
DATE: Saturday, August 30, 1997             TAG: 9708280380

SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY      PAGE: 22   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: About the Outer Banks 

SOURCE: Chris Kidder 

                                            LENGTH:  140 lines

COROLLA AREA COVERS ALL AMENITIES

I first saw Corolla Light, the upscale Corolla resort village, in the early winter months of 1985. The community was little more than a blueprint in developer Dick Brindley's hand.

A few streets were bulldozed through the sand, a few stakes were set in the ground, but those of us who were given Brindley's early tour had to use a lot of imagination - and faith - to see things as he saw them.

When Brindley bought the more than 250 acres of ocean-to-sound property near the Currituck Beach Lighthouse, N.C. 12 into Corolla didn't exist. The road from Sanderling was unpaved and open only to those with permits. What little vacation development existed - Carova Beach, Whalehead, Ocean Sands - were isolated enclaves of diehard folks who liked solitude and self-sufficiency.

Corolla's year-round population peaked around 35.

Brindley claims to have been committed to developing Corolla Light with or without a road. Fortune smiled on him when the state acquired, paved and opened the winding highway shortly after he closed on his purchase. The traffic began to flow north out of Duck and into Brindley's vacationland.

Spanning the only road into the village, the people came, they saw and they bought. A dentist from the Washington, D.C., area bought the first lot in March 1985. Approximately 350 other lots have been sold since that time, some more than once, to be sure; 317 houses, townhomes and condominiums have been built.

Build-out is 416 houses, says Don Cheek, general manager of the Corolla Light Community Association. ``We still have a ways to go,'' he says. When I think back to that windy winter day 12 years ago, it's fair to say they've already come a far piece.

Brindley was not the first developer to cater to vacationers - nor was he the first to assume that folks would pay for amenities that gave them alternatives to the beach. But he was the first to roll the concepts of upscale urban aesthetics and guest service into one package and label it the Outer Banks ``dream.''

He was also the first to put a community facility on prime oceanfront property. His huge oceanfront recreation center made Corolla Light the first Outer Banks community to give all its owners and their guests such extraordinary access to the ocean. And he laid it all out for prospective buyers, putting most of the amenities in up-front so that the community could really sell itself.

What you see at Corolla Light today is, with few exceptions, the resort that Brindley described in 1985. If many of the houses built early in the community's development are modest by Corolla's present-day standards, the amenities more than make up for their lack of excess. No other community on the Outer Banks can offer so much.

Corolla Light has two large oceanfront swimming pools, one soundside pool and one very large indoor pool. There are nine lighted tennis courts, seven of which are outdoors; five, including the two indoor courts, are clay. The indoor sports center also includes racquetball courts, a weight room and other spa facilities.

Nearby, there's a grass putting course, a soccer field, volleyball courts, a playground and horseshoes. More than four miles of lighted bicycle, jogging and nature trails thread the community. Two soundside piers allow sailing and crabbing. Three ponds are stocked with bass. Residents and their guests share nearly a half-mile of oceanfront beach.

The community association employs a full-time tennis pro and runs a free tram in-season from soundside to oceanfront with stops at local shops and all the recreational facilities. The line-up of summer activities is worthy of any good cruise ship: There's something for every age, every interest, going on at almost anytime.

Full amenities, strong programming and the community association's dedication to keeping up appearances maintain the development's competitive edge, says Jon Summerton, vice president of Twiddy & Co., which has about three dozen Corolla Light homes in its rental brochure. Those homes are booked solid in season, he says. ``There's no question that they get more rent and more weeks'' than comparable houses in other subdivisions.

Monica Thibodeau, broker-in-charge at Carolina Designs, another company that manages vacation rentals for several Corolla Light properties, agrees. Her company has pushed to increase its presence in the community, she says. ``Our houses have done well there. There's strength in that type of market.''

The things that create the strong rental market come at a price. Mandatory association dues - currently $2,303 for home owners, $1,848 for lot owners - include the use of all facilities. Unlike most other Outer Banks resort facilities, membership is not optional and the facilities are not open to the public.

In addition to recreational facilities, programming and guest services, dues provide year-round association staff available at any owner's - and potential owner's - beck and call, and landscaping and maintenance of more than 100 acres of common area.

Property values at Corolla Light have continued to climb, in spite of increased competition from newer developments. The first soundside lot in the subdivision sold for $75,000. Soundside lots today sell for more than $200,000. Oceanfront lots sell for as much as $450,000. And interior lots start at $86,500.

``A family that buys a lot and constructs a home with today's rental requirements can expect a return of 9 to 10 percent of their combined cost,'' says Doug Brindley, president of Brindley & Brindley Realty.

``Today's buyers are still looking for two basic features,'' Brindley says: a complete resort village that fulfilled the promise of a dream vacation; and enough folks who shared the dream to keep the homes and their exceptional amenity package in great demand.

In 1985, Dick Brindley, Doug's father, believed buyers would find what they were looking for at Corolla Light. He must have been right. MEMO: In the Aug. 17 edition of Real Estate Weekly, in the column about

property management, the wrong phone numbers were listed for Hatteras

Realty. The correct numbers are 995-5466 and 800-428-8372. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

HOW TO SEE IT

What: Corolla Light is a 267-acre, ocean-to-sound resort village.

The planned unit development will have 416 single and multifamily

homes at build-out. The community has a central water and sewer

system, private roads and recreational facilities. Two small

commercial zones include shopping, restaurants and a small bed and

breakfast inn.

Where: N.C. 12 at Corolla Village

Currently for sale: Any Outer Banks real estate agent who

subscribes to the Outer Banks Association of Realtors' MLS service