THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 17, 1996 TAG: 9601160102
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY LORI A. DENNEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 175 lines
THREE DECADES HAVE passed since the first guest logged his name into the Bow Creek Motel register.
Since then, the 91-room motel nestled off Rosemont and Holland roads in the Princess Anne Plaza and Bow Creek neighborhoods has sheltered the well-off and, eventually, the downtrodden.
Its spacious parking lots have been the site of hundreds of parties - from wedding receptions to open-air drug markets.
In a resort town boasting more than 11,000 guest rooms, the Bow Creek Motel remains an outsider among the city's inn crowd.
Hidden from the traditional tourist routes, the motel caters to a clientele more interested in economical living arrangements than fancy overnight accommodations.
It offers all the trappings a weary wanderer could want: a bed, cable TV, housekeeping services, outdoor pool and restaurant. And it's located next to an 18-hole golf course and full-service recreation center.
But it has taken an aggressive effort by a new management firm and nearly five years to refurbish the motel and polish its image.
Although never luxurious, the Bow Creek Motel was a decent and affordable place to stay in the 1970s. Residents of the surrounding neighborhood often took advantage of the motel's close proximity to rent rooms for visiting family members.
The Princess Anne Plaza Civic League was content enough that in 1974 it convinced city leaders to buy the Bow Creek complex that included the golf course and recreation center, so that the land wouldn't be further developed. The motel was left for private ownership.
``They were planning some 240 more houses,'' said neighborhood resident Marion Froehler, a member of the civic league since 1971. ``Getting the city to buy it, it was the best thing we ever did. Our streets weren't capable of taking more traffic and our schools were absolutely jammed.''
In 1977, the civic league also successfully fought a rezoning request for the motel's expansion by JED Corp., a group of local businessmen who owned the motel at the time.
But between 1977 and 1992, the motel began to deteriorate and its clientele became somewhat unmanageable.
That's when Reba McClanan, a resident of the neighborhood and a member of the City Council from 1980 to 1992, began hearing complaints.
``Right before I went off council I started getting calls from residents about the activities going on,'' she said. ``I started going over there at night, listening to what was going on in the parking lot.
``It was something to behold. People would get in fights. There were drinking parties. And the noise? It was awful.''
It wasn't long before the motel became known as a drug and prostitute haven.
In 1991, the owners defaulted on the motel's loan and Codi Associates, a group of businessmen based in Norfolk, took control. They, in turn, hired Tarbutton Associates to manage the property.
When Dawn Durbin got her first look at the motel she was to manage, she saw prostitutes, drugs being exchanged in the parking lot, a lot of ``out of control'' drinking and a number of broken doors from robberies, she said.
The first thing Durbin did was to remove the six-foot-high, chain-link fence that snaked around and between the motel's six buildings.
``It looked like you were going to prison when you came in here,'' said Durbin, who has managed the motel since 1991.
Removing the fence was the easy part.
It has taken Durbin five years to refurbish every room and rid the motel of its questionable guests, which she did by hiring security guards and instituting rules and regulations, including a curfew.
Rooms were gutted and renovated as long-term tenants moved out. New carpet was laid, rooms were painted and now new artwork is being hung.
The motel switched from a central air-conditioning system to individual room units.
More recently, the motel grounds were spruced up with new landscaping and the motel's lobby was remodeled. An automated phone system also was installed.
``We've been through a lot. Two fires, two big floods and even a car driving through a room,'' said Durbin, who one year earned a ``survival'' award from Tarbutton Associates. ``We've really come a long way. And as far as estimating the amount, I couldn't begin to figure it all out. It's an ongoing, continual process.''
With the improvements, Durbin is hoping to once again attract new guests.
To accommodate them, Durbin wants to eventually cut the number of long-term renters from 65 to 50. But she adds that long-term residents have kept the motel open.
``They're what has kept this motel going,'' said Durbin, who adds that many long-term guests use the motel as a steppingstone to ``something better.''
