a lack of action."

Keeping the building half-empty for longer, Murphy said, sends negative signals about the health of downtown. It also deprives the city of tax revenues that would be gained by a fully occupied Waterside, he said.

Because the current tenants' rent doesn't cover debt payments and operational costs, the city is slated to spend $1.85 million this year subsidizing the operations and making payments on a $5.1 million debt. The city will also spend $1.4 million on what officials say are necessary capital improvements.

Officials say tax revenues from food and beverage sales used to more than offset those costs, but the city is now losing money on Waterside.

Councilman Barclay C. Winn, whose ward includes downtown, said he supports Jones' request for more time. Other high-profile issues, he said, have pulled the council's attention away from Waterside.

"There's been so much going on, we haven't had much time to concentrate," Winn said.

At least one downtown business leader, Cathy Coleman, who heads the Downtown Norfolk Council, also supports the delay. The organization and two other local business groups, the Greater Norfolk Corporation and VisitNorfolk, urged the city last year to consider tearing down Waterside because it "detracts from the city's image and consumes scarce resources."

"It's a decision that needs more thought," Coleman said.