Commercial Locksmith in Norfolk, VA

Norfolk's working buildings

Commercial doors in the city fall into a few groups, each with its own lock work:

• Downtown along Granby Street. The Downtown Historic District, centered on Granby Street, is Norfolk's oldest and longest-occupied commercial quarter. A building that has held many businesses over the decades can carry hardware left by different tenants, and nobody may know who still holds keys.
• Lambert's Point. The Norfolk & Western Railroad Historic District groups commercial and light industrial buildings from the 1880s onward around the rail spur there. Buildings like these can have several entrances, and every exterior door has to be counted when keys change.
• Warehouses and factories. City landmarks include the 1908 First Colony building, first a peanut storage warehouse and later a coffee warehouse, the 1918 Linde Air factory and the Tidewater Supply Company warehouses. A large older building may have doors from several eras, so a lock survey begins by walking every entrance.
• Park Place. Shops, theaters, churches and industrial buildings share that historic district with its houses.

Storefronts in review districts

Downtown and the Norfolk & Western Railroad district are two of the five Norfolk districts where alterations go before the Architectural Review Board, under the ordinance power in Va. Code § 15.2-2306. A new storefront keypad, card reader or door hardware that shows from the street may need the board's approval, so check with the city before ordering. This is general information, not legal advice.

Turnover and key control

• When a tenant moves out, the landlord can rekey the space before the next one moves in.
• When staff leave with keys, rekey the doors they could open, or change the master key system.
• Keep a written list of who holds which key, and collect keys at the last shift.
• In a shared building, confirm with the owner which doors and cylinders belong to your lease.

Details for a commercial request

The district or street, the number of exterior and interior doors, the lock types, whether a master key system exists and, if you lease, what the landlord has approved. For the commercial service, see commercial locksmith; the Norfolk page has the city's building history.