Norfolk's downtown named endangered

Norfolk's downtown named an 'endangered' site
By DEBBIE MESSINA, The Virginian-Pilot
© May 25, 2007

Profit-driven development threatens precious old buildings in downtown Norfolk and at Hampton's Fort Monroe, according to a statewide historic preservation group.

The Downtown Norfolk Historic District and Fort Monroe in Hampton were named Thursday to a list of 11 Most Endangered Historic Sites in Virginia. The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities/Preservation Virginia compiles the list each year.

"The character of downtown is declining as many new buildings are constructed, and that is particularly true where historic buildings are demolished to make way for the new," the group wrote. It urged the City Council to emphasize renovation and preservation over demolition and new construction.

Fort Monroe, which overlooks the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay, was constructed between 1819 and 1834. The Army will vacate it in 2011 as part of the base-closing process.

Its future "is threatened by the potential commercial value of this finger of land at the harbor's entrance," the APVA wrote. "With magnificent views in all directions, it is a magnet for developers."

Norfolk's downtown includes seven historic buildings and 75 more that contribute to its historic status.

The Norfolk Preservation Alliance said recent losses to private development include three buildings where a high-rise condominium is under construction.

The group believes several more are threatened, including the Union Mission and the Bankers Trust buildings, which are for sale.

City officials and preservationists are at odds over three city-owned buildings that stand where a hotel and convention center will be built - the Watt Rettew & Clay building, which most recently housed Ikon Document Services, the Decker building and the former home of Beecroft & Bull.

The city plans to demolish all three but preserve the facade of the Decker building.

Mayor Paul Fraim said the Beecroft & Bull building is not historic and that the Ikon building has deteriorated so much that it cannot be preserved.

He disputed the group's report.

"We save as much of our history as we reasonably can," he said. "It lends richness and character to our entire community."

Most of the historic buildings that were lost in recent years were privately owned, so the council had no authority over them, he said.

Alice Allen-Grimes, president of the Norfolk Preservation Alliance, said the alliance is lobbying to change the historic district ordinance to require city approval before a historic building can be demolished.

She added that if the downtown continues to lose historic buildings, its status on the National Register of Historic Places could be jeopardized. That may mean it could no longer qualify for the tax credits that make many renovations economically feasible.

As for Fort Monroe, a panel of Hampton residents and state officials met this week to begin determining the area's future.

One citizens group wants to see the land become a national park; state and local officials worry about replacing the $15 million the Army said it spends annually maintaining the historic structures. [[PLEASE SEE NOTE AT BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE.]]

Reporter Kate Wiltrout contributed to this report.

Reach Debbie Messina at (757) 446-2588 or debbie.messina@pilotonline.com.

Fort Monroe as a self-sustaining national park

Thanks, but readers should note that the following sentence strongly implies a journalist's personal opinion, and that the facts rebut that personal opinion. The sentence says: "One citizens group wants to see the land become a national park; state and local officials worry about replacing the $15 million the Army said it spends annually maintaining the historic structures." Indeed Citizens for a Fort Monroe National Park wants to see a self-sustaining, no-burden-to-taxpayers hybrid national park like the one succeeding at the Presidio in San Francisco, with the park's assets leased out to eliminate the taxpayers' burden. As to that $15m/year figure, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has asked the Army to study it. No one knows the actual cost. Some journalists quote the figure unskeptically -- just as they unskeptically allow an odious and false presumption to flourish: the presumption that somehow Hampton owns this national treasure that in fact belongs to all of us.

Steven T. Corneliussen, Poquoson