THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 15, 1997 TAG: 9702130227
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JEANNE MOONEY, SPECIAL TO REAL ESTATE WEEKLY
LENGTH: 176 lines
When Eva Love makes the turn onto Respass Beach Road in Suffolk, her body relaxes and the stress of the workday fades away.
Here, in a booming community called Burbage Grant, Love and her family make their home - a brand-new five-bedroom home. It's spacious, safe and within easy reach of Norfolk and the Peninsula, Love says. She shopped some five years before finding it.
A magician probably couldn't have convinced Love to stay in her former Newport News townhouse. There, she had to slog through traffic to and from work, fight for a parking spot outside her home and at times listen to gunfire pierce the night. No more.
``I like Burbage Grant because it's a place you can raise your children without the pressure of a city environment,'' says Love. ``You get the sense of wanting to become a neighbor as opposed to just a resident.''
Love is one of the early settlers of Burbage Grant, a master planned community that is the largest and perhaps the fastest growing residential development in Suffolk.
Burbage Grant began sprouting homes about three years ago. Today, it is home to more than 600 families and it's almost half-complete.
In all, 1,500 dwellings are planned. If projections by the developer's managing partner hold, construction at Burbage Grant will be finished by the end of 1998.
The reason for the boom? L-O-C-A-T-I-O-N, says J.R. Ratliff of The Jorman Group, the managing partner for Harbourview Partners, the developer.
Interstate 664, the Western Freeway, and the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge Tunnel are within easy reach. The development is set in rural Suffolk but city life is within striking distance.
And residents such as Love will tell you they believe they got more house for their money in Burbage Grant than they would in, say, Chesapeake.
Burbage Grant comprises eight neighborhoods, all of which offer single-family homes. One of those neighborhoods - Scottsfield - also offers condominiums, townhouses and duplexes, though many of these have yet to be built. Some 200 apartments are planned for here as well.
Love rides through the neighborhoods frequently and watches them grow. An elementary school has been built and opened. A 293-home neighborhood called Burbage Lake Village has been finished, and new neighborhoods have been started.
And no less than a dozen building companies are at work here, not to mention the small army of movers and U-Hauls.
``It's like having a child,'' Love says of the growth phenom at Burbage Grant. ``You watch it grow. You watch its development. You want to take part in its development.''
Love does. She serves on a committee that relays Scottsfield neighbors' concerns to the Burbage Grant homeowners association.
Pamela B. Kiriakos also is watching Burbage Grant grow. She sees it from her vantage as principal of Northern Shores Elementary School, Suffolk's newest, located in Burbage Grant.
The school opened in August with 496 pupils. Enrollment has climbed to 540 and it may reach capacity - 675 pupils - by fall, Kiriakos says. The school also draws children from outside Burbage Grant, but much of the jump in enrollment is fed by newcomers to that development.
``We're accustomed to taking in new children daily,'' said Kiriakos. She spoke on the first school day of February, one which saw four new pupils enroll at her school.
Of course, in any community, it takes time for new neighbors to get acquainted with one another. Eartha Garrett is trying to help break the ice.
Garrett is a resident of Burbage Lake Village, Burbage Grant's largest neighborhood. She also is president of the Northern Shores Elementary School PTA.
On a recent Friday, Garrett, her family and about 30 other families met in the elementary school gym (which doubles as a city rec center) for a PTA-sponsored fun night. They played games, ate cookies and mingled. The event is just part of what makes Burbage Grant feel like home.
``It's a very family-oriented community,'' Garrett says of her neighborhood. ``It's been a lot of fun. I've met a lot of fun people. . . . It seems like everybody came out here with the right attitude.''
She also likes the open design of her home. ``I think we got a lot of house for the money,'' says Garrett, who moved here from Portsmouth three years ago.
Like other Burbage Grant residents, Garrett and her family have an outdoor Olympic-size swimming pool, tennis courts and volleyball courts to use in nicer weather.
The developer provided those, a picnic shelter and set aside fields for baseball, softball, soccer and football. Tot lots are planned for each of the neighborhoods. And builders have had to plant hardwood and flowering trees throughout the development.
It is common to see homeowners jogging, biking or strolling around Burbage Lake with their children. Some spend the brisk days of winter tending their cars or playing basketball in the driveway. Love knows they fuss over their lawns and the appearance of their homes.
