THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 22, 1996 TAG: 9606210436
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover story
SOURCE: BY CHRIS KIDDER, SPECIAL TO REAL ESTATE WEEKLY
LENGTH: 233 lines
Not that long ago, when Yankees reached retirement age, when they wearied of ice and snow and urban hustles and hassles, they packed their bags and flew South. Deep South. Florida. They hardly gave North Carolina a second glance.
But the Sunshine State has lost some of its appeal while the era of ``snowbird'' migration is still going strong. Developers are learning that mid-coast destinations offering Florida's top attractions - moderate weather, access to water, low taxes - without putting a 25 hour drive between family and friends are viable ventures. Folks from the north are seeking these places out: All they need is a hook.
The hook is golf.
In northeastern North Carolina, from Edenton to the Outer Banks, there are six golf course communities platted for more than 3,300 home sites currently under development. Each is vying for middle-aged, empty nesters from Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey and New York who want to lead active, worry-free lives in a bucolic setting, if not today, then next year or the year after.
It is a proven fact that an overwhelming majority of these folks want to live on a golf course. It's also a fact that perhaps as many as half have no desire to ever play a round of golf. They choose a golf course community for its outdoorsy, manicured ambience and its sporty lifestyle.
Those folks who do golf want to avoid boredom by being close to several good courses. Pinehurst, N.C., and Myrtle Beach, S.C., are undisputable proof that when it comes to golf courses, you can never have too many. In an industry that typically pits neighborhood against neighborhood, golf community developers have found success in cooperation.
``The best thing that could ever happen to us is to have more golf facilities in this area,'' says Billy Tarrant, a salesman for Albemarle Plantation near Hertford, N.C.
The idea of this rural corner of countryside as a golf destination is no pipe dream. ``It's definitely going to happen,'' says Kelly Shields, director of Outer Banks Golf Getaways. The program, started over a year ago by Beach Realty, Kitty Hawk, to increase off-season rentals, provides guests with cottage or hotel accommodations and rounds of golf at any of five Outer Banks golf clubs.
One advantage for Outer Banks golfers is the proximity of accommodations to golf: It's possible to stay within a 20 minute drive of all five courses offered by Golf Getaways. At other golf destinations, you're not going to be that close, says Shields.
While Shields spends her time selling Outer Banks golf to tourists, Dave Holton, a management consultant based on the Outer Banks, preaches cooperation to regional residential developers aiming at permanent residents.
Holton's pitch isn't limited to golf course communities but he sees them as key players. And he's looking at the entire northeast corner of the state, including developments in the Washington, N.C., area. Most developers realize that ``by joining forces we can create a greater impact,'' he says. ``We all agree in concept.''
``The real competition is South Carolina and Florida,'' says Holton. ``Northeastern North Carolina has enough diversity; it has an awful lot to offer. Bring people to the area and then let the people decide what they prefer.''
Tarrant agrees with the regional concept. Golfers want to be close to good courses, he says, but they won't mind occasionally driving an hour or so to play a different one. The more they learn about the area, the easier his job becomes.
Albemarle Plantation was the first mainland golf course development to acknowledge a market outside its own region. It got off to a remarkable start nearly five years ago with $1.8 million of sales at its grand opening - at a time when the rest of the state's real estate market was down 8 percent over the previous miserable year.
Located near Hertford, between Edenton and Elizabeth City, Albemarle Plantation is a short drive off U.S. Route 17, fronting on the Albemarle Sound and Yeopim Creek. Norfolk is less than an hour away.
It is the most ambitious of the region's communities. Its 1,500 acres have been divided into three phases, with the potential for more than 1,000 single family homes and as many as 100 condominium apartments and townhouses scattered across two championship golf courses and overlooking the 212-slip marina.
More than 260 lots have been sold, including all the waterfront lots in Phase I. Over 50 houses and a couple dozen condominiums are built or under construction. Phase II is just going on the market.
The first golf course, designed by Dan Maples, opened for play in 1991. No final decision has been made about building a second course. A private clubhouse with a fitness center and swimming pool is complete; lighted tennis courts are scheduled for construction this summer.
Gates and security guards provide privacy and security, a sale-cinching factor for urban refugees, says Tarrant.
Twenty minutes west of Albemarle Plantation is Edenton Bay Plantation, a 600-home golf course community with all but a handful of its home sites still in the development stages.
Phase I of Edenton Bay is within walking distance of downtown Edenton. Most of its three dozen home sites have been sold since 1993. Home sites in Phase II, approved by Edenton's Town Council for an adjoining 630-acres, should be for sale by late this year. Bob DeGabrielle & Associates, an Outer Banks real estate and development company will market the project, says Edward Wood, whose family has owned the land since 1865.
Wood and several other family members still live next door to the development at Hayes Farm, a piece of property once owned by Samuel Johnson, one of the state's first governors.
Tom Fazio, honored by ``Golf Digest'' as the world's best golf course designer, is designing a soundfront course slated to open in late 1997. Aside from golf, proximity to Edenton with its active arts community, historic district and picturesque waterfront are counted as the development's big draws. Riding stables and a marina may be added later.
