Editorial: Norfolk officials’ actions put Military Circle project at risk

The Virginian-Pilot & Daily Press Editorial Board, The Virginian-Pilot
·3 min read

Norfolk’s redevelopment of the Military Circle area offers an uncommon opportunity for the city to do something transformational. The choice between the three proposals — each of which has its merits — will echo for generations, and the pressure on city officials to get this right must be enormous.

But that does not excuse the conduct of those same officials, some of whom took a pricey secret trip to Texas on the taxpayers’ dime, deliberately ducking open meetings laws to do so. Operating in the shadows like this undermines public confidence in the process and, ultimately, casts doubt on an initiative with enormous potential for Norfolk and the region.

In 2015, Norfolk began in earnest the process of charting a course for the future of the Military Circle area. Subsequent studies considered ways to better utilize the area and the city purchased the mall in 2020. Officials embraced moving toward something akin to Town Center in Virginia Beach or City Center in Newport News — a planned development that combined residential, retail and recreation that would make it a destination for people to live, work and play.

Ultimately the city received three bids for the redevelopment, each offering compelling visions of how best to realize the area’s full potential: one by Crossroads Partnership, which includes Virginia Beach’s S.B. Ballard Construction and NFL Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith; one by Norfolk MC Associates, involving Virginia Beach developer Bruce Thompson’s Gold Key/PHR and The Franklin Johnston Group; and one by Wellness Circle LLC, helmed by Pharrell Williams, with Virginia Beach developers Armada Hoffler and Venture Realty Group, and concert promoter Live Nation.

Each of the proposals involves hundreds of millions of dollars. Each has its own particular appeal. And each effort was led by serious people with proven track records doing this sort of work. One could sympathize with the complexity of the challenge before Norfolk City County.

But as time dragged on — proposals were due to the city in May 2021, but Norfolk has yet to make a decision — some of the development groups began to get antsy. The city even returned the $100,000 deposit checks in June as a sign of goodwill (or as a way of apologizing for the delay.)

Then, earlier this month, Norfolk officials told Pilot reporter Daniel Berti they had entered into preliminary discussions with Williams’ Wellness Circle group and had begun to discuss financial specifics of the $1.1 billion proposal.

But new reporting by Berti, published Wednesday, threatens to cast a pall over the project before the council even votes to formally approve it. In May, Berti reported, five officials — Mayor Kenny Alexander, Council members Andria McClellan and Danica Royster, City Manager Chip Filer and City Attorney Bernard Pishko — flew to Austin to negotiate with Oak View Group, developer of an arena in the Wellness Circle proposal.

While Alexander paid his own way, “the two council members and city staffers spent $6,069 in city funds on the trip for roundtrip plane tickets, hotel rooms and meals, according to city receipts,” per Berti’s reporting. The mayor also traveled separately and conducted meetings without the council members so as not to violate Virginia open meetings law.

McClellan told Berti that officials were doing their “due diligence” on “one of the largest economic development deals in the city’s history.” And, sure, when there’s a billion dollars at play, why not spend a couple grand to do the legwork?

But it’s the secrecy surrounding this process — sneaking to Texas to conduct private negotiations while keeping other developers on the line; avoiding making a formal decision about how to proceed; keeping the public in the dark about it all — that’s so galling.

Those involved should know better and, judging by how they deliberately skirted public meeting laws, they do know better. And the greatest shame is that it casts a pall of suspicion over a project that should be a source of pride and excitement for Norfolk and the region.