``I do get a sense of ownership,'' Love says. ``You get a great sense of pride.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
GARY C. KNAPP
Eartha and Cavan Garrett and 12-year-old- son Davon live in Burbage
Lake Village, where she is a neighborhood activist.
AT A GLANCE
Map
ABOUT THE NEIGHBORHOOD
Schools: Northern Shores Elementary School is in Burbage Grant; the
developer has set aside a site for a possible middle school. Burbage
Grant sends its children to John Yeats Middle School and Nansemond
River High School. Tidewater Community College's Portsmouth campus
is a short distance from the development.
Hospitals: Maryview Medical Center, Portsmouth, and Obici Hospital,
Suffolk. Shopping: Churchland Square and Chesapeake Square Mall,
both in Chesapeake, are close.
Recreation: Northern Shores Recreation Center, Sleepy Hole Golf
Course, Mike's Trainland, Bennetts Creek Park and the Great Dismal
Swamp National Wildlife Refuge are all nearby.
FOR SALE
(All properties are in Burbage Lake Village)
At 6406 Crosswinds Court, a house with four bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, a
family room, room over the two-car garage and fireplace, with 2,200
square feet, was listed for $134,950.
At 6203 Pelican View Court, a 2,200-square-foot home with four
bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, gas fireplace with remote control, room over
the two-car garage and work space in the garage was listed for
$143,500.
At 6434 Olde Bullock's Circle, a waterfront lot with a first-floor
master suite, great room, fireplace, screened porch and patio, as
well as three bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths with 2,100 square feet was
listed for $154,900.
SOLD
At 6402 Crosswinds Court, a four-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath home sold for
$124,900 in January. It has 1,750 square feet, a finished room over
the two-car garage and a fireplace.
At 6908 Leefield Court, a house with a two-story foyer with balcony
overlook, four bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, a two-car garage and
2,250-square-feet sold for $131,500 in August.
At 6805 Burbage Lake Drive, a waterfront property with 2,274 square
feet, four bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, two-car garage, as well as deck
and family room sold for $133,000 in October.
Burbage Grant subdivisions
Here are the neighborhoods of Burbage Grant:
Bristol Shores: Fifty-nine single-family homes are planned for
this neighborhood in northernmost Burbage Grant. To date, only a
few homes, including a model, have been built. The homes here will
offer about 2,000 to 3,600 square feet of living space and sell from
the $130,000s to about $175,000. Some lots are waterfront property.
A pier and boat ramp to Streeter Creek will be built this spring.
Burbage Acres: About 165 single-family homes are planned for
this area near the northern tip of Respass Beach Road. The houses
and lots here are similar to those in Burbage Lake Village and sell
for about $120,000 to about $150,000. They typically offer 2,000
square feet and sit on lots that vary from 7,500 square feet to more
than two acres. Some of the larger lots back up to Streeter Creek.
Burbage Lake Village: A total of 293 single-family homes compose
this neighborhood that wraps around Burbage Lake near the entrance
to Burbage Grant. The houses first sold for about $90,000 to
$123,000. Resale prices now start around $118,000 and top out at
$160,000.
Burbage Landing: Slightly more than 100 single-family homes are
planned here. Model homes are being built and prices are expected
to start as low as $114,900. A larger four-bedroom home will start
at $128,000.
Castlewood Village: Upscale, custom-built homes sell for about
$140,000 to $300,000. Dwellings have been built on 114 of the 150
lots and another 30 or so homes are under construction. The homes
range from 2,000 to 3,500 square feet and sit on wooded lots, some
of which front on a pond. At least six different construction firms
are building here.
Glenrose: Roughly 65 single-family homes have built in this
neighborhood just south of Northern Shores Elementary School. A
total of 101 are planned. The prices start at around $115,000.
Ridgewood Village: Seventy-two homes are planned and a dozen or
so have been built. They are to sell for about $135,000 to $155,000.
Scottsfield: Eighty-four duplexes, 144 townhouses, 92
condominiums and about 200 apartments are planned in addition to the
50 single-family homes that stand now. Construction is underway on
all but the apartments. Prices for the condos, townhouses and
duplexes begin around $90,000. Prices for the single-family homes
started around $110,000.