THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 30, 1994 TAG: 9409300539
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB AND MYLENE MANGALINDAN, STAFF WRITERS
LENGTH: Long : 115 lines
The day after Mickey Mouse roared ``no'' to the Northern Virginia town of Haymarket, developers and public officials from Hampton Roads to the Shenandoah Valley scrambled Thursday to persuade Walt Disney Co. to put its Disney's America theme park in their part of the state.
In New Kent County, between Williamsburg and Richmond, executives of Chesapeake Corp. began working at dawn to draw up a bid for Disney's America. A tentative proposal was hand-delivered to Gov. George F. Allen's office by early Thursday afternoon, a company official said.
``If Disney is willing to talk to us, we're more than willing to sit down and work out an agreement,'' said Peter M. Johns, special projects manager with Chesapeake Corp.'s Delmarva Properties Inc. subsidiary.
The theme park once destined for Haymarket in Prince William County is a once-in-a-generation project. It and its related developments would create an estimated 19,000 jobs, when all of its spinoffs are taken into account. It would cost more than $650 million to build and would include not just the park but nearly 2,300 homes, 1,340 hotel rooms and 1.96 million square feet of retail space.
With so much suddenly up for grabs again, there is no shortage of suitors. All day Thursday, speculation ran wild about where Disney would turn next.
Front-runners?
``Let's see, how many counties are there in Virginia?'' joked David Schulte, executive director of the Williamsburg Area Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Some press reports said Disney officials privately vowed to find another site near the nation's capital for the historic park. Other reports quoted entertainment-industry analysts speculating that the company will eventually drop the project altogether. Disney's America generated intense opposition from environmentalists and from historians, who complained that the park would present a sanitized version of the Civil War.
Nevertheless, development types throughout Virginia - and in neighboring Maryland and North Carolina as well - said they will chase the project.
Executives of Chesapeake Corp., one of the state's largest landholders, said their company's 2,300-acre parcel off Interstate 64 in New Kent County is perfectly suited to Disney's concept.
Company manager Johns, who usually wakes up early and spends a few quiet hours with his horses, was on the phone with colleagues by 6 a.m. Thursday and negotiating with county leaders by 7:30 a.m. He had completed his work on the proposal well before noon.
Chesapeake Corp. made the proposal as a private landowner, but it expects to get strong support from county officials and most area residents. New Kent also is in the running for the state's first horse track, which would be located on another piece of property owned by Chesapeake Corp.
In his offer to the governor, Johns rattled off New Kent's assets: available water and sewer access, good roads, proximity to the Richmond airport, an absence of major historical sites or battlefields, already completed environmental studies and appropriate zoning.
But officials in other parts of the state say they have all or most of the same advantages to offer, too.
``I don't see why we wouldn't have a wonderful shot at it,'' said Ann Baldwin, research director for Forward Hampton Roads, the economic-development arm of the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce. ``I think we're a natural.''
Baldwin said Chesapeake, Suffolk and Isle of Wight County all have the land and convenient transportation access that Disney would need. Disney has said it needs at least 3,000 acres for its project.
City officials in both Chesapeake and Suffolk said they are interested in pursuing Disney. But Suffolk Mayor S. Chris Jones said no one city or county in the region can offer all that a project of Disney's magnitude would require.
``It might take a concerted regional effort to locate Disney here,'' he said.
On the Peninsula, interest in the project was just as intense.
``There are a lot of synergies here with all the existing attractions, culture and heritage that would make it work,'' said John R. Lawson, chairman of the Virginia Peninsula Economic Development Council.
He said New Kent County would be an ideal site. ``It's got a lot of inexpensive, undeveloped land with interstate access.''
Lawson said he thought that nearby Williamsburg-area tourist attractions would actually benefit if the Disney park were in New Kent.
``It's just like when you have retail centers close to one another,'' he contended. ``They support each other.''
Patrick Saylor, Colonial Williamsburg's communications manager, declined to speculate on Disney's potential impact. ``There is no use speculating about what might happen when no alternatives have been announced at this point,'' he said.
Elsewhere in the state, the welcome mat was out for Disney.
``We're sending out a letter that is aggressive but demonstrates the location and matchup we have with Disney,'' said Gregory Wingfield, president of the Richmond area's Metropolitan Economic Development Council. ``We conclude with the fact we'd like to tout our virtues personally.''
Officials in Front Royal, in the Shenandoah Valley, said they would court Disney, too.
Throughout the Washington area - in Northern Virginia and in suburban Maryland - rumors abounded about Disney's plans.
But Tom Parker, economic development chief for Arlington County, said: ``I've heard nothing that leads me to believe that Disney is moving on a site right now.''
Roy L. Pearson, an economist who directs a research bureau at the College of William and Mary, said the most important thing is to not lose Disney's America to a neighboring state.
``We've lost it for 1998,'' Pearson said, referring to Disney's intended opening date in Haymarket. ``Hopefully, they'll stay in Virginia . . . but just with a later starting date.'' MEMO: Staff writers Christopher Dinsmore, Alex Marshall and Dave Mayfield
contributed to this report.
\ Main story on page A1 and related stories on page A2.
ILLUSTRATION: Map
KEYWORDS: WALT DISNEY CO. DISNEY AMERICA by CNB