Housing developments. An entertainment district. Office space. Year-round recreation.
Everyone involved with planning Norfolk's river walk - and even those who aren't - have dreams of what they'd like to see happen with the proposed development in the future.
Here's what a few of those people said their most elaborate visions of what could be were:
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Dan Mauk, president of the Norfolk Area Chamber of Commerce
"Some townhouses that look like eastern rowhouses with modern updates that would be attractive to baby boomers who have retired. Some non-profit office space. A new city administration building possibly co-linked with a new school administration."
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Mark Hall, Norfolk businessman and member of recreation committee
"I think it's conducive to specialty shops, specialty retail or specialty service-type ventures. . . . I could see a boat rental of some kind that folks might use."
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Scott Reidel, member of the design committee
"I'd like to see some office space next to downtown. I think if you bring people to work in that area, a lot of other stuff is going to happen like retail - jewelry stores, places to eat, food vendors."
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Leon Lauver, Norfolk architect and member of the design committee
"The main thing we want to do is to create an interest to pull people downtown. To do that, you've got to have things going on . . . . I think you can have a lot of interest, a lot of recreation. Recreation now is the main thing. We'd like to get the water park people to combine and work together on the thing."
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Brian Nordby, Tier One Bank
"I think it would just be great to rejuvenate the downtown area, and I think it would be just a great, huge shot in the arm to get some businesses going in town. I've been to San Antonio to their river walk. It would be amazing to have a smaller version of that."
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T.R. Hendricks, apprentice architect and member of design committee
"I'd like to see a little bit better quality of food. I'd like to see some entertainment. I'd like to see some offices, some residential - you can mix them, you've just got to know how. . . . You can have an urban environment and still have a beautiful river. You have to look at San Antonio for instance. If you want to hop the ocean, Prague has done a very good job, Hamburg has done a very good job reclaiming theirs. Even Birmingham, England, has reclaimed its riverfront."
