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Business View Magazine
community toward the future, it is not planning to leave
any neighborhood behind. The city has been engaged
in another major redevelopment project called Brooks
Crossing, and will spend up to $20.3 million to help re-
vitalize and redevelop the Southeast Community. “We
started with public infrastructure by rebuilding a major
street corridor,” says Bourey. “We also invested in a
police precinct that just opened in January of this year.
That was a major effort to provide a public facility that
also made a statement about security in the area. We
are working on a very unique arrangement for a gro-
cery store opening in May of this year. The new store,
Jim’s Local Market, was selected for its commitment
to community engagement and healthy living. It will
focus on fresh foods and will have a credit union, sat-
ellite location and, best of all, job training and hiring
from within the community. There already has been a
significant amount of interest in how we put the deal
together to address an underserved area, and I think
we’re going to see what we did be replicated in other
places. “
Bourey continues to outline the city’s infrastructure
agenda, touting a major project to improve transit.
He’s excited about the prospects of working with a re-
gional transit authority on a major corridor study that
could provide up to a 25-mile spine of fixed guide-way
throughout the city. While there is a light rail project in
Virginia Beach, he expects the outcome for Newport
News is going to be a rapid-bus, transit line, which
would have a separate right-of-way with excellent
speeds. “This could really transform transit for the re-
gion,” he exclaims. “It’s not only part of the strategy
from a transportation perspective, but it’s also impor-
tant for attracting and retaining a younger work force.
It connects everything.”
The future may be top-of-mind for Jim Bourey, but he
