
DATE: Friday, November 28, 1997             TAG: 9711280057

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY TOM HOLDEN, STAFF WRITER

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:  187 lines

BEACH HAS BIG DREAMS FO LASKIN RD. IMPROVEMENTS WOULD GREET RESORT VISITORS

To walk along Laskin Road as it enters the resort area is to take risks with one's life. It offers no sidewalks, and the traffic rushing past comes so close to the road's edge that it's better to forget the stroll.

The aesthetics are equally alarming. The road that is a gateway to the resort area lies low against a swamp with litter collecting in its drainage ditches. Parking lots are the most conspicuous amenities.

In a community that prides itself on attracting more than 2 million visitors a year to fuel a $500 million tourism industry, Laskin Road and many of its connecting streets do little to enhance the resort's economic vitality.

Now the city has begun to consider what could be done with the road to improve its appearance and foster what could be an unprecedented spurt of economic development.

For the past few months, key civic groups - most notably the City Council, on Tuesday - have been presented with a series of conceptual drawings that show a vastly improved Laskin Road.

Gone are the sandy berms and weed-choked lots, replaced with bike paths and safe walkways. A new Laskin Road bridge would cross the swamp at the point it enters the resort, making room for canoeists to explore the backways of Linkhorn Bay and creating for visitors a greater sense that they have arrived at a destination.

Sketches promote a markedly redesigned Beach Garden Park to tie into the plan and, perhaps most importantly, a new connector to 30th Street that would branch off Laskin just east of the proposed bridge and tie into the resort strip.

The planners have drawn up ideas for a redesigned 19th Street and the possibility of one day a massive makeover of Rudee Loop at the South Beach.

But it is Laskin Road that appears to have the most immediate appeal. Upscale grocery store Harris Teeter is under construction at Baltic Avenue and, significantly, it's positioned in such a way as to take advantage of a possible extension of 30th Street.

Negotiations are under way for the development of the 31st Street lot on the Oceanfront where developer Bruce Thompson's Gold Key Resorts and the city's economic development department are hoping to usher in a new high-end hotel, public park and retail complex. Ground could be broken in the fall of 1998.

Many of the major landholders in the area, including the Murden, Kellam and Browning families, have shown an interest in redevelopment projects, although nothing has been finalized, city officials have said.

``There is a tremendous potential for redevelopment along Laskin Road,'' said Donald L. Maxwell, the city's economic development director. ``We are looking at the whole 31st Street corridor. There have been a number of public improvements proposed there. So what we're trying to do is have a master plan for the overall area.''

That master plan, with its artfully rendered drawings of people strolling along city streets and bright flags fluttering in the summer sun, was presented to the City Council this week by Thomas C. Pauls, the comprehensive planning coordinator at the Department of Planning.

The drawings are a visual extension of the Resort Area Concept Plan, which City Council endorsed three years ago. While the plan was long on words, it lacked the visual cues that would give the public and City Council a clearer idea of what's possible.

Like everyone associated with the idea, Pauls cautioned that what is being shown is only a set of ideas, that nothing is final and that - most importantly - no funding has been identified or set aside for the roadway improvements.

``Sometimes when people see ideas like this, they want to see it built tomorrow,'' Pauls said. ``But good things in life take time. The possibility is there.''

City Manager James K. Spore, who will play a central role in finding money for the project should it come to pass, said Wednesday he was optimistic that ideas could become bricks and mortar.

``It's definitely something we'd like to have, but whether it's doable or not, well, I think the jury is out,'' he said. ``There are a lot of good ideas there.

``We're seeing a lot of interest from the development community that a few years ago we wouldn't have dreamed they would be interested in. We're looking to support and facilitate a lot of good things, but it's clearly not going to be something that the city will act alone on.

``There will have to be a lot of interest and substantial private investment. But the first thing you need is ideas,'' he said.

A study exploring the costs - both engineering and environmental - of rebuilding Laskin from the Virginia Beach-Norfolk Expressway to Pacific Avenue into a six-lane road is under way. A major component of the study is a replacement of the overpass at Linkhorn Bay, which today is nothing more than two drain pipes covered with asphalt.