Durbin also works with state and local agencies to help provide shelter for individuals and families. The average stay, says Durbin, is about six months.
Located off Rosemont Road on Clubhouse Road, the motel backs up to the golf course and is adjacent to the city recreation center.
The motel's buildings house the office, a laundry area, and a privately run restaurant, called the San Trap.
An outdoor swimming pool, horse shoe pits and barbecue grills complete the complex. Durbin says she hopes to add a playground, too.
Fifty-one of the motel rooms are ``doubles,'' which feature two beds or one large bed. The other 40 rooms house single beds.
Long-term guests must pay $400 every four weeks, and an initial $100 security deposit. Single-night rooms run $35. Guests must agree to adhere to the rules and regulations - including a 9 p.m. property curfew for children and a 10 p.m. curfew for adults.
Rob Croxton, 32, has rented a room with a king-size bed at the Bow Creek Motel for two years. He moved from Norfolk to be near his girlfriend. Now, as a resident of the motel, he's only two blocks away from her house.
There's nowhere else Croxton could live this cheap, he says, and certainly there's no room for rent closer to his girlfriend.
For $100 a week, he gets a room that includes cable TV, a microwave oven, refrigerator, all his utilities and housekeeping services - offered daily for short-term guests and every other day for long-term residents like Croxton.
Thomas Eckley also moved his wife, Virginia, and their three children to the motel two years ago from Florida.
The family is living there so that they can ``pay off some bills,'' says Eckley, who works as a tow truck driver.
``It's a nice place to stay for right now. The kids have other kids they can play with and it's comfortable,'' said Eckley. ``We'd like to get a house but right now that's a long way away.''
The Bow Creek Motel was built in 1964 as an independent part of the Bow Creek Golf and Country Club, which was constructed by John Aragona in 1961.
When the country club burned and the 18-hole golf course was bought by the city in 1974, the motel stayed under private ownership. Since then, the motel has had four owners, including Codi Associates, which has owned the property two different times.
In the late '70s, the city improved the golf course and built the Bow Creek Recreation Center where the old country club once stood. Currently, the golf course is closed while a stormwater drainage project is under way.
The motel's owners hope that once the golf course reopens they can attract more out-of-town golfers, a marketing strategy used when the motel opened three decades ago.
The motel also seems to have restored the faith of its residential neighbors.
One neighbor whose property backs up to the motel has noticed a difference in the amount of activity at the motel.
``It's calmed down in the last year,'' said the resident, who asked not to be identified. ``They stay on their side of the fence and we stay on ours.''
Marion Froehler, the longtime member of the Princess Anne Civic League, sees the motel as an asset.
``It's really an advantage to have that motel there,'' she said. ``For people out of town, the rates are reasonable. Also for anyone coming in on vacation to play golf, it's great.''
That's the message Tuffy Butler, who is Durbin's boss at the motel, hopes to get across to potential guests.
He worked part time as a security guard at the motel before joining Tarbutton Associates and has witnessed the changes firsthand.
The motel has done some marketing, including sales calls and sending out letters to prior clients, he said.
``It's going to take a long time to let people know that we're better and we've cleaned up the place,'' Butler said. ILLUSTRATION: [Cover, Color photo]
OUTSIDE THE INN CROWD
ON THE COVER
Housekeeper Terry Letner cleans the glass doors on a Bow Creek Motel
room that looks out on to a city-owned 18-hole golf course and
recreation center.
Staff photos, including color cover, by STEVE EARLEY
Cheryl Morisette, who has lived at the Bow Creek Motel about a year,
follows her dog, Sammie, across a parking lot that was once an
open-air drug market.
Staff photo by STEVE EARLEY
Melissa Eckley and four other family members have shared a motel
room for about two years since moving here from Florida.
The first thing Dawn Durbin did as the new manager of the Bow Creek
Motel was remove a six-foot-high, chain-link fence. ``It looked like
you were going to prison when you came in here,'' she said.
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