Major shopping center planned for Portsmouth's Midtown

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By Meghan Hoyer
The Virginian-Pilot

PORTSMOUTH - The city is expected to announce Tuesday that a major retail shopping center will open in Midtown.

The Sembler Co., a Florida-based development group, has proposed a shopping center for the former I.C. Norcom High School property at the corner of Frederick Boulevard and Turnpike Road.

The shopping center will be the cornerstone of the ongoing retail revitalization in Midtown. It will bring more stores to Portsmouth, where officials and residents have lamented for years about the lack of shopping opportunities.

The revitalization project began two years ago when Portsmouth tore down the mostly vacant MidCity Shopping Center to make way for a Wal-Mart Superstore. The Wal-Mart opened earlier this year.

City officials have been in negotiations for months with Sembler representatives for the land just down the street from the Wal-Mart store. The city's Economic Development Authority, which owns the Norcom land, is expected to sign off on a development agreement Tuesday morning. The agreement will provide Sembler with the 21- acre site, which has sat vacant for years.

At 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, the city's Economic Development department will host a press conference with Sembler representatives in City Council chambers at City Hall, 601 Crawford St. The public is invited to attend.

• Reach Meghan Hoyer at (757) 446-2293 or meghan.hoyer@pilotonline.com.

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Portsmouth is similiar to Norfolk...

Submitted by keithd72025 on Fri, 08/10/2007 at 12:35 am.

I expected Va Beach and Chesapeake residents to give discouraging remarks about P-town but suprised that one came from a Norfolk resident. We are pretty much in the same boat as P-town. We are also a struggling, old urban city who has dealt with diminishing retail opportunities due to the growth of Va Beach, Chesapeake and Suffolk. Those cities, especially Va Beach and Chesapeake are suburbs...farmland. They have plenty of land to grow. There is no issue with tearing down Va Beach buildings but plenty of issues with Norfolk. I think its great what P-town is doing and I hope Norfolk city officials follow P-town's plan to improve the shopping and quality of life among it's citizens.

To change the external, the internal must first change...

Submitted by walterd96923 on Thu, 05/10/2007 at 2:17 pm.

I have now lived in NYC since graduating from NSU back in 1991 & I have been home to my native Hampton Roads(Chesapeake---Indian River HS, Class of '85)quite a few times since then & I miss it very much. To be real, I did not know that both Tower Mall & Mid-City Shopping Center are now history. As a teenager of the '80s, I remember both of them very well and had some good times and some bad times in terms of shopping and hanging out over there. I see what many of you are saying in terms of Portsmouth and its people and it is pathetic that in 2007, we still have an issue with racism. Am I shocked? Of course not. But it is sad nonetheless because you simply cannot judge all based on the actions of a few....Bottom line, to change a community, the spirit of that community must change first. That will then result in different actions by those changed people. My prayer is that we all work together to help change the spirit of that area of "P-Town" so that we will have different results.

A great step forward...

Submitted by bennaireg99770 on Wed, 04/18/2007 at 11:19 pm.

I think the shopping center would be a great addition to the already growing retail element in Portsmouth. It is evident that our neighbors in the other cities either doubt that Portsmouth could support this kind of development, or they are jealous that a city with an African-American majority of citizens is making it's way up the economic and political ladder. This kind of attitude is typical of the white-flight racists of Chesapeake and Virginia Beach. Portsmouth is one of Hampton Roads' oldest cities and I'm proud to be a citizen. But it really upsets me when people who live in other cities and those who would be ignorant and poor in any city or state, comment and criticize what's going on here. We decide what we want. We pay the taxes that contribute to the public works. I have lived in Portsmouth all my life. I would love to remain here and watch it grow and become the jewel that it was, even before our neighbors were thought of. 250 years and still counting...how bout u?

Submitted by al11453 on Wed, 04/18/2007 at 4:34 am.

Maybe new stores will give us somewhere to shop and spend hard earned money without being bullied by cops and charged unfair prices by merchants(ahem,ahem, Va Beach 1989, I guess you don't recall the money Va Beach lost out on when they put a stop to Greekfest), oh yeah, Ptown has other areas where they need to spend money also, like ummm, I don't know maybe to train new police officers who are not merely criminals themselves!

Only Lived in Portsmouth for two years

Submitted by jarodg42157 on Mon, 04/16/2007 at 9:42 am.

I've only lived in Portsmouth for two years but I've already seen major changes. I live in Shea Terrace and my civic league is great. I love that mid town is being revitalized because Olde Towne is such a great place now its time to expand out. The trouble with portsmouth might be a lack of jobs and bringing in these new retailers will help not only the look of Ptown but give some jobs to those people that are giving P-town a bad image. We do need more parks but in order to create parks commercial taxes are a great way to raise funds.

I'm old enough to remember when Mid-City opened.

Submitted by debbien50225 on Sun, 04/15/2007 at 1:36 pm.

Mid-City Shopping Center was a great idea and a great draw to Mid-town Ptown when it opened up. Due to a lack of other shopping centers it thrived for over ten years. Then Tower Mall opened and shoppers could then shop in a safe environment out of the weather and away from the possibility of being robbed or beaten while going from one store to another. Of course at Tower Mall you had to be really careful going and coming back to your car. Within ten years Tower Mall had become more of a hang out for thugs than a shopping mall, causing many stores to close shop and go elsewhere. The new Victory Crossing shopping area is known to be a problem area and suffers high shoplifting to the point Lowes has talked of leaving. I like to see progress, but you have to learn the lessons of the past. Clean up the criminal element of the area so that law abiding citizens feel safe going there and the new mall will have a chance. But it is P-town and they have a reputation to keep, don't expect much.

Been here all my life

Submitted by billyb71759 on Sun, 04/15/2007 at 6:43 am.

I was born in Academy Park, lived their for nearly 20 years off and on. My parents lived their for 40 years. I spent over twenty years in the service and retired. I have seen Portsmouth go through alot of changes. The biggest is if you fail to make over 50K a year move somewhere else. My parents had to move to Zuni to afford a place and thank God my Cousin had a place for them. Who cares about the low income folks that busted their butts all there life and are booted to the side. they don't make 50K so send them on the way. Build your stores and forget the kids whom need playgrounds and youth centers to keep them from being into trouble. Call the cops on the homeless. Put'em all in jail and feed them, medically treat them and keep them warm. It's better then what they get now. Let my taxes help these people and not the person driving the sports car, and living in the $550,000.00 home. More is not better. Lose your roots and like the mighty tree you to shall fall and die.

Haters!

Submitted by lakisham44604 on Sun, 04/15/2007 at 12:19 am.

What's the shoplifting rate? Did tower mall last? What kind of statements are these? Rather ignorant, classist, and a bit racist ones I'd say! It's easy to get on hamptonroads.com and make meaningless statements, while dedicated citizens are out strategizing techniques to make this long awaited revitalization project a reality. I applaud all of the decision makers behind strengthening Portsmouth. Kudos!