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Virginia Beach AGAIN Called Best Big City To Live In

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Virginia Beach AGAIN Called Best Big City To Live In

Dominic Castillo
January 6, 2020

Virginia Beach is back on top in 2019 as the nation’s best city to live in, according to wallethub.com, the popular personal finance website. This follows the same publication calling the city the 8th best run city in America for the same year. Last year Virginia Beach was called the 2nd best city overall in the poll, which compared it with others with a population over 300,000.

In 2017 The Beach was also called the best city to live in by Wallethub, which compares towns using metrics like jobs, safety, and home ownership, as well as museums and coffee shops per capita.

Top Ten Best Big Cities To Live In

Virgia Beach
Austin, Texas
Seattle, Washington
San Diego, California
Las Vegas, Nevada
San Francisco, California
New York, New York
San Jose, California
Honolulu, Hawaii
Portland, Oregon

The Plan

Failed plans

Pharrell’s plan/cost,funding

Features/owned by,profit

Locals’ reactions

Next step,groundbreaking

There was a lot on the docket on Tuesday night, when city council met, and the when the night was over a 10-0 vote signaled the end of the saga of the fabled Dome site.

Built on the corner of 19^th and Pacific Avenue in 1958, the Dome hosted Jimi Hendrix and The Rolling Stones throughout the years, but was always plagued by its diminutive size and questionable acoustics.

It was demolished in 1994 and for twenty-five years has been a sand-strewn parking lot, belying its former glory.

The site’s location one block from the beach and just down the street from the the convention center has attracted numerous punters over the years promising attractions and shows, but failing to find funding and/or support from city council and locals.

That changed when Pharrell joined forces with Venture Realty Group and just … ago presented elaborate plans to turn the barren parking lot straddling 19th Street not into just another theater, but a staggeringly ambitious mix-use development where its wave park is just the highlight.

City Council has long prioritized year-round usefulness for the site to complement the beach’s strong summer appeal, and Pharrell and Venture answered with plans that include 425 residential units, restaurants and other retail, and Class A commercial office spaces. Structured parking garages will be integrated into the development.

In a nod to the former inhabitant of the site, there will also be a 3,500 seat music and entertainment venue. The acoustics will undoubtedly be better.

Atlantic Park will be a public/private partnership, and the next steps involve detailing financing and setting a date for groundbreaking.

We’ll keep you updated on developments, so stay tuned.

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