Norfolk Drops Ball On Clark Nexsen

One man's trash is another man's treasure as Norfolkers were given frustrating news yesterday courtesy of the Pilot.  A proposed 14-story office tower to be built at Virginia Beach's Town Center would become the new headquarters for the Norfolk-based architectural design firm Clark Nexsen.  This would move 350 employees from Norfolk.

Not that losing a 350-person creative workforce alone hurts, but this comes just after Norfolk City Council declined the opportunity for a similar office tower to house Clark Nexsen downtown as part of the Waterside proposal of Harvey Lindsay.  In fact, that was one of the highlights of the HL proposal.

Norfolk City Hall Complex: Home of Curious Decision Making

CC Image courtesy of jsmjr on Flickr

However, with  strong lobbying by Vice Mayor Anthony Burfoot, City Council decided to take the alternate route and go with the Cordish Cos. idea of Waterside Live to keep the existing Waterside structure in place, add 13 new chain restaurants, a marketplace selling items unique to the Hampton Roads area, and an entertainment venue. 

And what does Vice Mayor Burfoot think now?  According to the Pilot story, he was surprised and disappointed that the architectural firm would be leaving.

"Our goal is to retain businesses in the city of Norfolk, definitely not to lose businesses," he said."

This one is on Burfoot and the rest of the City Council for dropping the ball and not realizing what the kind of opportunity HL was providing them.  All we can hope is that this will teach them a lesson.