Norfolk expects to have a contractor on site at the shuttered Military Circle Mall in October, as the city works through two parallel efforts to prepare the 74-acre property for redevelopment.
Deputy City Manager Ron Williams said the city has selected a finalist among the 13 bids submitted in July for the demolition contract, though the deal isn't finalized. He said the city hopes to complete contracting within the next week.
The demolition budget, approved at $10 million in 2023, will not grow, according to Williams.
"We have very favorable bids, and if we finalize this contract with our low bidder, then we will see significant savings there,” he said.
On Aug. 25, the Norfolk City Council approved a partnership with Norfolk’s Economic Development Authority to carry out site readiness assessments funded by the Virginia Business Ready Site Program. This effort aims to advance Military Circle’s status from Tier 2 to Tier 3. Williams said this move enables developers to more efficiently determine which infrastructure components are already available and which will require additional work.
The tier system comes from Virginia’s Economic Development Partnership, which ranks sites on a five-tier scale based on due diligence and infrastructure work. Tier 1 means that the site is simply available; the owner is open to selling or marketing it, but there has been minimal or no formal evaluation. Tier 2 means a site is publicly committed to development but has not undergone technical studies; Tier 3 means those studies are complete and the site is properly zoned, though it may still lack infrastructure. Achieving Tier 3 status also makes the site eligible for additional state infrastructure funding and raises its profile among outside developers.
According to Williams, reaching Tier 3 requires a series of in-depth technical studies that go further than typical due diligence and provide a more comprehensive understanding of the property. These studies include stormwater analysis, environmental site assessments, wetland reviews and preliminary geotechnical reports that involve soil borings. The process assesses whether the area’s water, sewer and electrical networks are sufficient to support future development.
Williams said the city contracted an engineering consulting company to complete the assessments, with the grant covering all associated costs.
He emphasized that because the site is already developed, no significant problems are expected, including concerns like soil or groundwater contamination from previous uses or federally regulated wetlands that could limit construction on the site.
However, he noted these technical studies will inform how the site should be redeveloped, particularly when it comes to stormwater management and whether the current layout should be reimagined from its suburban mall design.
The reports are expected to take six to eight months to finish, with results likely available by next spring, about midway through the planned 15-month demolition process.
Williams said the city is still deciding how demolition will unfold, including whether crews will start with exterior teardowns or focus first on interior remediation, such as asbestos removal in the former Doubletree Hotel, which closed in 2003.
The city is currently covering security costs at the site, but Williams said that expense will end once the contractor takes control for demolition. Most utilities to the mall building have already been cut off; Ross Dress for Less and Sentara Healthcare pay for their own utilities. Williams said the city is still negotiating the Ross lease situation and hopes it will be resolved by the time demolition concludes.
The shift, from the city footing holding costs to a contractor taking control of the site, comes after years of complex hurdles and failed visions for the property.
In August 2025, the Norfolk EDA voted to transfer the defunct Military Circle Mall parcel to the City of Norfolk for $10, weeks after the City Council agreed to acquire it. The move raised concerns among EDA leadership about the authority's purpose after they complained the city had repeatedly bypassed it on major development decisions. Originally purchased by the EDA in 2020 for $13.4 million, the property faced mounting utility and security costs alongside complex lease negotiations, like those ongoing with Ross.
The transfer came after a string of redevelopment plans that never materialized. Three development teams submitted proposals in 2021, including two competing visions for major arenas backed respectively by musician Pharrell Williams and NFL Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith A third proposal centered on an outdoor amphitheater. The city spent more than a year evaluating the bids and briefly entered "early negotiations" with the Pharrell-backed Wellness Circle team over a $1.1 billion plan. By late 2023, WHRO reported that all three proposals had been shelved as financially unworkable, with city officials shifting focus toward health and wellness development to complement Sentara's presence on the property.
Delays in redeveloping Military Circle have also intersected with ongoing advocacy from East Side residents for a long-promised recreation center and library. Mayor Kenny Alexander introduced plans for the joint facility in his 2025 State of the City speech, but both the facility and the wider Military Circle redevelopment were omitted from this spring’s proposed five-year capital plan. Outraged residents filled public hearings; one accused the city of having "downtown tunnel vision" while $57 million over five years was allocated to redevelop MacArthur Center. The City Council postponed its vote on the capital plan by a week as a result.
A week later, City Manager Patrick Roberts revised the budget to include $1 million for preliminary design and site planning for the new library and rec center, and the City Council ultimatelypassed the capital plan in a 7-1 vote. Military Circle Mall’s site was the originally proposed spot for the city's new library/rec center. However, to reduce delays associated with Military Circle redevelopment, officials chose the former Poplar Hall Elementary School as the new preferred location for the proposed facility.
Equity for the East Side Coalition’s Kathy O’Hara saw the change as an encouraging sign, but she and Councilman Tommy Smigiel, the sole dissenting vote, questioned whether the site was chosen prematurely before determining its suitability. The city said it would keep studying the location.
Looking ahead, Williams pointed to the Military Circle site's fragmented ownership as a central challenge in planning its future. The city owns much of the mall footprint, but Sentara holds ownership of the former J.C. Penney building and much of the parking area inside the ring road. Additionally, two parcels remain under a long-term land lease, including the site of a Hardee's restaurant.
"I think there's sometimes a misunderstanding that perhaps we own everything within the triangle or the octagon here of Virginia Beach Boulevard to Military to Poplar Hall to Glenrock," Williams said. "Well, we don't. So that's some of what we got to continue to work through: what types of uses is this attractive to anyone in or outside of the region for commercial development opportunity."
Williams said no specific master plan is in place yet for the site following demolition and testing. However, he expects the city to establish one within the next year once the technical studies conclude, with hopes that incremental development, coordinated alongside Sentara, can begin within three years.
