COMING OCTOBER 2026
This is the story of turning a forgotten, environmentally compromised industrial property in a shipbuilding town into an award-winning mixed-use community. Inspired by the public squares of the British Isles, this neighborhood became a “new town,” rich with monumental art and cultural events.
In an era when infrastructure favors cars over people—and separates where we live from where we work—one development team set out to break apart all previous notions about what could be done to create an unexpected urban gem. They navigated layers of bureaucracy, found inspiration overseas, and even enlisted a Pulitzer Prize–winning native son to help bring a bold, new vision to life.
A Sense of Place is a compelling chronicle of community transformation, artistic ambition, and the power of civic imagination to shape a place people are proud to call home.
NAMING A PLACE
“Riding down to Port Warwick from Richmond, the train begins to pick up speed on the outskirts of the city, past the tobacco factories with their ever-present haze of acrid, sweetish dust and past the rows of uniformly brown clapboard houses which stretch down the hilly streets for miles, it seems, the hundreds of rooftops all reflecting the pale light of dawn; past the suburban roads still sluggish and sleepy with early morning traffic, and rattling swiftly now over the bridge which separates the last two hills where in the valley below you can see the James River winding beneath its acid-green crust of scum out beside the chemical plants and more rows of clapboard houses and into the woods beyond.”
WILLIAM STYRON, Lie Down in Darkness
(Bobbs-Merrill, 1951), pg 1
“Port Warwick is not only architecturally and culturally significant, but also deeply embraced by the community … It is a place of lasting value, thoughtful execution, and vibrant community life.”
— H. RANDOLPH HOLMES JR., FAIA
AUTHOR BOBBY FREEMAN
Bobby Freeman is a real estate developer, attorney, and CPA who serves as President of Tower Park Corporation. He is the founder of the Port Warwick Foundation and Newport News Public Art Foundation, organizations that have redefined the cultural landscape of southeastern Virginia. Named the Virginia Peninsula’s Citizen of the Year and Virginia Citizens Planner of the Year, among multiple other civic recognitions, Freeman has served on the Boards of Virginia Tech and Christopher Newport University. Bobby lived and worked in Newport News until the completion of Port Warwick, then spent 15 years in New York City and now resides with his family in Miami Beach, Florida.
HEIDI SCOTT
Best-selling writer Heidi Scott is Senior Book Architect at Forbes Books and coauthor of A Sense of Place. With over two decades in writing, publishing, and editorial strategy, she collaborates closely with visionary leaders to bring their stories to life.
AUTHOR BOBBY FREEMAN
Bobby Freeman is a real estate developer, attorney, and CPA who serves as President of Tower Park Corporation. He is the founder of the Port Warwick Foundation and Newport News Public Art Foundation, organizations that have redefined the cultural landscape of southeastern Virginia. Named the Virginia Peninsula’s Citizen of the Year and Virginia Citizens Planner of the Year, among multiple other civic recognitions, Freeman has served on the Boards of Virginia Tech and Christopher Newport University. Bobby lived and worked in Newport News until the completion of Port Warwick, then spent 15 years in New York City and now resides with his family in Miami Beach, Florida.
HEIDI SCOTT
Best-selling writer Heidi Scott is Senior Book Architect at Forbes Books and coauthor of A Sense of Place. With over two decades in writing, publishing, and editorial strategy, she collaborates closely with visionary leaders to bring their stories to life.
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