On June 2, 2016; officials from the City of Norfolk, Simon Property Group, and the State of Virginia broke ground for Norfolk Premium Outlets. Part of Simon's fastest-growing sector of mall properties, the third Premium Outlet center in Virginia will open in July 2017 alongside Lake Wright nearby the heavily traveled Interstate 64 & Northampton Boulevard. Planning for the $85 million outlet center was not easy & one of the most difficult I have personally seen in my lifetime.
(A rendering of the center overlooking Lake Wright. Credit: Simon Property Group)
The first ever word about an outlet center in Norfolk was noted in news outlets in August 2013 when the land for the Lake Wright Golf Course was sold and the course was later closed months afterwards. The area is right near the border of Virginia Beach where the Burton Station neighborhood is adjacent to the upcoming mall. Initial plans were to have the road straddle past the Virginia Beach border, but the Virginia Beach council voted it down. Simon then revised the plans to have the access road fully in Norfolk's limits. All those obstacles further delayed the project, which would've opened as early as July 2015.
Norfolk Premium Outlets is just a few miles away from the ailing Military Circle Mall, which currently lost ALL three of their department stores in four years and the total storefronts inside the mall are at least 50% vacant. Despite the economic and domestic problems the mall recently encountered, the area that the mall sits in is a prime spot where Military Highway & Virginia Beach Boulevard as well as Interstates 64 and 264 intersect. Because of that, the general public noted that Military Circle is a better spot instead of Lake Wright. However, redeveloping an existing mall to another development takes time than buying vacant/unused land, which usually takes less time. For example, the transition from Coliseum Mall to the Peninsula Town Center at Hampton, Virginia took around three years. Normally, outlet centers of this kind takes approximately a year to build, give or take a couple months.
(Norfolk Premium Outlets' layout from 2013--Credit: Simon)
The layout of the mall is a typical racetrack setting, common among outlet malls & Mills megamalls since the late 1990's-early 2000's. It had changed several times since the initial plans in 2013. The current plans, like most other outlet malls, offers an expansion opportunity in the future. The center will be a little smaller than previous modern Premium Outlet centers by having 85 stores, with the food court, named "Market Hall" will overlook Lake Wright.
(Norfolk Premium Outlets' final draft layout before groundbreaking. Credit: Kimley Horn/Virginian Pilot)
(A leaked layout of Norfolk Premium Outlets from November 13, 2015 with stores listed. This is UNOFFICIAL but gives an idea on how the mall will be like)
SOURCES:
City of Norfolk
Virginian Pilot
Inside Business
Kimley-Horn
Simon Property Group
