THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 20, 1995 TAG: 9505220184
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARY ELLEN MILES, SPECIAL TO REAL ESTATE WEEKLY
LENGTH: Long : 134 lines
North Siesta gardens, as the name implies, is a relaxed, quiet Churchland area community.
The neighborhood entrance sits just off well-traveled Cedar Lane and Portsmouth's scenic, winding two-lane West Norfolk Road. The Norfolk & Western Railway borders the neighborhood to the south.
On one side of the road is Siesta Gardens, developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Development of North Siesta Gardens, which has more custom-built houses than Siesta Gardens, began in the early 1970s.
As you enter North Siesta Gardens, you pass through the first phase of development. Phases 2 and 3 were completed by the mid-1980's. The area is quiet, with well-kept houses and lawns. Phase 4 is being developed, with Phase 5 rapidly approaching.
When the new ranches, sporting new wooden fences, come into view, you'll know you're entering the newest section. There is only one entrance and exit.
The main street, Larkspur Road, has four courts jutting from it, and two more planned. Once those two courts are completed, the capacity of homes will be about 75. Fifty-four homes and lots have been purchased.
The newest area is being developed and built by Towne Development Corp., with the first model opening in August, 1993. Since then, that model has been sold and a new one built. The new one is the only decorated model; however, potential buyers interested in one of the other five styles of houses may walk through undecorated versions.
The developer chose to keep as many trees as possible, much to the delight of buyers, which added difficulty and time to the developing. After the first development phase, once the lots were all sold, there was a gap of three to four months while the next phase was being developed, says Stacie Powell, site manager since the neighborhood's inception.
At one time, Powell says, the entire area belonged to a woman whose home couldn't be seen until you were actually upon it, bacause of the trees. Besides being packed with tall, mature trees, newly planted Bradford pears line the sidewalk Larkspur Road.
There are six floor plans for the houses, with different exterior and interior options. The price range is from about $105,600 to $132,500. The builder pays all closing costs minus the credit check, prepaids, funding fees, PMI and MIP.
Some standard features include energy efficient natural gas heating and water systems, pre-wiring for cable television, telephone and garage door opener, crawl-space foundations with brick skirting, and oak kitchen cabinets.
The lots range from 15,000 to 19,000 square feet, large by today's norms. The area is ``set back,'' or private. It has no homeowners' association.
The yards are heavily wooded, ideal for children to play in, which is why many people are attracted to this area'' says Powell. ``I think people like their houses being built up off the ground,'' she says, referring to the crawl space.
Residents also enjoy the convenience to Interstate 664. ``You can be in downtown Norfolk in 10 minutes now,'' Powell says. ``People used to think this area was in the middle of nowhere. Now, with the interstate, you can really feel the difference. It's so much closer than it used to be, and it's much more suburban than a lot of places in Norfolk or Virginia Beach.''
Michelle and Tim Espinoza enjoyed moving from North Carolina into suburbia, buying the first model house last September. They looked at about 50 houses in Portsmouth, Chesapeake and Virginia Beach before finding their new home.
Their two-story, three-bedroom plus room over garage, 2 1/2 bath house sits on a large, wooded corner lot, which enabled Tim to have an excuse to buy a riding lawn mower, Michelle says.
They were happy to get a new house that already had a lawn, she says, since so many newly constructed houses have only been seeded. Also, their two children have a nice big yard to frolic in.
Another plus for them was the convenience to Tim's employment in downtown Portsmouth. Michelle jokingly calls him ``a really stressed out person, who definitely doesn't need to get involved in tunnel traffic.''
Across the street from the Espinozas', in a ranch also on a corner lot, are Rick and Karen Rayburn, formally of Seattle. They also scoured different cities before finding the lot and neighborhood they wanted.
``I think we'd looked at just about every neighborhood and new development in Chesapeake and many in Virginia Beach. We shopped around,'' says Rick. They bought an inventory home that was almost finished, so they were able to make choices on the interior.
They wanted to live closer to Norfolk, where Karen works, than where Rick works, which is in Virginia Beach. ``Churchland is different,'' Rick says. ``We were very surprised. We fell in love with the neighborhood when we first saw it. I would encourage others to give the area a try.''
Rick's work shift means he sometimes works 72 hours a week, but he has managed to squeeze in several additions to the house since moving in February 1994. He's added a well and a stone pathway leading to a deck.
He is in the process of adding to the driveway to store their boat, and is thinking about adding a split rail fence. Birds and squirrels, at ease with all the trees, are frequent visitors. The Rayburn dog enjoys watching the wildlife, especially squirrels, through the sliding glass door that connects with the deck.
A squirrel ``chair'' with attached corn on the cob snack entertains both dog and squirrels. And, Rick says, ``they get irate if I don't put an ear of corn out there every other day!''
Stuart and Colleen Baiza moved into their two-story house in November 1993. They house-hunted in Smithfield and Portsmouth, having only a few days to find the ``right'' house when they moved here from Italy.
Since then they've added a fence and deck. He describes the neighborhood as ``family-oriented, peaceful, without much traffic and friendly neighbors who help each other out.'' He likes the recent addition of schoolbus stops within the newer section; previously his three sons had to catch the bus in the older section.
Later in 1993, Carol and Joe Coyle moved into their ranch house from a townhouse in Chesapeake. ``We watched one house being built from the ground up, felt like the contractors were doing a good job, and we liked the price of the house,'' Carol says.
About a week later, their daughter and her family moved into a two-story house about a block and a half from them, so they have they option of spoiling their two grandchildren at close range. She also praises the pleasant neighbors and hopes they pull together and start a civic league and a crime watch program within the year.
According to Carol, the neighborhood's ``a little bit of country, while still being close to everything.'' They were impressed that the ``very gracious'' developer left so many trees within the lots, a rare trait in a newly developed neighborhood.
``When you drive into this neighborhood it's so friendly looking because of the trees,'' she says. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos by Motoya Nakamura
North Siesta Gardens established in the 1970s, has more custom-built
houses than neighboring Siesta Gardens.
The newer section of the subdivision is dominated by ranch-style
homes.
Graphic At a Glance
For copy of graphic, see microfilm.
by CNB