Gaming<\/a> and the Pamunkey Indian Tribe opened a temporary gaming hall on the casino site in November as construction continues on the permanent structure, slated to open in the fall of 2027.<\/p>\nThe city does not have a definite timeline for developing the district. \u201cThis is not a concrete project in itself,\u201d Washington says. He adds that patrons\u2019 response to the casino will be used to determine the viability of an entertainment and nightlife district. \u201cThat will help answer the question of what the highest and best use could look like.\u201d<\/p>\n
Noting that Norfolk is 97% developed, Mayor Kenneth Alexander envisions a pedestrian-friendly district with entertainment, commercial and residential components.<\/p>\n
\u201cNorfolk is the center of Hampton Roads,\u201d he says. \u201cWe have a rare opportunity to design something new. It really would be a destination where people can live, work and play.\u201d<\/p>\n
He adds that an entertainment district would diversity Norfolk\u2019s economy. \u201cSpending on consumable food, beverages, hotel, admissions and parking enterprises is more lucrative,\u201d Alexander says. \u201cFor every $500 spent in an entertainment district because of multiple taxes, the city collects $50. That helps fund education, public health, resilience projects and public safety.\u201d<\/p>\n
It would also help attract young professionals to the region, Washington says. \u201cWe have a tremendous quality of life story in our downtown, but other thriving downtowns have entertainment and nightlife components.\u201d<\/p>\n
Additionally, Norfolk is investing $25 million over at least five years to upgrade Harbor Park to maintain Major League Baseball standards, including renovating signage, seating and the dugouts.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to make sure the quality and experience at both Harbor Park and the casino are seamless,\u201d Washington says. \u201cWe know we can build something special.\u201d<\/p>\n
s<\/div>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source virginiabusiness.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An entertainment and nightlife district could be in the cards for the area surrounding Norfolk\u2018s upcoming $750 million waterfront resort casino near Harbor Park. The city owns most of the property around the casino site and the ballpark, controlling almost seven acres in an area bordered by the Elizabeth River, railroad tracks and Interstate 264. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2262247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[357470,306820,21741,35206,23713,438196,438197,408807],"class_list":["post-2262246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-casinos","tag-economic-development","tag-entertainment","tag-gambling","tag-gaming","tag-harbor-park","tag-interim-gaming-hall","tag-norfolk"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Norfolk-eyes-Harbor-Park-entertainment-district.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2262246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2262246"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2262246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2262248,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2262246\/revisions\/2262248"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2262247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2262246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2262246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2262246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}