THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 1, 1995 TAG: 9504040461
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY JANET DUNPHY, SPECIAL TO REAL ESTATE WEEKLY
LENGTH: Long : 139 lines
Despite the cool breezes from the water, housing developers in Virginia Beach are calling the mile-long stretch of land along Shore Drive - paralleling the Chesapeake Bay east of Lynnhaven Inlet - a hot area.
More than $60 million worth of townhouses and condominiums are under construction or being planned between the Lesner Bridge and Great Neck Road. That figure doesn't include the $2.4 million paid for a tract of land where the ground hasn't been broken yet.
Some of these multimillion dollar projects sit on less than an acre of land. Most are billed as luxurious by their builders and real estate brokers, which could mean a bayfront view, elevators, garage parking and any number of amenities in the unit itself.
These developments attract singles, parents with one child, and ``empty nesters'' - older couples and retirees leaving larger homes after the kids have moved on.
Besides the draw of the Chesapeake Bay, boosters say, the location offers convenient shopping, good restaurants and top-rated schools, such as Cox High.
The city's Great Neck and Bayside recreation centers are nearby along with the Virginia Beach Tennis and Country Club. In a year, the area will be complemented by a new golf course at the former Bayville Farms on the west side of the Lesner Bridge.
``I think people have found out about this neat little strip of property and it has exploded,'' says George Cooper, a Norfolk native who built Shoreline Villas on West Great Neck Road. The $2 million project was completed last October and all but one of the 12 units, ranging from $107,000 to $135,000, are occupied.
Cooper says information he compiled for a loan application three years ago showed that the median household income within a five-mile radius of his condos was $51,000. He's already considering buying a similar lot, just under an acre, but says it will cost $100,000 more than the Shoreline Villas site.
``Properties here appreciate at a very high rate,'' Cooper says. ``If you're a young professional, it's the upper crust of the area.''
The building spurt has steadily gained momentum after what one developer calls ``a 10-year vacuum'' because of lack of vacant land for sale and a stagnant economy.
``This is expensive land,'' says Charlie Phillips, a commercial property appraiser for the city of Virginia Beach. ``You just don't have anyone jumping in and buying. People were holding out for top dollar.''
Most of the Shore Drive strip is liberally zoned, according to Phillips, although new single-family dwellings are not permitted.
``You have boating and fishing at your back door,'' says Rip McGinnis, one of the three developers of the new bayfront Ships Watch condos, ``and it isn't as congested as the Oceanfront area.''
According to Phillips, that bayfront property on Ocean Shore Avenue cost $1.25 million. McGinnis says the project's cost at sell-out - half the 22 units are completed - will be $5 million.
Priced from $178,000 to $280,000, Ships Watch offers garages, decks with storage, and outside showers on the lower levels. McGinnis says his team had an option to buy several adjacent acres.
Nearby on Page Avenue, the first of 18 townhouses is about to open as a model in a $3.7 million complex called Wind Rose. The units, a street away from the beach, range from $209,000 to $217,000. They have brick exteriors and small yards.
``There is an attachment to this Bay, an emotional attachment to this area,'' says Bill Ward of Long & Foster Realtors, agent for Wind Rose. ``A lot of people come from the Thoroughgood area. They're thinking about getting rid of the yard and the big house and being close to this Bay.''
The recently completed Lesner Pointe is also on Page Avenue. With 96 units, it is one of the largest new complexes along Shore Drive. The land cost $1.1 million at auction in 1991 and the condos cost $11 million to build, says Tom Hansen, senior vice president of the Dragas Companies, the builder.
The bayfront property is the site of the former Ocean Island Motel and consists of seven acres, four of which are usable, Hansen says. The Lesner Pointe units sell for $130,000 to $310,000 and all but 20 units are occupied. ``It's distinctive because it's a wide piece of property with a lot of frontage on the bay,'' Hansen says.
Another piece of waterfront property with a prime view isn't developed yet. Two lots totaling 7.9 acres next to the Virginia Beach Resort Hotel & Conference Center were sold to P&N Associates two years ago for $2.4 million, according to Phillips.
Pat Arnold of Leading Edge Realty, which is handling the property, says the owners won't release any information about the condo development, called Mariner's Walk. Other agents and builders say that a high-rise, with units averaging $250,000, is in the works.
A lower-priced condominium complex will front the south side of Shore Drive at the east end of the Lesner Bridge. Lesner Villa will be build for $6.4 million on 2.9 acres that cost $415,000, according to the builder and part-owner, Joe McCutcheon Jr.
The average price for one of the 60 units in Lesner Villa will be $104,000. Also a former motel site, the complex will have a pool and a buffer wall along Shore Drive.
``I think we'll have people who can't afford to be on the beach,'' McCutcheon says. ``You have a whole other potential set of buyers. Everything that is currently going up is pricey, very expensive.''
Lower prices could be the key to attracting buyers to a complex that isn't bayfront. Dragas Homes has decided to offer a less expensive floor plan at the Arbors on Great Neck Road near Shore Drive.
Currently, the least expensive condo at the Arbors, which will eventually total 95 detached units on 12 acres, is $166,000, says Bill West of Dragas Homes. The newer floor plan will be available for about $10,000 less.
``There are some people who would really like to be in this community but have a problem with the price,'' West says. The homes are being built around a joint-ownership commons area that includes a pool and a lake-drainage pond.
West says total sales at the Arbors will exceed $17 million; the land cost $3.6 million. In addition, Dragas Homes will spend $20 million to build 87 condominiums across the street on another 12 acres behind the Marina Shores dock.
Developments near the Chesapeake Bay will probably continue as long as lots are available. Several builders have projects on the drawing board that they aren't ready to announce. Empty lots, some well under an acre, still exist on both sides of Shore Drive.
``There are condos stretching from Seashore State Park west to Willoughby Spit,'' says Michael A. Inman, a Virginia Beach lawyer specializing in community association issues and co-author with G. Robert Kirkland of the Real Estate Weekly column Common Ground.
``And they range from 2-unit condos to hundreds of units. The majority of condo owners fall in the category of young professionals buying their first home. They're busy and don't have time for the traditional maintenance requirements. Or they're empty nesters who are ready to retire not only from their jobs but from the burdens of home maintenance and just walk on the beach.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Cover]
[Color Photo]
A CONDO BOOM ON THE BAY
JIM WLAKER/Staff
[Color Photo]
JIM WALKER/Staff
A new condo complex on Page Avenue near the Lesner Bridge.
Construction has boomed in the area in recent years.
With 96 units, Lesner Pointe is among the largest projects in the
Bay area.
by CNB