DATE: Friday, April 4, 1997                 TAG: 9704040667

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B6   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY KATRICE FRANKLIN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   44 lines

SUFFOLK TO GAIN NEW 18-HOLE GOLF COURSE THE COURSE WILL CREATE A UNIQUE GOLFING COMMUNITY IN HARBOURVIEW.

With final city approval, construction is expected to start this month on an 18-hole golf course in Harbourview in Northern Suffolk.

Robert T. Williams, executive vice president of the Jorman Group, said the planning department approved site-clearing plans for the course this week.

The course will be part of a community that contains about 800 homes and a 55-acre lake. Construction costs will be from $3 million to $4 million, said Williams.

``This will give the community an amenity that's not available now,'' he said. ``This is the only golf-course community of its size coming online between Williamsburg and North Carolina. The timing is good, and we're excited.''

There are two sections of Harbourview, which is just south of the Monitor-Merrimac Bridge Tunnel that links the northern and southern shores of Hampton Roads. The first portion, just off College Drive, includes Lakeview Industrial Park, recreational facilities, a new elementary school and about 700 townhouses and homes.

The golf course will open residential development in the second section, off U.S. Route 17 and Harbourview Blvd.

Homes in the development now range from $80,000 to $225,000, but the golf course will bring in higher-end development.

``We're looking at homes from $190,000 on up to somewhere around a million,'' Williams said. ``They'll not only be located around a golf course, but some of them will be along the Nansemond River.''

Williams said the golf course should open to host a few conventions by the end of 1998 and will be open to the public in 1999.

Tom Doak will design the golf course. Other courses completed by the Michigan-based architect include Stonewall just west of Philadelphia, Red Mike in North Dakota and Sand Mills in Nebraska. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II/The Virginian-Pilot

Robert T. Williams, the developer of Harbourview, said plans for the

course in the community were approved by the Suffolk planning

department this week. KEYWORDS: GOLF COURSE

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