THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 30, 1996 TAG: 9608300511
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: 61 lines
Mayor William E. Ward announced plans Thursday to build Chesapeake's first conference and convention center under a private-public partnership with local builder Armada/Hoffler.
The proposed center at Greenbrier Circle and Sara Drive, will total about 51,000 square feet and offer a 20,000-square-foot ballroom.
The center will have banquet seating for about 1,300 and theater seating for more than 2,500.
The center would be home for school events, concerts, reunions, trade and professional shows, seminars, lectures, exhibitions and dances, according to city officials who said that the facility could be finished as early as June.
Ward said the goal was not to compete with other area cities that already have major convention centers. Chesapeake is hoping to create a medium-sized facility.
Donald Z. Goldberg, Chesapeake's director of economic development, said that the need for a convention center was noted in a 1993 study by professors at Old Dominion University, who found that, without such a center, the city lacked a drawing card for conventions, large business meetings and theatrical productions.
Chesapeake's Industrial Development Authority would lease the facility from Armada/Hoffler for several years before the city buys it. Terms have yet to be worked out, Goldberg said.
City officials are proposing a 1 percent increase in the 5 percent transient occupancy tax, charged to people when they stay in a local hotel.
The city is also proposing a half-percent increase in the 5 percent meal tax, paid for meals at local restaurants.
The council plans to hold a public hearing and vote on the proposed tax increases and the development of the conference center at their Sept. 10 meeting.
Goldberg, Mayor Ward and Vice Mayor John W. Butt said that the conference center would create about 50 new jobs, as well as increase usage of local hotels, restaurants and shops.
Goldberg said the facility also will give him a place from which to recruit companies and promote the city. The city plans to locate the city's department of economic development within the center.
Armada/Hoffler, which is headquartered in the Greenbrier area, was chosen after the Industrial Development Authority issued a nationwide request for proposals.
Armada/Hoffler was the only firm willing to form the required public-private partnership with the city, said Goldberg.
``They brought in a proposal that we though was absolutely gorgeous,'' Goldberg said.
``This is something the city sorely, sorely needed,'' said Daniel A. Hoffler, chairman of Armada/Hoffler Enterprises Inc., ``and we were here to help.'' ILLUSTRATION: MORT FRYMAN
The Virginian-Pilot
Daniel A. Hoffler of Armada/Hoffler Co., left, Vice Mayor John W.
Butt and Mayor William E. Ward announce Thursday that a conference
and convention center would be built in the Greenbrier section of
Chesapeake.
KEYWORDS: CONVENTION CENTER CHESAPEAKE CITY COUNCIL by CNB