The Waterside District is a dining and entertainment district on the Elizabeth River in Downtown Norfolk, Virginia, United States. It opened on June 1, 1983 as the Waterside Festival Marketplace, or simply The Waterside, which was a festival marketplace. While the Waterside Annex was demolished on May 16, 2016, the main portion was renovated and reopened as Waterside District in May 2017.[2] The original Waterside was developed by Columbia–based real-estate firms The Rouse Company and the Enterprise Development Company (EDC), both founded by James W. Rouse. However, Waterside later struggled, and therefore, the Waterside District redevelopment was initiated by Baltimore–based The Cordish Companies, which "de-malled" the structure. Prior to construction on the current Waterside District, it was known as Waterside Live! during redevelopment planning.
Beginning in the late 1970s, mall developer James W. Rouse and The Rouse Company had developed the festival marketplace concept as an important component to renewing a declining downtown, a seminal catalyst to further development. The concept combined to varying degrees major restaurants, specialty retail shops, food courts and nightlife activities. To revitalize downtown Norfolk, Rouse was hired for development.
Following James Rouse's retirement from The Rouse Company in 1979, he founded the Enterprise Foundation, which in turn founded the for-profit subsidiary, the Enterprise Development Company (EDC) in 1982, which was to bring the festival marketplace concept to smaller cities. The Waterside was the EDC's first project.[3]
Local developer Harvey Lindsay was also involved in the development of The Waterside. The Rouse Company began construction of the marketplace in August 1981, but the marketplace opened in June 1983 under the newly-founded Enterprise Development Company.[4]
After opening
Like other shopping centers, malls and marketplaces, The Waterside has evolved through numerous business cycles. Originally, it featured mostly restaurants like The Baitshack on the first floor. There were small nautically themed stores, as well as a Jillian's arcade. The balconied second floor featured more niche stores and kiosks. A second phase was added to the complex in the 1980s and an expansion involving the addition of the Waterside Annex in September 1990, while the mid-1990s saw a decline in business, exacerbated by the opening of nearby MacArthur Center. In the early 2000s, the upstairs stores were replaced by entertainment venues.
Jillian's closed in May 2010. The arcade itself became defunct.[5]
The Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority purchased the Waterside from its private owner, Enterprise Real Estate Services, in 1999, at the time considered a temporary arrangement.[2] The Waterside delivered approximately $2.2 million in tax revenue in 2007, down $300,000 since 2004.[2] Norfolk subsidized the facility with $1 million in 2008 for studying the next phase of the marketplace's repositioning.[2]
Redevelopment as Waterside District
Waterside District as seen from the waterfront, c.December 2024
By the early 2010s, Waterside was almost completely empty, leading to discussions about redevelopment beginning in 2013. The City of Norfolk and The Cordish Companies broke ground on the new Waterside District in August 2015. The new venue retained the footprint of the old Waterside (excluding the Annex) and consists of numerous dining and entertainment venues.
Cordish originally planned for the redeveloped Waterside to be called Waterside Live!, but it was shortly changed to Waterside District to better reflect the marketplace's "de-mallification". Blake Cordish, the vice president of The Cordish Companies, stated, "We are excited to announce that we see a larger vision for this important site that is more than a Live! District, but ultimately a broader mixed-use, waterfront district, and the name, the Waterside District, speaks to that potential. This is exactly the approach we took in phased, mixed-use developments like Ballpark Village in St. Louis, MO and The Power & Light District in Kansas City, MO which has proved extremely successful."[6]
The Waterside Annex was razed on May 16, 2016 because the city thought the Annex "should've never been built" due to causing accessibility problems and blocking views of the waterfront.[7] The redevelopment also involved repainting the Waterside's blue roof to black for a more commercial appearance, following Cordish's "Live!" concept, similar to Power Plant Live! in Baltimore.[6]
A critical component of Norfolk's ongoing post-World War II revitalization, the complex connects via a cross-street pedestrian bridge to a parking garage, sits at the foot of the PortsmouthFerry terminal, and connects via a waterfront promenade to the downtown, the nearby baseball stadium (Harbor Park), naval museum (Nauticus) and waterfront neighborhood of Freemason Harbor.
The venue hosted the traveling SkyStar Wheel from May 19, 2018 to August 19, 2018.[9][10]
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