The Virginian-Pilot
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NORFOLK
A pair of upscale retailers will locate into two areas the city has long been seeking to redevelop, officials confirmed on Thursday.
Developer Chris Perry told a meeting of the Wards Corner Task Force that a Harris Teeter grocery store will anchor a new shopping center there. The center will sit on 8.6 acres of land at the southeast corner of Granby Street and Little Creek Road.
Harris Teeter has agreed in principle to build a 53,000-square-foot outlet, said Perry, president of the Norfolk-based Suburban Asset Management.
His company and Harris Teeter will invest about $18 million in the project. Perry said a lease with the store will be signed later this year. The store will also be surrounded with about 40,000 square feet of other retail space.
City officials also confirmed that Urban Outfitters, a youth-oriented clothing chain, has signed a lease to locate a store at 271 Granby St. The downtown building is owned by businessman Bobby Wright, who has negotiated with Urban Outfitters for several years.
Urban Outfitters will occupy 14,000 square feet on three floors of the building, which is located within sight of MacArthur Center's Monticello Avenue entrance. Officials hope the store will open as early as July.
"Urban Outfitters will become the front door to Granby Street," Vice Mayor Anthony L. Burfoot said.
The City Council agreed a month ago to an $880,000 performance grant to help attract Urban Outfitters. The grant is a rebate of taxes to be paid by Wright over 15 years.
Wright drove to Philadelphia on Wednesday night to deliver the signed lease to Urban officials.
Wright said Urban Outfitters' decision to come to Norfolk "is a win for the entire region. Without Virginia Beach, Chesapeake and the other communities here, we wouldn't have an Urban Outfitters. They were attracted to the Hampton Roads market."
Mayor Paul Fraim said "it's hard to wrap your mind around what this is going to mean for retail on Granby Street. It's going to attract more people and more retailers to downtown. And it will be good for the mall."
City officials said it is likely that Anthropologie, a women's apparel retailer affiliated with Urban Outfitters, also will locate downtown, perhaps to MacArthur Center.
Perry said he hopes to begin demolition to the shopping center now at Wards Corner this summer. Harris Teeter should be open by the beginning of 2014, he told the task force.
Wards Corner is a suburban shopping area that was once one of the region's prime retail areas, but it has been in a state of decline. Perry's development is the first major investment there in decades.
"This has been a long time in coming," Councilman Barclay C. Winn said.
There will be no direct city subsidy in the Harris Teeter project. However, Winn said the city will help with infrastructure improvements, including new sidewalks.
Jim English, head of the Wards Corner Civic League, said the city needs to do more than build sidewalks.
"We need to move utilities underground," he said, adding the city has done the same downtown, in Broad Creek and Ocean View.
Perry's family helped found Dollar Tree, a Chesapeake-based Fortune 500 Company that had its beginnings at the site of the future Harris Teeter.
"This development means a lot more to us than any other property we own," he said.
Harry Minium, (757) 446-2371, harry.minium@pilotonline.com
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WC does not need another
WC does not need another grocer! One of the three (HT, FF, or Kroger) will end up closing. HT needs to consider the East Beach area, which is ripe for an upscale grocer and where there is no real competition! ,
change can be good
For years Kroger and Farm Fresh have been there. Did they make an effort to revitalize or keep up, Farm SoNotFresh, won't miss you. This area is surrounded by opportunity, finally someone is doing something and out come the boo birds. Competition is good, if Harris Teeter comes in and new businesses come because the builings are new, and not rodent infested, why the complaining? As for Trader Joes or Whole Foods, who knows that they weren't given the chance and turned it down? We don't need the best buys or the lowes they are huge stores. We need small businesses and restaurants and more of a Market Square type atmosphere like in Williamsburg. If light rail ends up passing through all the better. I live here, and hope this succeeds.
If I no longer have to
If I no longer have to peddle all the way to Ghent for a Teeter sale, how am I gonna ever fit into those skinny jeans at Urban Outfitters ?
Terrible Idea
Traffic is already a mess at Wards Corner. Oh, and a train? Put Harris Teeter in Ocean View near East Beach.
Wards Corner WOULD be a good place for a Light Rail interchange.
Many of us miss
the "old" REGINOS. W. Corner will need to have "quality" restaurants...more than just Rom Thai, etc....in order to keep folks spending money in the evenings.
I miss Reginos as well, good
I miss Reginos as well, good Italian food, as in plenty of it, and good service, part of what used to make Wards Corner special.
Thank god! Can't wait.
I LOVE Harris Teeter. The new one in Ghent is fantastic and I make the trip when I want some specialty or high-end item, but it's just too hard to get to from north Military Highway. I hope the one they build in Wards Corner is every bit as nice as the one in Ghent. Good wines, good meats, great produce, and you can even buy tahini when you get the notion that you need some hummus or a vegetable-based lemon tahini dressing. Bring in on, Harris Teeter!
Harris Teeter will hurt the bordering Homeowners!
i don't care how they build the Teeter, the increased truck traffic anywhere around that site will be a killer. the only property that is not being bulldozed is AJ Gator, all others and the Plasma Center are out. It's a large property but even today the traffic is crazy, and then throw the train in the mix oye, nightmare. Urban Outfitters should be an Army Navy Surplus Store by nature if in Downtown Norfolk,but not today, it'll sell cheap asian manufactured clothing to TCC students and the surrounding clueless teens. It will not enhance Norfolk one bit. Norfolk dosen't want treenagers downtown hence the curfew at MacMall. We'll know more in 2015.so keep our notes fresh.One Item that will enhance Downtown is a grocery, the space is there!
Idea
I have an idea. Let's all complain that the city isn't doing anything to improve Wards Corner or to bring in new development, business, jobs, patrons, and then when a new business is announced, let's all complain about it, no matter what it is. And then, when the business changes its mind and decides not to come, let's complain then too. In fact, whether we decide to do one thing or the opposite or anything in between or nothing at all or everything, let's complain. Now, don't we all feel better?
Shopping Center Design
I haven't heard if they're planning on building the Harris Teeter shopping center "suburban style," with the parking lot fronting the street, or "urban style," with the parking in the rear. I hope it is the latter.
The appearance of Wards Corner really took a dive when the old Hoffheimer's shoes building that fronted right on to the sidewalk was bulldozed and replaced with the suburban Wallgreen's. It would be nice if Norfolk had the vision to make this a special shopping district.