There have been a few emails coming in asking what is being built at the northeast corner of Wards Corner. The BP station was torn down from that location last year and they are currently building a new retail store that will house a Mattress Firm.
The likely tenant type was mentioned at the Wards Corner Civic League meeting in March of 2014 and most comments were negative as there was already a mattress store at Wards Corner. That store was, and still is, Sleepy’s.
Since that time, The Original Mattress Factory announced they will be opening in Wards Corner as well. They plan a March 2015 opening date and are currently under construction in the Midtown Shopping Center at the northeast corner.
Wards Corner Now - Wards Corner, Norfolk, Virginia 
No one who commented was in favor of another mattress store – just junking up Wards Corner. Why even bother to comment – no one really cares.
Pam:
I assume you a referring to Mattress Firm. That property was already zoned commercial. The owner was able to build the new building and lease to Mattress Firm without any special exceptions or rezonings from the City. Essentially, the City had not control over this development.
Planning Commission and City Council did not have anything to do with this development. The only person who could have cared was the owner of the building.
I just wanted to be sure that the above was made clear because those of us on the Planning Commission take citizen and civic league input into account on every thing that comes before us. We value that input greatly.
-Martin
Just as an entrepreneur is free to build the business that nobody wants, we are free to not shop there. I have never seen anyone in Sleepys yet. I felt a 7-11 would have been fine sans gas component but most comments in the past were negative to that also. So now we have 3 mattress retailers. How long will that last? Long term prognosis, more empty storefronts…..
are we ever going to get a decent restaurant, not fast food!
Wards Corner Now headline 9 months from now – “Wards Corner Experiences a Baby Boom Due to Overabundance of Mattress Stores”
Ha!! Good one! Hopefully it will be a short boom…..there’s no way all three of those stores last.
Just what we need, another mattress store….there are more of these than pawn shops or thrift stores!
Yes an overabundance of mattress stores and TAX businesses.
Why is the Mattress Firm being built so close to Granby Street? Isn’t there zoning regulations about being this? This is not 10 feet off the boundaries of the property, such as sidewalks, curbs, and street.
nor the property line from Midtown Shopping Center. This is Dalis-Martone parking lot the building is butted up to not Mattress firm.
An upscale restaurant would be nice.
Great, another worthless store. And why are there more empty store fronts than open businesses? Whoever approves/disapproves businesses is a moron, in my opinion. Why reface an entire shopping center and leave it empty? Why kick out a decent restaurant (AJ Gators) and not allow them to re open in the new “mattress hub” of the city? I’d almost rather people start selling crack on the corner again than have another mattress store open.
Wow, by these comments, I guess we should nix our idea for “The Mattress Exchange of Ward’s Corner”. Just kidding…well maybe (;
Having been born and reared in the neighborhood, we desperately need to return the corner to stores/shops/restaurants that will attract shoppers; perhaps a Steinmart, Trader Joes, movie theater and certainly a decent restaurant. The city developers need to listen to the citizens
AMEN!!!
I had to come to this site for confirmation….I just did not believe that the new building was going to be yet another mattress store. But to my dismay I see it is true. I guess the city will soon propose a name change for the area to “Mattress Corner”. Other suggestions I have read here make so much more sense than what is actually happening. One can only hope that when the 3 can no longer afford their rent, there will come a place where the public wants to go to spend our money.
if you are including burger king in the rest. list then we should include the fact that there is a mattress store at southern as well as grand furniture and then the usa thrift sells brand new mattresses as well as big lots a little further and freedom furniture. is little creek rd going to be like military highway is with car dealerships.
This is so sad, I drive by every day hoping for a nice restaurant to be built and yet some sad mattress store, couldn’t be more disappointing. There is absolutely no positive outlook for this, maybe one day they will listen to the residents.
WHY CANT THE CITY GET WARDS CORNER TOGETHER.WHAT ARE WE SPENDING OUR TAX MONEY FOR.INCOMPITANCE
A mattress store? There are so many of these stores already in this town, and now there are going to be three in basically one location? I convinced myself that it was going to be a Panera restaurant until I saw the red awning go up. This is really disappointing.