DATE: Sunday, November 2, 1997              TAG: 9710310824

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MEREDITH COHN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:  142 lines

OPEN LAND BECKONS IN WESTERN BRANCH NEW ROADS, SCHOOLS AND RETAIL OUTLETS ARE PLANNED IN CHESAPEAKE'S NORTHWEST CORNER TO ACCOMMODATE AN EXPECTED INFLUX OF RESIDENTS

Suburban sprawl may have found a new home.

Tucked into the northwest corner of Chesapeake, the borough of Western Branch already has seen a few housing developments, a mall and some other shops creep in. But city officials and developers say in years to come, the area could become the next Greenbrier, the city's current mecca for business, shopping and living.

New roads, schools and retail outlets are planned in Western Branch to accommodate new residents. And city and business leaders say the region is an untested but promising industrial and office market.

While Chesapeake has been expecting the growth for years, one of the first signs of the area's commercial future may be a three-story, 95-room motel recently approved by the city on Gum Road close to the intersection of I-664 and Portsmouth Boulevard. The developer of the Marriott-affiliated Fairfield Suites is LTD Management Co., which has joined with other investors to build five hotels in the Greenbrier area and propose one more.

Walton ``Pete'' Burkhimer Jr., the agent who represented LTD during the city approval process, likened the group to American pioneers who ventured west.

``They're the lead horse on the bandwagon,'' Burkhimer said.

For now, retail businesses are the best represented in Western Branch. Of the 1,200 business registered there in 1995, a third were retail, with the rest a variety of services and home businesses, according to the Western Branch Area Plan, a city-approved document that outlines long-term development in the region. Big, brand name retail stores have come to the area or are planning to locate in Western Branch including Food Lion and Home Depot. Still, the area plan shows that more than half of the land is undeveloped or used for agriculture, although portions of it are off-limits because of wetlands.

Residents, some of whom have complained to the city about development, fear rapid building on the open land will mean more crowded schools and roads and an end to green spaces. They are not against development, according to Gary Szymanski, president of the Western Branch Council of Civic Leagues. And they know they can't stop all of it, he said, but they want new homes, shops, offices and industry to come at a manageable pace.

``Traffic is the biggest concern,'' he said. ``The rate of growth in general is a concern, but we have enough community involvement to try and work for quality (development.)''

Wilson Garland, who runs the Stonebridge Restaurant, said he needs growth to support his business. But he, too, wants that development to have quality. Garland said the best way to obtain that quality is to stop demanding so much of developers.

Garland cited, for example, a proposed residential and commercial development site once known as New Boone Farm. Development there was stalled in 1989 because of wetlands concerns, but now that a new 325-acre development has been proposed, the city wants the builders to donate land for a school. Garland said the concession will lead the developers to cut costs by building cheaper.

``Now, we'll get a lot of multi-family houses that will make the crowding problem at schools and on the roads worse,'' he said. ``The city has the best of intentions, but it is going to backfire.''

Despite demands placed on developers, residential complaints and wetlands restrictions, Western Branch's huge amounts of land seem irresistible to developers.

``We saw a lot of potential in Chesapeake,'' said Harry K. Thakkar, chief financial officer of LTD Management, the hotel builder. ``When we came there was no new hotel in Greenbrier. . . . We see that same potential in Western Branch.''

Thakkar and his partner, Dilip R. Desai, say they are taking a risk building in Western Branch because hotels need business travelers, which are not yet a steady component there. But the two expect others will see the same things they do in the area.

The first thing most developers see in Western Branch is the land. But there are other reasons to develop there.

Zoning. Large tracts already are zoned residential and commercial. The city's long-term plan calls for development including offices and businesses in a 400- to 500-acre site that's mostly vacant around the I-664 and Portsmouth Boulevard interchange - near the motel site.

Further, the New Boone Farm site, mostly along the western side of I-664, has already been zoned for houses, offices, businesses and light industrial. Another large tract in the southern part of the borough is expected to bring in heavy industrial. Developers own large portions of the spaces.

The pace of development will be market-driven, said Brent R. Nielsen, the city's director of planning. But Nielsen said, no doubt, the region will grow.

``The Western Branch land use plan provides an opportunity for economic development along the I-664 corridor,'' he said. ``We've already had interest expressed from developers.''

Other city leaders, including Mayor William E. Ward and Economic Development Director Donald Z. Goldberg, insist the city needs development, especially commercial development, which requires fewer city services. Setting aside space for commercial development gives the city's salesmen something to show executives looking for a site for a new manufacturing plant, distribution center or headquarters.

Location. Near a cross-section of highways leading to Norfolk, Suffolk, the rest of Chesapeake and the Peninsula, the area provides easy access for workers, shoppers and delivery trucks. The proposed third crossing, another bridge-tunnel to the Peninsula, could lead traffic near Western Branch's borders.

Commercial real estate developer Gerald Divaris said as the population grows in the area, business will follow.

``First come the residents and the industry,'' he said. ``Then, workers will need housing and they will need to be fed, leading to retail outlets. Offices will be last. Some services like an accountant and small mortgage company will come and then the larger offices.''

The population has put Divaris' scenario into motion. At the beginning of 1994, the city estimated the population was 24,843, or 39 percent more than in 1980. That rate was behind the citywide growth of 54 percent in the same time period. But Western Branch is expected to gain on its neighbors' growth rate by 2015, when city officials estimate the borough will have 33,204 residents.

Western Branch's neighbors are also expecting a lot of activity. Developers in Northern Suffolk, just to the west of the borough, already have begun building houses and commercial buildings, and city officials have been aggressively pursuing industry. On the other side of Western Branch, Portsmouth already has some buildings and has begun anew to attract manufacturing and office users. All three cities will compete for businesses looking for space with easy access to the highways.

While plans have been on the drawing board for more than a decade in northern Suffolk and Western Branch, real estate observers say that the time may be right for the development boom. The Monitor-Merrimac Bridge Tunnel, which was expected to bring development to the region in the early 1990s, did not produce the growth because of dismal conditions in the real estate industry.

But now the economy is strong, lenders are again financing development and the proposed third crossing to the Peninsula could further open up the area. Provided needs such as roads and water are in place, the economy remains in good shape, and cities are perceived as business-friendly, real estate observers say the area will continue to grow.

LTD Management agent Burkhimer said he believes there already is enough business for the company's motel. Residents need rooms for out-of-town guests, and business travelers and tourists need places to stay. The motel is expected to open in the summer of 1998.

``This is what Greenbrier looked like 25 years ago,'' he said. ``If for no other reason, I think this corner of Hampton Roads is destined to succeed by default because where else is there?'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic with map by ROBERT D. VOROS, The

Virginian-Pilot

Western Branch Land Uses KEYWORDS: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT LAND USE

CHESAPEAKE GROWTH

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