Waterside (Norfolk, Virginia)
The Waterside in downtown Norfolk, Virginia is a festival marketplace on the Elizabeth River.
Beginning in the late 1970s, mall-developer James W. Rouse and the Rouse Company developed a festival marketplace concept which helped transform the formerly seedy downtown areas of a number of cities in the United States into a safe and trendy attraction intended to serve as a major catalyst for other redevelopment. Generally, a festival marketplace offers major restaurants, specialty retail shops, and international food court. Often, there may be an exciting nightlife with music, dancing and live entertainment. The more successful projects seemed to benefit from waterfront locations and secure parking.
In Norfolk, the festival marketplace concept at Waterside proved a magnet to new hotels, office buildings, and tourist attractions. More than 20 years after Waterside opened in 1983, the Downtown Norfolk area is clean, attractive and still growing quickly. Boat cruises and ferries depart from the adjacent waterfront daily. The location is served by public transit, and covered parking is available in several parking garages closeby.
Other successful locations where Rouse's festival marketplace concept was successful were:
- Faneuil Hall in Boston, Massachusetts
- South Street Seaport in New York City
- Harborplace in Baltimore, Maryland.