In years past, a wooden bridge welcomed motorists to the resort area, but it was torn down and replaced with the present asphalt road.

Rebuilding Laskin with no real aesthetic improvements would cost at least $20.3 million, according to the city's Capital Improvements budget. No significant city money has been set aside. Any upgrades, such as a bridge or brick-covered sidewalks, would come out of the city's pocket. A diverted 30th Street could add several million to the cost, Spore said.

Councilman Linwood O. Branch III, who represents the Beach Borough, said that for significant public investment to take place, the city would have to see evidence that the private sector was moving in with bulldozers. He has talked of a need for a ``critical mass'' of committed private money before the public comes along.

``We're talking about some of the most depressed real estate at the Oceanfront,'' Branch said. ``We're looking at this as an opportunity to do a complete 180-degree turn, from standard development to something of real quality.''

Timothy Barrow, chairman of the planning and design group for the Resort Area Advisory Committee and a self-employed planning consultant, is anxious for progress.

``The conditions on Laskin Road through the resort area are as bad as we saw on Atlantic Avenue before we started the revitalization in 1985,'' Barrow said. ``It's an area that just cries out for attention because of the tremendous opportunity for development that exists there.''

One person who has heeded the call for Oceanfront redevelopment is Gold Key Resorts' Bruce Thompson. For months, Thompson has shuttled developers, architects and businessmen into his Laskin Road office to talk about his planned Oceanfront project at 31st Street.

It envisions a new hotel, public park, Dairy Queen and, possibly, an enhanced retail center that would transform shopping at the resort's North End from a T-shirt, tourist-centered enterprise into one geared for the lucrative North End residential trade as well as tourists hungry for something besides a coffee mug to take home.

Thompson has a long history of development in Virginia Beach and, along with his partner, Edmund C. Ruffin, is nearing completion of a $15 million, 88-unit time-share project - Turtle Cay - between 6th and 7th streets along Atlantic Avenue.

The two own or have an interest locally in eight resort hotels and condominiums, plus a number of medium-sized shopping centers, restaurants and nightspots.

When completed, Turtle Cay will be a three-story low-rise built around an open courtyard containing two swimming pools, hot tubs, waterfalls, gazebos and extensive plantings to give guests the feel of a Florida-style retreat. The project will include on-site parking.

But his 31st Street plans are clearly taking center stage for Thompson.

``I think it's the single best opportunity for the business community to take advantage of, on a 12-month basis, the services required by the residents of Virginia Beach.''

Ideally, he said, the redevelopment of 31st Street could, if done correctly, push the city's so-called ``shoulder months,'' when the resort quiets down for the winter, off the calendar.

``Those merchants who can service the residents in the winter because of access that Laskin Road provides could serve their clientele in summer and winter, '' he said. ``It will also give greater diversity for clientele along Atlantic Avenue in the winter.''

Thompson said that developers he has flown into the city are excited about the plans for Laskin Road and their excitement could foreshadow development unseen in the area's history.

``The visual presentation that the city has prepared for 30th and 31st streets has excited a lot of potential investors who heretofore did not feel as though the Oceanfront was worthy of an investment greater than what they could find on just the summer season,'' Thompson said.

``The city's vision, coupled with Laskin Road's proximity to the market, has motivated a lot of investors,'' he added. ``We have talked to a lot of investors, as well as potential retailers and restaurant operators who have told us that if we provide the high-quality project that we envision at 31st Street, then they are on our heels.''

That project could include a hotel that Thompson said could ``set development records'' for the city and would include a themed restaurant such as Planet Hollywood and an expanded public park that would keep the ocean vistas that now exist at the parking lot.

``Thirty-first Street represents an exceptional development opportunity,'' Thompson said. ``It's unlike any other corridor at the Beach. It could be a defining moment if developed properly.

``It's important that it is looked at comprehensively, so that the spill-over will be to Atlantic Avenue and that people on Atlantic will have the opportunity to patronize the 31st Street corridor.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

Color photo

The Present

Color drawing

The Future

Color map

Area Shown: Section of Laskin Road...

Drawing

ARTIST'S CONCEPTION

The Future

The revitalized Laskin Road would include bike paths and safe

walkways, as well as a markedly redesigned Beach Garden Park.

Photo