PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Portsmouth’s interim city manager is set to start negotiations with Hampton Roads Regional Jail leadership to see if the city can acquire the soon-to-be shuttered facility for use as its own city jail.
Both Mayor Shannon Glover and Vice Mayor Lisa Lucas-Burke confirm Portsmouth City Council has given consent for the talks to take place as part of the city’s long-term goal of closing the jail on the city’s downtown waterfront.
The city’s economic development authority is already commissioning a market study and development assessment for the city’s Olde Towne waterfront properties.
There is hope the closure of the regional jail could finally be the catalyst for change in Portsmouth’s historic downtown.
“We do need a jail,” said Lucas-Burke, Portsmouth’s vice mayor and a board member of HRRJ, following the vote. “We want to be able to develop our downtown waterfront to something beautiful and this is our opportunity to capitalize on that.”
The city’s jail has sat as part of the Portsmouth Civic Center along Crawford Parkway since 1968. It is the only department still using the center, which used to house both Portsmouth police headquarters, Portsmouth’s courthouses and the magistrate’s office.
More than half of the city’s half-a-mile waterfront property along the Elizabeth River in Olde Towne is owned by the city, meaning it is untaxed in an area where property can typically be assessed at a higher value.
With roughly 41% of the land in the city being tax-exempt, the highest rate in the state, city council has been looking to find new revenue wherever they can.
However, as often the case in Portsmouth’s political landscape, the journey towards accomplishing the task has been complicated.
There are currently two properties on the waterfront being studied for how they can be developed.
The first is six acres known as the Crawford Bay/former Holiday Inn site.
The Holiday Inn was closed and demolished more than 10 years ago, but the property also includes the former Harbor Court parking garage and former Portsmouth Visitors Center.
Several proposals have come and gone over the years. Most recently, site was the original proposed site for Portsmouth’s casino before a different development team preferred a site on Victory Boulevard.
The second site, the Portsmouth Civic Center, is double the size, and has been the source of controversy over for years.
In 2012, city council said the civic center and jail were at or near the end of their usable lives and voted to have them closed. Today the jail is still in use.
Nothing can go until the jail does, because the civic center buildings all run off an interconnected system of water, sewer, electrical and other lines; making a piecemeal demolition unfeasible.
The fight over the aging waterfront jail has gone on for years but escalated in July 2019. That’s when the city condemned the jail, which is operated by the sheriff, with little notice. The city building and code official condemned the jail and the rest of the civic center after they said they found problems with the fire suppression system and unsanitary conditions.
Sheriff Michael Moore sued to keep it open. However the city — saying it doesn’t have the financial resources to fix the jail or build a new one — continued to demand inmates go to the HRRJ, which the city has paid nearly $6 million a year to have available.
While council voted to end the legal battle, prominent Virginia Beach-based developer Armada Hoffler pulled its proposal to build a new city hall and redevelop the old site amid all the controversy.
Moore has consistently said he was in favor of moving the jail off the waterfront and is not opposing negotiations to acquire the Hampton Roads Regional Jail.
Brian Donahue, the city’s economic development director, said the priority of the study is focused on the Crawford Bay site first.
“I think it’s a good time to be doing it with all the activity in Portsmouth. Throughout Portsmouth, I think it’s a great time to look at the waterfront. It’s kind of the last piece of the puzzle if you will for redevelopment and revitalization in Portsmouth,” Donahue said.