For years, Team Norfolk’s boxing program operated in a dilapidated 3,000 SF facility. Despite the lack of air conditioning, adequate training space, and educational classrooms, the program thrived at max capacity with a waiting list. The City of Norfolk was in desperate need of a new home for this burgeoning program, which ultimately landed in a vacant venue beneath the grandstands of Harbor Park, Norfolk’s waterfront baseball stadium.

The renovated space of the Norfolk Boxing and Fitness Center that exists today serves as much more than just a highly functional boxing gym. The boxing program hosted in this facility has an unparalleled resume of accolades for both coaching and boxing, bolstered by an equally impressive history for community support of youth living in the Barraud Park neighborhood.

Throughout its tenure, the boxing program has produced numerous success stories, including Jayda Davis, who competed at the Golden Gloves National Championship Tournament in 2018 and Keyshawn Davis, who took home Gold for the U.S. in a 2014 boxing tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria. One of the most notable success stories is that of Norfolk native, Pernell “Sweet Pea” Whitaker, who was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2007.

During the design phases of the project, VIA combined the intangible aspirations for the boxing program’s future goals with the technical expertise required for a complicated tenant infill project. Today the program hosts regional boxing tournaments several times per year.