Another family farm's tractors are being traded in for golf carts at Barnett's Creek in Grandy on the Currituck County mainland. Larry Woodhouse is turning his 335 acres into the region's most affordable golf community, with half-acre lots starting at just under $30,000. Scot Realty, Moyock, has been hired to market the development. According to Scot sales manager Larry Gaither, a large Virginia real estate company will be brought in handle regional promotion.
The golf course is a necessary amenity for Barnett's Creek, says Starkey Sharp, a spokesman for the developer. ``There are plenty of this type of lot. They're not selling particularly well. If you can't wait 10 years to sell out, you need some attraction.''
Grandy's flat fields are being sculpted into a championship-style golf course by Chris Lahr, who spent years working for some of the best known golf course designers on the East Coast. Lahr is on the job every day, overseeing the movement of 250,000 cubic yards of dirt into what he calls ``a very playable course.''
Barnett's Creek also has a private marina with two boat ramps and 23 boat slips. A dredged creek and canal provide access to the North River for small boats not drawing more than five feet of water.
While Gaither agrees that a good percentage of his buyers won't be golfers, he doesn't rule out Tidewater golfers liking the community so much that they'll move to Grandy and commute to their jobs. ``In Chesapeake, people are driving an hour to Newport News and paying $65,000 for a lot that's only a third of an acre. You figure it out,'' Gaither says. Why wouldn't they buy down here?
The market for golf property in Grandy may still be a question mark but there's no uncertainty about the county's other new golf course community, The Currituck Club. This upscale development has signed contracts on 86 home sites since the first of the year and 13 houses have been started.
The 600-acre development has plans for 430 single-family homes, 70 patio homes and 96 golf villas, all built to the latest wind and flood resistant standards developed by Blue Sky, a national program funded to encourage safer, stronger single family residential construction.
Unlike the mainland communities where rental properties are uncommon, 75 percent of the houses built at The Currituck Club are expected to be used initially for vacation rentals, a typical number for Outer Banks resorts. But the developer, Mickey Hayes, president of Kitty Hawk Land Co., believes that it will evolve into more of a year-round community as one of his earlier projects - Southern Shores - has done.
The Currituck Club may be bucking other trends. So far, 90 percent of the buyers play golf or want to play golf, says Michael Nolan, director of sales. The Rees Jones course, stretching 6,900 yards along the Currituck Sound and within sight of the ocean, has been drawing national attention ever since the noted golf course architect declared it ``one of the great pieces of golf course property you'll ever find.''
According to Nolan, Jones is considered one of the top five worldwide in his field. ``He spent time here over and over again personally walking the course and making modifications,'' says Nolan. The result is a course where every hole has multiple tee boxes making it as easy or as hard as you want it to be. Nolan is sure golfers at other clubs will want to play at The Currituck Club; he's not convinced that Currituck Club owners will want to play anywhere else.
But even if they don't share the desire to play an occasional round at other courses, Nolan's customers will have a lot in common with other golf community property owners across the region. There's little variation in the marketing demographics that point to northeastern North Carolina's future as a golf destination.
``It's a natural,'' says Edward Wood. ``Look at a map. We've got the land. There will be other golf projects coming along.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
DREW WILSON
The pool area and clubhouse at Albemarle Plantation near Hertford,
one of the first golf subdivisions to lure outsiders.
Golfers drive to the second hole at Albemarle Plantation, an hour
from Norfolk.
Mulberry Hill is a cooperative project with the Chowan Golf &
Country Club.
Photos by Chris Kidder
Chris Lahr, golf course designer, stands on the second green at
Barnetts Creek in Currituck County.
Some 600 houses are nearing completion at The Currituck Club, a new
golfing community.
Map
VP
ALBEMARLE AREA GOLF COURSES
Graphic
LINKING UP
Golf course communities being developed or marketed in
northeastern North Carolina:
The Currituck Club
N.C. Route 12 between Duck and Corolla
Home sites, $95,000 to $300,000; Patio homes, $220,000 to
$400,000.
18-hole Rees Jones golf course (opening July 1); swim & tennis
facilities (October 1996)
Sales office: 919-453-9008 or 800-465-3972
Village at Nags Head
U.S. Route 158, Nags Head
Home sites, $37,500-$165,000 soundfront, $290,000 oceanfront
18-hole golf course designed by Jerry Turner & Associates; swim &
tennis club
Sales office (Village Realty): 919-441-1250
Barnett's Creek
U.S. Route 158, Grandy
Home sites, $29,900 to $39,000
18-hole golf course under construction (opening summer 1997)
Sales office (Scot Realty): 919-453-9180
Albemarle Plantation
Off U.S. Route 17 near Hertford
Home sites, $39,500 to $250,000; condominiums, $80,000 to
$180,000.
18-hole Dan Maples golf course; swim and tennis facilities;
212-slip marina
Sales office: 919-426-GOLF or 800-523-5958
Edenton Bay
Off South Broad Street, downtown Edenton
Home sites for sale in Phase I (not on golf course), $50,000 to
$200,000; Phase II (on golf course). Sales to begin late 1996
18-hole Tom Fazio golf course in planning stages (opening spring
1998); swim & tennis center in planning stages
Sales office: 919-919-482-3552
Mulberry Hill
Soundside Road, Edenton
Home sites for sale in Phase I, $24,500 to $159,000.
Cooperative development with 18-hole Chowan Golf & Country Club;
tennis and pool facilities
Sales office: 919-482-8077 by CNB