Cape Charles development gains owners, cash infusion

A Baltimore investment firm has acquired a 50 percent stake in part of the Bay Creek Resort & Club in Cape Charles, its developer said Thursday.

Oral Lambert, chief executive officer of Bay Creek Resort, described the infusion of capital as "fairly substantial" but declined to disclose the amount. The funds, he said, will be used to develop property in Bay Creek's golf district.

The development, which covers more than 1,700 acres,

includes a separate marina-oriented community to the north of Cape Charles' business district.

Bay Creek's management, headed by Virginia Beach-based developer Dick Foster, remained the same after the transaction with Keyser Capital, Lambert said. The deal closed last Friday.

Keyser, a subsidiary of Baltimore-based Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc., became half-owner of Bay Creek South, a partnership created for this transaction, Bay Creek said. Foster, it said, owns the other 50 percent.

Bay Creek South includes the larger, southern part of the development, with two golf courses.

Keyser also has investments in commercial and industrial real estate in Baltimore, a sign company there and apartment buildings in Atlanta and Indianapolis.

The additional capital for Bay Creek came in the wake of a sharp slowdown in home sales on Virginia's Eastern Shore last year. They fell 47 percent, to 401 from 752, in 2006, according to data compiled by the Virginia Association of Realtors. Lambert described Bay Creek's lot sales during 2007 as "slow."

The company said Thursday that it has 17 lots under contract or reserved for the first phase of its Bayside Village development, which opened earlier this year. The first phase has 135 lots in a development that eventually will have 400 to 500 lots.

Bay Creek's long-term plans call for having as many as 3,000 households in a mix of single-family homes and condos.

Bay Creek also plans to build an inn and spa and a large golf clubhouse, but the company does not yet have timetables for these projects, Lambert said.

Tom Shean, (757) 446-2379, tom.shean@pilotonline.com