THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 3, 1996 TAG: 9512300142
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SERIES: 1995: YEAR IN REVIEW
SOURCE: BY JODY SNIDER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 48 lines
Once again, tourism in the county is on the upswing, said Diane Howard, director of the Isle of Wight Tourism Bureau.
Howard said she expects to see more than a 100 percent increase in the number of people coming to Smithfield in 1996.
``Our biggest attraction is still St. Luke's Church,'' she said, ``but a lot of people also come to visit Smithfield Station. About 75 percent of the business there is from out-of-towners.''
So it's no surprise that Station owner Ron Pack received the 1995 Business of the Year Award from the Isle of Wight/Smithfield/Windsor Chamber of Commerce.
Pack was given the award for drawing tourists into Smithfield with his beacon-flashing, copper-topped lighthouse and Boardwalk Bar & Grill, a small, casual, outdoor restaurant on the Pagan River's bank.
And business has been good elsewhere in the county, too. Small businesses have been finding their niches throughout the county in 1995. The most noticeable growth, however, can be found in the southern end at Airway Shopping Plaza.
Once almost empty, 11 new businesses have moved in at the plaza in the past six months. Today, 80 percent of the plaza's 40,500 square feet is leased. Space for only two more stores remains.
The shopping center was purchased by Bill Bach, a Potomac, Md.-based real estate developer last June from Home Beneficial Life Insurance Co. for $614,697.
Bach said he plans to build a 10,000-square-foot community catering hall with three formal meeting rooms that could be rented for wedding receptions and holidays.
He also plans to develop the 12 acres surrounding the plaza for activities such as a skeet shooting range and fishing areas at the lake behind the plaza. MEMO: [For related stories, also see pages 6 and 9 of The Citizen for this
date.]
by CNB