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SUMMER
2004 COMPREHENSIVE RETAIL DISTRICT UPDATE
Norfolk
has many strategic advantages, starting with
a central location and an infrastructure designed
to move products quickly to any point in the
world. In Norfolk, there are many new business
parks, redevelopment areas, and special districts
that offer federal, state, and local incentives.
Since Norfolk is a wired city with a skilled
workforce and a superb quality of life, it is
a perfect place for commercial endeavors-both
new business and businesses that are looking
to expand or relocate.
Shopping for a place that has energy, diversity,
sophistication, and plenty of opportunity?
You've found it: Norfolk offers the charm of a
city with rich
history, as well as, the modern thinking that
makes for successful business growth.
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Norfolk
is the sales growth leader in Virginia's Hampton
Roads region. That's saying a lot when you consider
that this area alone has a larger population
than is found in 13 states; the Hampton Roads
market represents the 31st largest MSA in the
United States. Our MSA is a vibrant $13.2 billion
market.
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A Retail Success Story
Norfolk's strength as a retail and commercial market
is unparalleled among cities its size. The upscale
MacArthur Center,
a cornerstone of the city's downtown Renaissance,
boasts coveted shopping destinations such as Nordstrom,
Pottery Barn, Aveda, Williams Sonoma, and Restoration
Hardware.
 Joining
these nationally known stores are Norfolk's one-of-a-kind,
"homegrown" retail stars-from the classy
Calvin & Lloyd fine art gifts and interior design
shop, a mainstay of downtown Norfolk, to the many
successful businesses that comprise the well-known
Ghent neighborhood shopping district.
And Norfolk brings a slew of shoppers to the table. In markets of comparable
size, the Hampton Roads market spends significantly more on furniture and
home furnishings per-capita, Hampton Roads' spending in this category is equal
to or higher than LA or Pittsburgh. Total average spending per household in
the Norfolk MSA was found to be $45,804 in a recent study; given that the
population in the area is 1.6 million, that translates to big dollars for
retailers. And the spending goes way beyond local residents:
 The
80,000 students attending local colleges spend plenty
of money on food, furnishings, and more, while 40,000-plus
customers are shipped into Norfolk each year-literally.
Cruise ship
passengers
and crews debark directly into our
downtown looking for places to shop and dine during
their stopovers. And the cruise ship crowd is just
part of the tourism factor: Millions of people visit
Virginia each year, and Hampton Roads, with its many
waterfront attractions, nabs a huge slice of the state's
tourism pie.
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Moody's puts Norfolk commercial real estate at No.
2
Inside business reports the Norfolk metropolitan area tied for second place
as the best overall commercial real estate market in the country… tying
with New York for second place. |
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Norfolk's
hotel
market is booming
Norfolk’s solid gains of 10.6% in occupancy
growth boosted the Hampton Roads market as the
nation’s leader in hotel occupancy.
The
only 5 markets to achieve occupancy growth in
2002 were:
Hampton Roads 4.6%
Philadelphia 3.2%
Oahu, Hawaii 2.5%
Nashville & D.C. were up less than .1%
In
the area of RevPar - revenue per available room,
Norfolk led the nation with a 14 percent increase
in the 3rd quarter. The Norfolk MSA again saw
a growth of 10.6 percent to $46.44 in 2002 from
2001.
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Moody's Investor Service quarterly reported in
the last quarter of 2002 that in the first two
quarters, Norfolk's hotel market earned the
highest score possible - a perfect 100 - and was
the only market examined by Moody's out of 55
nationwide where revenue per available room
increased significantly in the third quarter -
when demand outpaced supply by 8.4 percent.
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Moody's also reported that Norfolk tied with NYC
for 2nd place as one of the Top Five Commercial
Real Estate Markets in the Country - accrediting
this to having a floor on economic stability
with the military presence, having a constant
flow or churn of customers.
Norfolk’s
Convention and Visitors Bureau booked 97,000
room nights in 2002, up 10 percent from 2001
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