Park Place at City Center at Oyster Point is a mixed used development by Kotarides Developers. Something similar could come to Wards Corner.
Kotarides Developers is set to close on the purchase of the Kroger anchored shopping center at Wards Corner. The purchase includes approximately 10 acres of land where the Kroger grocery store and the City of Norfolk’s Workforce Development Center are currently located.
The purchase does not include any of the out-parcels.
The current shopping center was developed in 1971 and has 105,471 of total building area.
Kotarides indicates that they have no firm plans for the property at this time. Both Kroger and the City of Norfolk have multi-year leases. Their options include continuing the current use by Kroger and the City, re-using the current retail buildings, constructing brand new retail buildings, or a mixed use concept with both retail and residential.
Kotarides did state that they have no plans to put in low income housing. None of their current projects include low income housing and they have no desire to begin doing low income housing projects.
According to tax records the property is currently owned by Meritage-Little Creek, Llc. The closing on the sale of the property is scheduled for the middle of September.
Wards Corner Now - Wards Corner, Norfolk, Virginia 
Of possibly greater (or at least as great) interest to those of us who live in the WC area, what plans are there for an actual restaurant? Not a fast food place, but a place to sit down and order from a menu that includes a wine list? What’s in the works for the Uncle Louie’s location?
Bobbie:
Unfortunately the owner of the shopping center where Uncle Louie’s was located is not extremely motivated to lease out that space.
I know, and understand at least some of his reasoning. I just wish there were more movement toward making WC a real shopping area – with a restaurant, some boutique shops and clothing/shoe shopping options. I grew up in the days of Rice’s, Smith & Welton, Crossroads, Regino’s, et al. Now, if you don’t want a mattress, there’s little reason not to just drive a bit more and go to Southern. Believe me, I don’t want to do that – WC could (and I hope will) overshadow that center. Guess I’m just impatient!
“Kotarides indicates that they have no firm plans for the property at this time.” What a crock of…hooey!!! Kotarides is NOT going to shell out hundred’s of thousands, if not millions!, of dollars on a property just to let it sit there for an undetermined amount and pay real estate taxes for nothing. They have a plan up their sleeve for sure. They are just not sharing. And the fact that its appended to the Workforce center, headed by none other that our illustrious, spotless and certainly gutless Commonwealths Attorney Greg Underwood, makes me cringe ever so slightly with sickness! This has all the signs and earmarks of the not long ago Burfoot and Tivest Co. deals that were pushed through when Burfoot was Vice Mayor and those of us who choose to remember our history know of the egregious back-alley kickback that resulted from his power trip time as V.M. Underwood is fabricated, stitched and cut from the same cloth. Initially, I’m sure we will all ooh and ahh and say how wonderful and good this unnamed monstrosity will be once it is built for whatever reason but trust me when I say “something wicked this way comes…”