{"id":965,"date":"2025-09-23T11:55:57","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T11:55:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/?p=965"},"modified":"2025-09-29T11:53:02","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T11:53:02","slug":"norfolk-hopes-boyd-casino-will-lead-to-city-nightlife-revitalization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/23\/norfolk-hopes-boyd-casino-will-lead-to-city-nightlife-revitalization\/","title":{"rendered":"Norfolk Hopes Boyd Casino Will Lead to City Nightlife Revitalization"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li><strong>City officials in Norfolk, Va. hope the casino will spur additional investment<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The downtown area has little nightlife following a crime crackdown<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Crime rates have improved, though many nearby residents continue to avoid the city<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Norfolk is set to become the fourth city in Virginia with a casino when a temporary gaming facility from Boyd Gaming opens adjacent to the Harbor Park Minor League Baseball Stadium this fall.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_363230\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-363230\" data-style=\"width: 858px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-post-thumbnail-858xAUTO wp-image-363230 lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"Norfolk casino Boyd Gaming\" width=\"858\" height=\"572\" data-src=\"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/BN-Render-Stadium-590x445-1-858x572-1.jpg\"><figcaption>A rendering of the Norfolk casino rising above the Virginia city&#8217;s Harbor Park Minor League Baseball stadium. Local officials hope the Boyd Gaming development will bring back nightlife to the downtown area. (Image: Boyd Gaming)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Las Vegas-based Boyd is leading a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/boyd-gaming-breaks-ground-on-750m-casino-virginias-norfolk\/\">$750 million investment<\/a> in Norfolk to open an integrated resort casino on the banks of the Elizabeth River. The to-be-named gaming, entertainment, and hospitality destination is set to open in 2027. A provisional gaming facility, dubbed The Interim Gaming Hall, will open in November.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">City officials in the Hampton Roads town hope to revitalize the downtown area with the opening of the full-scale casino resort.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"main-blockquote\">\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">We have a premier baseball team, a premier world-class casino facility. What else can we do?&#8221; pondered Sean Washington, executive director of the Norfolk Economic Development Authority, in remarks to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pilotonline.com\/2025\/09\/20\/norfolk-entertainment-district\/\"><i>The Virginian-Pilot<\/i><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Boyd, along with its local partner, the Pamunkey Indian Tribe, is in the early stages of constructing a 200-key hotel with a casino floor equipped with 1,500 slot machines, 50 live-dealer table games, and a sportsbook. Eight food and beverage venues, a full-service spa and gym, a 45K-square-foot amenity deck, 13K square feet of meeting space, and a 1,000-space parking garage are also in the blueprint.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Downtown Vibes Cool<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Norfolk&#8217;s downtown nightlife scene is rather quiet these days after local law enforcement embarked on a citywide crackdown of nightclubs to curb crime starting about three years ago. In response to several high-profile shootings, alcohol-related violations, and other misdeeds, Norfolk ramped up its code inspections and law enforcement.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">In 2022, police investigated 63 homicides, a 30-year high. The downtown crime crackdown paid off, with murders and other violent crime dropping more than 40% two years later. Crime worries, however, continue to keep many regional residents out of the city.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"callout\">\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Many downtown spaces are vacant, including at the Waterside District, the city&#8217;s &#8220;premier 120K-square-foot mixed-use destination.&#8221; Waterside was developed in partnership with The Cordish Companies, the owner and operator of Live! Casinos in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and, in the coming years, Virginia by way of Petersburg.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Last year, Cordish <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/norfolk-casino-lawsuit-brought-by-waterside-developer-dismissed\/\">unsuccessfully sued<\/a> Norfolk on allegations that it was to be the city&#8217;s preferred gaming partner should Virginia legalize casinos. The Baltimore-based firm argued that its $40 million Waterside development agreement mandated that it have first dibs on a casino. A circuit court judge disagreed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The Waterside District has five available spaces for rent, including a 13,558-square-foot venue on the second floor.<\/span><span class=\"s1\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>City Revitalization<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Washington hopes the Norfolk casino returns nearby residents and visitors to the city&#8217;s riverbank, and additional investments come with the Boyd development. Norfolk could certainly use it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">According to the US Census Bureau, about 15% of people within the city live in poverty. The median household income is just $64K, a far cry from the Virginia median rate of $93K.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Norfolk needs more jobs. Boyd says the Norfolk casino construction will create 2,850 construction jobs and 850 permanent positions. Boyd projects the casino will generate a local economic impact of $2.9 billion and $583 million in salaries and wages over the property&#8217;s first 10 years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/norfolk-hopes-boyd-casino-will-lead-to-city-nightlife-revitalization\/\">Norfolk Hopes Boyd Casino Will Lead to City Nightlife Revitalization<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\">Casino.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>City officials in Norfolk, Va. hope the casino will spur additional investment The downtown area has little nightlife following a crime crackdown Crime rates have improved, though many nearby residents continue to avoid the city Norfolk is set to become the fourth city in Virginia with a casino when a temporary gaming facility from Boyd Gaming opens adjacent to the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":967,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=965"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":968,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965\/revisions\/968"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}