Community Profile: Norfolk
The Pamunkey Indian Tribe plans to build a $700 million casino and resort on the Elizabeth River.
years and Norfolk International Termi- nals is the port’s largest terminal, lying on 567 acres along the Elizabeth and Lafayette rivers. It has become a magnet for international commerce. Perhaps the biggest attention-
grabber in Norfolk in recent years has been the $700 million resort-style casino being planned by the Pamunkey Indian Tribe. The General Assembly recently passed
legislation allowing commercial casino gambling in Virginia. Aside from Norfolk, the legislation would permit casinos in four other cities: Portsmouth, Richmond, Danville and Bristol. Before it can proceed, the Pamunkey
casino also would require public approval through a local referendum planned for the November ballot. As initially outlined by the tribe, which
is partnering with Tennessee investor Jon Yarbrough, the casino complex would be built on 13 acres east of the Norfolk Tides Harbor Park Stadium and would include a 500-room hotel and five to seven onsite restaurants. The annual direct economic impact for
Norfolk was projected to be $787 million, with about 6.7 million visitors annually.
54 | MAY/JUNE 2020 But Jay Smith, a spokesman for the
Pamunkey Tribe, says those projections and the scale of the project might be affected if a proposed casino is built in neighboring Portsmouth. In any event, Smith says the Pamunkey
casino-resort would be a “high-end des- tination facility” like similar operations in Las Vegas and would be an important piece of Norfolk’s efforts to boost tourism. Chalk says that although a casino
would not be “a silver bullet” for any eco- nomic development strategy, it fits in with Norfolk’s efforts to push for an economy that imports dollars. “So, how do we bring more people
to Norfolk?” Chalk asks rhetorically. “Carnival Cruise Line just did a five-year commitment to Norfolk, to do cruises out of Norfolk. We’ve been doing airlines upgrades. We want to change Norfolk into a place people really want to come spend a few days, and I think the casino really complements that.” (Carnival can- celed sailings through June 26, cutting nine Norfolk embarkations.) Another economic initiative Norfolk
is undertaking focuses on an effort to become a laboratory for dealing with sea-level rise, Chalk says. According to
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Hampton Roads is sec- ond only to New Orleans in terms of the largest U.S. population centers at risk of flooding from climate change. “Look at what the Dutch have done,”
Chalk says. “They have created an indus- try around how to live with water, how to live with seawater rise. That’s what we’re looking to do here. What technologies can help? What kinds of tools are out there for not only seawater rise, but large downfalls of rain?” He says Norfolk is inviting companies
to test new technologies in the city, which also has created an Office of Resiliency and was one of the first cities in the coun- try to name a chief resiliency officer. Kurt Krause, president and CEO of
VisitNorfolk, a nonprofit booster organi- zation, is bullish on Norfolk’s future, espe- cially its ability to attract young people to the city and build a talent pool. “We’ve been recognized as one of the
top five cities for millennials to move to, we’re not expensive, the weather is typically pretty good and there’s a lot of water,” Krause says. VisitNorfolk and the five higher-ed institutions in the city — Old Dominion,
Rendering courtesy Pamunkey Indian Tribe
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