Within the past week, we have enjoyed not one – but two – annual meetings. On June 21st, nearly 600 people attended the DNC Annual Meeting where we honored our Downtowner of the Year Conrad Hall and Dr. Sture Sigfred and Barbara Zoby for being incredible contributors to downtown. Our membership also elected new board members. Joining the board are: Thomas P. Host, T. Parker Host, Martin Ganderson, Attorney at Law and Frank Brown, Norfolk Southern Corporation. TowneBank as our presenting sponsor was joined by an incredible list of other sponsors. Thanks to all who made this event another great success.

On June 27, we celebrated 10 years of service from the Downtown 100 at their Annual Meeting. Chairman Tommy Leeman turned over the reigns to his successor, Darren Klink and new committee chairs were elected. Downtown 100 contributed almost 500 hours of volunteer service to downtown, just within the last 12 months.   

By now you should have seen the familiar “forks” arrive in your email with their first notice of our summer Restaurant Week. Nineteen of downtown’s very best restaurants will make the week of July 22nd a week to remember. Thanks to the Downtown Restaurant Coalition for their great work. You can see their great menus at DowntownNorfolk.org/enjoy/events/restaurant_week.

Congratulations to developer Buddy Gadams. Construction on Granby Tower actually starts this week. This project will change more than the downtown skyline – it will change attitudes about downtown. Thanks Buddy for your perseverance.

More good news for downtown.....LTD Management Co. will build a 9-story Residence Inn by Marriott on Brambleton Ave. between Duke Street and Boush Streets and, City Council gave the approval needed for Kotarides Developers to proceed with the Belmont at Freemason, a 241 unit, $40 million luxury apartment complex near the Norfolk YMCA.

On June 15, NPD, the Norfolk Sheriff’s office, the Virginia State Police and the Shore Patrol began a year-long “Last Drink” Survey to help determine any patterns associated with DUI infractions. This is a part of our Responsible Hospitality program and is another tool to help identify challenges before they become real problems.  We are awaiting word on a grant application submitted to Virginia ABC to assist with a Door Security Training program, also a part of Responsible Hospitality.

Our new Guide to Downtown Norfolk has just been published. If you would like more copies, call the DNC office. As someone said when they called our office last week “it is absolutely the best marketing tool for downtown Norfolk that is available.”

We bid farewell to Rev. Phyllis Early, pastor at Epworth United Methodist Church. Rev. Early served her congregation well and she served downtown well – as a member of the DNC Board of Directors and also as chairman of the Public Safety Coalition.

In case you didn’t see it, our Light Rail now has a name. The name, selected from many and tested across the region, “Tide” and “Riding the Tide” is closer and closer to becoming reality.

One more thing….Congratulations to Rich Conti, Executive Producer of the new high-definition film at Nauticus. The film Gateway to the World is a very artistic and compelling look at the life that our Port lives every day.