Waterside proposals: What comes next?

Five developers have proposed vastly different plans for remaking Waterside Festival Marketplace on downtown Norfolk’s riverfront.

Some call for tearing down the current building and redeveloping the spot into a convention center or a performance and sports arena. Others call for spending millions of dollars to renovate and repurpose the current building.

Each developer will present its plans in meetings with city officials this week, and City Manager Marcus Jones expects to decide which one to present to City Council by the end of March. The backgrounds and experience of the developers are as varied as their proposals.

The Cordish Cos., founded in 1910, is a Baltimore-based developer of mixed-use real estate projects.

The company proposed a $30 million revamp of the two-story marketplace. The makeover would bring 13 themed restaurants, and Cordish would operate what it calls “Waterside Live.”

Locally, Cordish is best known for the Power Plant of Hampton Roads in Hampton, a $95 million development, visible from Interstate 64, that includes Bass Pro Shops, Lowe’s and BJ’s Wholesale Club, as well as two hotels and a few restaurants. It’s among 27 mixed-use developments the company touts on its website – some completed, some still in the works – from San Francisco to Atlantic City, N.J.

The company also did an $86 million mixed-use project in Richmond called Riverside on the James, where Cordish built 240,000 square feet of offices, 122 residential units and 76,000 square feet of retail space.

HL Development Group, an affiliate of Norfolk-based Harvey Lindsay Commercial Real Estate, was formed in 1999. Since then, the company has developed more than 2.2 million square feet of office, retail and residential space in Hampton Roads.

The company has proposed spending $200 million to redevelop parts of downtown Norfolk and Waterside into a conference center with two new hotels, an office tower, a seafood restaurant and an expanded marina.

“We’re focusing on two economic development objectives,” said Bill Hudgins, president and CEO of the development group. “One is bringing jobs back to Main Street. And the other is bringing the tourism back to the waterfront.”

The developer’s local projects include the City Center at Oyster Point in Newport News, a 48-acre, mixed-use development with office buildings, apartments, condominiums, and retail space.

Before forming the development company, Harvey Lindsay also built Dominion Tower, downtown Norfolk’s tallest building, and numerous shopping centers across the region.

John X. Aragona, a longtime Virginia Beach businessman, has proposed turning Waterside into a broadcast studio and concert venue for “beach music.”

He wants to spend about $5 million to revamp the site, which would host nightly concerts.

Aragona is the son of John A. Aragona, who developed thousands of homes in Virginia Beach, including the Aragona Village and Princess Anne Plaza neighborhoods. Most of Aragona’s development experience comes from projects he worked on in the 1960s,’70s and ’80s, he said, including the Lake Placid and Magic Hollow neighborhoods in Virginia Beach.

In recent years, he has focused on producing beach music TV specials.

The businessman said he also wants to buy the Waterside property and spend $2 million to market the site.

“I think there was never anything wrong with that building, and it’s never been marketed right,” Aragona said.

“I want to prove that is the case. I’m not going after local people. I’m going after the national marketplace. I’m going to sell vacation packages with no strings attached.”

Drakkar America, a local development firm, has proposed tearing down Waterside and constructing a $375 million, 22,000-seat arena on the waterfront. It could serve as the home for a National Basketball Association team and host major performances.

The company is backed by David W. Tollaksen, a civil engineer who said he started the firm four years ago.

Tollaksen’s firm also pitched the project last year to Virginia Beach, which rejected the proposal partly because of the firm’s lack of development experience.

Drakkar also has plans for a $200 million horse track in Chesapeake.

“It is a fairly new company that hasn’t put stuff in the ground, but we’ve worked on a lot of projects collectively as a team,” Tollaksen said. “It’s the strength of the team.”

The developer said he has partnered on the project with Al Clark, a cofounder of the N.C.-based security firm Blackwater, which is now called Academi.

While Drakkar’s main proposal calls for revamping Waterside, Tollaksen said he also has envisioned a plan that would build the arena near Harbor Park. That version would cost about $600 million, he said.

Alvin James Development Group, based in Atlanta, has proposed building a $150 million entertainment complex to be called “Project Neptune III.” It would include a 150-room hotel, nightclubs and movie theaters, including an IMAX.

“Our primary focus is hospitality, but I have a pretty extensive background in broadcast and cable and branding, and understanding the elements needed to create an entertainment destination,” Alvin D. James said.

James, who also operates an events promotion firm in Atlanta, formed the development company a few years ago. In 2010, it announced plans to build a $350 million hotel in Atlanta. Construction still hasn’t begun on the hotel, which was supposed to be completed by this spring. James said the company still has financing and plans to break ground within 90 days.

Apart from the hotel plans, James’ firm has few projects to its credit. The businessman said his development team, however, has extensive development experience.

“We’ve got a couple other projects in the infancy stage that we haven’t announced yet,” James said.