Waterside - The Un-Festival Marketplace

Commentary

Every time politicians and company executives start spewing numbers, such as jobs and tax revenue, be skeptical, be very skeptical.

We have seen this happen repeatedly in Norfolk with Nauticus, the cruise terminal, Granby Tower, the Mid-Town office complex and a host of high-profile gambles promoted and pitched by city council members.  

Look at Virginia Beach.

City officials are getting pummeled for suspect economic impact figures, its panhandling for $150 million from state lawmakers and, even before a backhoe has dug the first hole, a cost estimate that has ballooned by $46 million.

Whoops. 

Here in Norfolk, Reed Cordish, the owner of the Cordish Companies, is promising 1,000 jobs for revamping Waterside with an investment of $28 million.

Cordish said that’s a conservative number.

He said 200 jobs would be needed for construction.

He didn’t say the 200 construction jobs are part-time jobs.

He didn’t say the 200 jobs are included in the 1,000 figure. 

He said the 1,000 jobs would be of varying pay from executives down to dishwashers.

He didn’t tell us the average wages and benefits (if any) of those 1,000 jobs.

What did he say then?

You get the impression that we should be grateful for his investment in Norfolk and for his willingness to transform a graveyard dead derelict into a fun place to drink, eat and play.

Vice Mayor Anthony Burfoot told us that “such skepticism is rooted in a lack of understanding of what lies in store.”

Really Mr. Burfoot?

Please impart your wisdom after touring Cordish’s Xfinity Live development in Philadelphia. (How did he weasel that invitation from Cordish? Or did Cordish invite him?)

He did.

He said he has no doubt that Waterside Live will have regional appeal.

"It's nothing that we've ever seen here in Hampton Roads," Burfoot said. "You'll see long lines of people trying to get in."

Yes, but might also see long lines of cars and trucks trying to find parking, for which they have to pay.

Believe me, Mr. Burfoot, I know Philadelphia, and Norfolk isn’t Philly. Nor is the region.

Philly is the fifth most populous city in the country with 1.6 million people packed into 143 square miles. You can get a bus, train, subway or trolley to anywhere in the city.

By contrast, we have 1.6 million people living in a region that stretches 50 plus miles from Williamsburg to Virginia Beach.

And don’t forget the traffic and the tunnels and the other competing venues in other cities.  

As our eminent economists so realistically pointed out, Waterside Live – catchy, huh, and I thought we wanted to re-brand this dog but instead the city is keeping the name – it will have to draw visitors from the entire region.

Demolish it, I say, and start from scratch. The era of Waterside has long passed, so it’s time to start anew.