THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, November 27, 1995 TAG: 9511250114
SECTION: BUSINESS WEEKLY PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY MYLENE MANGALINDAN, BUSINESS WEEKLY
LENGTH: Long : 146 lines
Ken Nealon happily pushed his cart through the Williamsburg Pottery Factory. The 42-year-old from York, Penn., had stopped by the pottery to buy some dried flowers, pots and a couple other knickknacks on his way home from a trip in Raleigh.
``There are values here that are just no place else,'' said the businessman. ``It's a four- to five-hour drive (from home) and it's well worth it.''
Nealon exemplifies one of the reasons why the northern end of the Virginia Peninsula is growing.
Recognized as a tourism destination thanks to the presence of Colonial Williamsburg, the municipalities of the northern Peninsula - particularly Williamsburg, James City and York counties - are now evolving into the newest economic center in Hampton Roads.
Traffic and population are climbing. Roads are being improved. Housing and golf development is booming, and the area's tourism industry is diversifying.
These factors are helping style the Williamsburg area into a self-sufficient hub in its own right, rather than just a stop between two of the commonwealth's largest metropolitan areas.
``The challenge we have is job creation,'' said David Sisk, vice chairman of James City County Board of Supervisors. ``But not just in the retail trade, which is an entry level job. We want to have the kind of jobs that have year-round employment and benefits, upward mobility opportunities.
``We don't expect Williamsburg and James City County to become part of Newport News or Richmond. We expect to stay a separate entity, taking care of our own needs, working with our own citizens, establishing our own goals, getting things done. But we do recognize we're between two world-class metropolitan areas. We do have a role to play because we're a hub on the Peninsula,'' Sisk said.
County officials and others speculate that more people moving from other overcrowded urban areas, probably Washington and the Northeast, to the area has caused much of the area's economic growth.
``Another factor somewhat driving the growth is we're becoming an attractive community to folks that are retiring or nearing retirement age,'' said Robert Hershberger, executive vice president with the Williamsburg Chamber of Commerce. ``The quality of life and other factors that people are looking for are making this area really attractive to people in that age group. A lot of them bring in disposable income.''
Williamsburg and nearby communities are already the most affluent in Hampton Roads. James City County and Williamsburg reported per capita income of $22,383 in 1993, followed by Poquoson and York County's $20,927, according to the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission.
Their median household incomes in 1989 was even higher than the region's. Poquoson residents reported $43,236 per household; York County had $40,363; and James City County had $39,785.
Executives from Richmond moving their families down to the Peninsula or those in Newport News settling north of their offices, and people buying second homes are driving some of the population growth and adding to that relative affluence too, economists and county officials say.
More than 5,000 people moved to York County from 1990 to 1993, second only to Chesapeake's net migration, which topped 10,000. James City County also saw more people moving to its jurisdiction than leaving during that three-year period.
And more are expected.
``A lot of it is spinoff growth from Newport News and Hampton,'' Sisk said. ``Think about MCI, Gateway, Canon, NASA.''
As a result of the heightened business activity and population growth in the region, ``We're seeing commercial and residential growth through that whole corridor,'' Hershberger said about the area along the Peninsula to the Pottery in Lightfoot and farther north.
Commercial development has been gaining momentum for a while. Construction of a shell building, a 60,000 square-foot empty structure that James City County officials are pinning their hopes of business development, was completed about a month ago. County officials have not yet signed a tenant for the building, but remain optimistic that the area's growth will soon lure a company to the building.
Frederick, Md.-based Solarex, a solar panel manufacturer, started construction of a 60,000 square-foot manufacturing plant, also in Stonehouse Commerce Park across the street from the shell building.
But that's not all.
Residential development has kept pace with the commercial boom.
``The population center of the area has shifted west in the last 10 to 15 years,'' said economist Roy Pearson, a professor and director of the Bureau of Business Research at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg. ``There's much more interest now in developments west of town. Developers have discovered locating where they can serve the Richmond market as well as the Peninsula market worked out well.''
Stonehouse, a large, planned single-family housing subdivision, backed by Chesapeake Corp. and Dominion Land Management, a division of Dominion Resources, the Richmond electric utility, is one example of the type of development coming to the region.
Plus, those new residents have more entertainment and activities from which to choose.
Two golf courses have been built in the community: the Colonial, a public 21-hole day-fee golf course, opened this spring. Another 18-hole course, Legends at Stonehouse, near the new Stonehouse development, will open next spring.
Diversification of the tourism industry in Williamsburg has benefited the area too.
Shopping tops the list of preferred activities for people who travel, said James City County's Sisk. Since discovering this, Williamsburg and the surrounding communities have tried to build upon the strength established by their outlet shopping centers, which offer discount retail merchandise, like Berkeley Commons and the Williamsburg Pottery. Retail developers announced recently plans for another outlet shopping center, Governor's Shoppes on Richmond Road.
``Tourism is the major industry here,'' Hershberger said. ``Tourism in our area, and the rest of Virginia, is some of the foundation that this growth is riding on too.'' MEMO: [Due to technical problems, several repeated paragraghs were published
in the jump of the story. They are not repeated in the electronic
version.]
ILLUSTRATION: [Cover, Color photo]
WILLIAMSBURG: PUSHING BEYOND TOURISM/10
Vicki Cronis
The Virginian-Pilot
WILLIAMSBURG AREA IS FASHIONING ITSELF AS A PLACE TO VISIT AND LIVE
[Color Photos]
Vicki Cronis
The Virginian-Pilot
Development begins at Stonehouse Business Park near Toano.
Stonehouse, a single-family housing subdivision backed by Chesapeake
Corp. and Dominion Land Management, has a variety of commercial
enterprises nearby.
A shopper pushes his cart between the storerooms of the Williamsburg
Pottery Factory in Lightfoot. Ceramic lawn ornaments, dried flowers
and other knickknacks at bargain prices help draw visitors to the
northern end of the Virginia Peninsula. Thanks to the presence of
Colonial Williamsburg, the municipalities of the northern Peninsula
- particularly Williamsburg, James City and York counties - are
evolving into the newest economic center in Hampton Roads.
Golf maintenance worker Don Prevish fertilizes the second hole at
Legends at Stonehouse. The 18-hole course will open next spring.
KEYWORDS: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT by CNB