Decker Half Moone Cruise Terminal & Celebration Center

The Peter G. Decker Jr. Half Moone Center

Located on the waterfront in downtown Norfolk, the Half Moone Cruise & Celebration Center enhances the waterfront and serves as a multipurpose, event space powerhouse, iconic waterfront venue for welcoming visitors and hosting functions such as conferences and banquets. Sited between Town Point Park and Nauticus, the terminal facility supports the region’s focus on tourism and economic development as a cruise ship port call. With a floor-to-ceiling glass exterior, the terminal design delivers a strong sense of place and reinforces its connection to the water with stunning river views.

This 89,000 SF concrete and steel Cruise Ship Terminal consists of a main terminal building, entry building, Promenade Deck, Lido Deck and a bi-level pedestrian bridge connecting the two.

The facility’s support spaces include general storage, check in counter, lobby, restrooms, administrative offices, training rooms, supply storage rooms, receiving area for deliveries, communication and telephone systems, and video services.

The rotunda is enclosed by a 45-foot glass wall and the Terminal has 35-foot tall cast-in-place walls. The long span of trusses rise up to 200 feet and the bi-level pedestrian bridge is 156 feet long. The Terminal is also used as a space for meetings and events. The City of Norfolk uses the facility for meetings, corporate dinners, holiday parties, and other gatherings with an average of 600 people for a seated event and 3,500 for a social event.

Retractable walls, mobile fixtures, and concealed storage provide spatial flexibility. A new marina creates a focal point of cultural and recreational importance for the city. A concealed, specially retracting bridge was devised to allow open river access to the marina while allowing port passengers to cross the marina to the new dock when needed.

The pier structure below the building was designed and constructed over the Elizabeth River specifically to support the terminal building. A cast-in-place and precast concrete superstructure, the pier is supported on 20 inch, square prestressed concrete piles. Plumb piles provide the primary means of support for vertical loads (dead and live), while batter piles resist lateral loads from wind and seismic forces. The superstructure is composed of pile bent caps running east to west cast monolithic with beams running north to south. The beams support the deck slab, which consists of precast concrete panels (stay-in-place forms) with a cast-in-place composite concrete topping.

Additional marine engineering to support the terminal was extensive, including a breasting dolphin to augment the existing Nauticus cruise ship pier and a loading dock extending to the existing Nauticus pier. Clark Nexsen waterfront engineers also designed a foundation over the river for a large pedestrian bridge to and from the terminal building. These are cast-in-place concrete superstructures supported on 20 inch square precast, prestressed concrete piles.

Site work consisted of additional modifications to the existing vehicular lanes, construction of a steel and fabric canopy assembly and utility work.

AWARDS

 2007 HRACE Excellence in Development Design Award

2008 APWA Public Works Project of the Year

2009 ACEC Virginia Engineering Excellence Grand Award