THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 15, 1995 TAG: 9510140123
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL REED, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
Ocean Square, the planned upgrading of the commercial corridor on the seaside end of Laskin Road, could boost city tax revenues by as much as $5.4 million in the next five years.
That's a rough estimate provided by the originator of the plan, Roger Newill, chairman of the Resort Area Advisory Commission.
Newill gave fellow advisory commission members a look at his figures Thursday and mapped out potential future steps to take to implement the rejuvenation of 232,000 square feet of commercial space bracketing the Laskin Road/Atlantic Avenue gateway.
Basically, the public-private effort would be made to upgrade a largely drab and unattractive existing commercial area; provide year-round shopping for tourists and a core of local customers, and give the city's tax coffers a major yearly shot in the arm.
As Newill envisions the project, a landscaped pedestrian promenade would take the place of what is now a patchwork of retail, restaurant and office space. Eastbound traffic would be diverted a block north and south to out-of-the way parking garages, where visitors could leave their cars and walk, bike or take trolleys or trams to the shops and restaurants in the complex.
The project would be dove-tailed with a planned retail and entertainment complex on a 12-acre site at Baltic Avenue and Laskin Road; a state funded plan to widen Laskin Road from Great Neck Road to Pacific Avenue and city plans to extend the Resort Streetscape program from Atlantic Avenue to Pacific Avenue.
Existing property owners would be asked to dress up and expand their store fronts to conform to design standards set by the city, enabling them to charge higher rents. Laskin Road owners now generally charge $13 per square-foot for retail space, Newill said. Once their property is upgraded, they could demand $17 to $22 per square foot, he contends.
Newill visualizes the expansion of retail space from the existing 232,000 to 548,000 square feet, thus doubling the income generating capacity of the commercial core.
He foresees the creation of a tree-lined, pedestrian-friendly and upscale commercial center by the sea that would rival Merchants Square in Williamsburg. The city's cost of beautifying the 10-block Oceanfront area would be an estimated $13.4 million. The city's outlay for building two or more garages to house 1,326 cars would be about $9.2 million. Newill says sales receipts from the the projects would be used to retire the city's cost of the redevelopment.
The next step, said Newill, is to sound out the feeling of property owners on the project. by CNB