Downtown Norfolk, Virginia, has been transformed in the last 20 years. By the late 1970s, many retail establishments had left the city. While office workers populated the area during the day, after dark the empty streets were not considered safe. The waterfront area, once busy with transport-related commerce, was a silent ruin. However, in the early 1980s, the city underwent a renaissance as businesses began to return.

The Waterside Festival Marketplace, locally known as “The Waterside,” opened in 1983 and has proven to be a magnet to new hotels, office buildings and tourist attractions. More than 20 years later, the downtown Norfolk area is clean, attractive and still growing quickly. Boat cruises and ferries depart daily from the adjacent waterfront. The location is served by public transit, and covered parking is available in several garages nearby.

The Waterside, located at the mouth of the Elizabeth River on Norfolk’s downtown waterfront, encompasses numerous specialty retail stores, an international food court, plus several sit-down restaurants and night clubs under one roof, and has become a major day-to-night draw both for tourists and residents of the area.

When it was time to consider upgrading the physical security at The Waterside, General Manager Lane Brown decided to add to their existing infrastructure, and they chose video surveillance systems from Panasonic System Solutions Company.

“For us, it was a question of cost vs. value,” Brown says. “We had looked through references and found good reviews on the Internet as well. Also, Steve Wilkins, who is the Operations Manager here, and I have both had experience with Panasonic System Solutions at Military Circle, a one-million square foot shopping center also in Norfolk.”

The previous system at The Waterside included 16 cameras feeding into a DVR and another seven cameras that were connected to an older VCR. Working with Tri-Tronics Ltd., a video surveillance, electronic security and audio communications specialist based in Virginia and North Carolina, Brown added two additional 16-channel Panasonic DVRs and six additional Panasonic Super Dynamic Vandal-Proof Day/Night Color Dome Cameras to the system. “We added cameras and put some outside and into other locations in the mall that needed more coverage,” Brown says.