THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, May 8, 1995 TAG: 9505080048
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVID M. POOLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long : 134 lines
Legend has it that during World War II the government bought a huge tract of land east of the Richmond airport as a decoy for enemy bombers.
The idea was to black out the real airfield and set up fake landing lights on the nearby property, in hopes German bombs would fall on the empty land.
The Nazi bombers never arrived, but 50 years later Gov. George F. Allen has pressed the still-vacant land into service in his battle against perceived waste and inefficiency in state government.
The 2,200-acre site - known as the Elko tract - sits on the front line of Allen's effort to raise money for his ambitious prison construction program by auctioning off surplus state land.
The Allen administration has identified 112 tracts of potentially surplus land totaling 32,500 acres. Some Republican lawmakers suggest that an aggressive effort to sell off the property or contract with private developers could reap up to $300 million.
``I think it's going to shock people by the amount of money that is raised,'' said Virginia Beach Del. Harry R. ``Bob'' Purkey, a member of an Allen-appointed commission studying the sale of state land.
Still, it remains to be seen how many acres of state land will be declared surplus and how much money the property will bring on the open market.
None of the properties come anywhere close to matching the size and potential value of the Elko tract. Most potential surplus sites are small parcels scattered across the state.
``If you put some of these on the market, I don't know if they will have a great value,'' said Bedford Del. Lacey E. Putney, another member of the Allen land commission.
Commission director Phil Bomersheim said the surplus land holds long-term potential for significant savings, but he cautioned against expectations of an immediate windfall.
``If that is possible, someone would have done it before,'' Bomersheim said.
A 1977 study by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission identified more than 9,000 acres of potentially surplus property with a estimated value of $10.3 million. Since that time, however, the state has sold 1,100 acres for $4.1 million in revenue.
Last fall, a second JLARC study found 7,100 remaining acres that possibly could be sold with an estimated value of $36.5 million.
The Allen administration expanded the list. A review of the 32,500 acres, which Allen had hoped to complete by January, is scheduled to be completed this year.
So far, the commission has recommended the sale of 14 properties, including three in South Hampton Roads. These are:
5 acres at the corner of General Booth Boulevard and South Birdneck Road in Virginia Beach, which the state Department of Motor Vehicles bought a few years ago for a possible branch office.
17 acres in Chesapeake that once served as the Bowers Hill headquarters for the state Department of Transportation.
2.5 acres on West Norfolk Road near the River Pointe Corporate Center, where the Virginia Employment Commission had planned an office.
The commission is looking at a number of other tracts in the region, including 567 acres at Camp Pendleton in Virginia Beach and 240 acres at Tidewater Community College in Portsmouth.
Long eyed hungrily by developers, the Camp Pendleton property may be among the state's more valuable assets in Hampton Roads because it is next to Croatan, a wealthy, seaside community where homes routinely sell for $300,000 and up.
Purkey noted that residential land next to the TCC property fetches between $150,000 and $200,000 an acre.
Clifford Schroeder, an Allen administration aide, cautioned that just because a property is under consideration does not mean the commission will recommend its sale or that Allen will approve it.
``We don't want to make it seem like we want to sell everything the state owns,'' Schroeder said.
For the time being, the Allen administration does not appear to be in a hurry to sell the property. Allen wants to use the proceeds to help pay for a prison-building plan that could cost $2 billion over the next decade.
But the Democrat-controlled General Assembly rejected his request that proceeds from land sales be split equally between corrections and higher education. Roanoke Del. A. Victor Thomas, an advocate of parks and conservation, led a fight to split the money in four portions for state parks, mental health facilities, higher education and the general fund.
``We have a whole lot of needs, and we need to address them,'' Thomas said.
Allen may wait until after the November elections, when all 140 General Assembly seats are on the ballot, to see if the 1996 session of the legislature will earmark the money for prisons.
``I think it's unlikely that any property would be sold right now,'' Purkey said.
Allen may find his ambitious land sale to be scaled back by state agencies, particularly the politically powerful state colleges and universities, eager to hold onto land that could be put to use in the future.
Things are further complicated by the fact that colleges and universities obtained some land without state funds through private donors or independent foundations. In some cases, the land would revert to its previous owner if it were used for something other than education.
``Properties acquired through gift or use of non-general funds should remain under the control of the agency or institution,'' Virginia Tech President Paul E. Torgerson said in a letter to JLARC last fall.
Bomersheim said the commission will spend the summer cataloging the state's holdings, researching deeds and meeting with agencies to determine how each property is used. Nearly 20 percent of the 32,500 acres is made up of farmland that Virginia Tech uses for agricultural research.
In the past, the state has disposed of property through auctions or sealed bids. The commission also will consider marketing the land through real estate agents or entering into a public-private partnership with industrial park developers.
Putting large tracts, particularly the Elko tract, into a joint venture would enable the state to reap some of the developed value of the property, Bomersheim said.
Such an arrangement would increase the state's yield, but also could mean a delay before the state showed a profit, he said.
``It's a nuts-and-bolts, long-term stewardship of real estate,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
Properties recommended for sale in South Hampton Roads:
5 acres at General Booth Boulevard and South Birdneck Road in
Virginia Beach, which the state Department of Motor Vehicles bought
a few years ago for a possible branch office.
17 acres in Chesapeake that once served as the Bowers Hill
headquarters for the state Department of Transportation.
2.5 acres on West Norfolk Road near the River Pointe Corporate
Center, where the Virginia Employment Commission had planned an
office.
The commission is looking at including 567 acres at Camp
Pendleton in Virginia Beach and 240 acres at Tidewater Community
College in Portsmouth.
KEYWORDS: REAL ESTATE VIRGINIA PRISON CORRECTIONAL FACILITY JAIL by CNB