Virginia Beach considers redirecting cash for Laskin gateway

VIRGINIA BEACH

Jeffrey Murden's appliance store is a throwback. Some of the washing machines on display are on their second or third life. The wooden school desks, seating for customers, are out of production. The squat store itself sits on a block that Murden's family has owned for three generations.

"I prefer to keep it sweet and simple," Murden said, wiping grease from his hands.

From a window of his shop at the corner of Laskin and Holly roads, Murden can see progress - the 31st Street Hilton towers before the Atlantic Ocean. Two blocks south of Murden is a new brick condominium. To his northeast is a recently built parking deck.

Virginia Beach officials hope that type of development will stretch from the Oceanfront down Laskin Road.

To make it happen, much of the city's scarce transportation money may be poured into a roadway project that will convert a quarter-mile stretch of Laskin Road, which becomes 31st Street at the Oceanfront, into a pedestrian-friendly corridor.

Today, the Laskin Road Gateway has leapfrogged over other transportation needs in the proposed 2009- 10 budget. To help speed work on the gateway, money has been taken from other road plans and the city's savings.

Meanwhile, the gateway's cost has more than doubled to $28.4 million in the past year. Much of the cost increase is in acquiring the land to extend 32nd Street, which wasn't initially part of this phase.

Utility design work could start next month and road work this winter.

The rush to turn Laskin Road from a four-lane to a two-lane corridor and extend 32nd Street to carry more residential traffic is spurred by a project proposed by hotelier Bruce Thompson, whose company developed the Hilton.

At the corner of 31st Street and Pacific Avenue, Thompson wants to build a $58 million restaurant and retail district with apartments and offices, a major step in converting the Laskin corridor. Construction on Beach Centre at 31 Ocean, as the project is tentatively called, is to begin early next year.

"He's fast-tracking it," Councilman John Uhrin said. "It doesn't make sense for him to do that and not coordinate with the city."

The steps the city has taken to speed up the Laskin Gateway have upset Princess Anne Councilwoman Barbara Henley. Under the proposed budget, money from Seaboard Road, a project in Henley's district, would go to Laskin.

"I don't know when we made this a top priority," Henley said. "I'm really sort of at the end of tolerating these Princess Anne projects being shoved aside."

Henley and other council members said they have not received updated information about Thompson's project or the road work necessary to make it a success.

The last time council members were briefed about Beach Centre, city staff estimated that the public's commitment for road and utility work would be $7 million. That projection was based on improvements only to the block by Thompson's project.

Not wanting to tear up the road again and disrupt Beach Centre to do the gateway project, city officials have combined street work for Thompson's development and the gateway project.

"I think we should have some input," Henley said of staff decisions on road projects.

The city already has set aside $12.5 million in the 2008-09 budget for the gateway project, and staff has proposed making up the difference by taking:

- $4.2 million out of the Seaboard Road project, which was supposed to be bid for construction in two months. Now it would be indefinitely delayed.

- $4 million from the public utilities savings account.

- $1 million from the Southeastern Parkway project.

- $2 million in charter bond capacity.

- In 2010- 11, the city would divert $3.2 million set aside for the proposed Town Center pedestrian bridge and $1.5 million from a fund that supports strategic growth areas.

Seaboard Road was supposed to tie into improvements of Nimmo Parkway, which have been delayed because of cuts in state funding. Without Nimmo, Seaboard is a "road to nowhere," Uhrin said.

The Laskin Gateway offers the city a chance not only to spur Thompson's investment, but also to complete a public vision and make road improvements officials have discussed for years, Uhrin said.

Another part of the gateway project, the extension of 30th Street to Laskin, was completed last year at a cost of about $15 million.

Despite the increased cost of the gateway, if the road improvements encourage more development like Thompson's 31st Street Hilton, it would be worth the city investment, said Mayor Will Sessoms.

"There are a lot of improvements there that need to occur that have been long overdue," Sessoms said.

Jeffrey Murden said he has no plans to redevelop his family's property.

"They have all these visions," Murden said, showing off a stack of old city plans for the corridor, few of which have been completed.

"If it ain't broke, leave it alone."

Deirdre Fernandes, (757) 222-5121, deirdre.fernandes@pilotonline.com