The Virginian-Pilot
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CHESAPEAKE
One of the largest homebuilders in Hampton Roads is planning to begin work next year on a 416-unit condominium community in Western Branch aimed at middle-income homebuyers.
In August, The Dragas Cos., based in Virginia Beach, received approval by the Chesapeake Planning Commission to move forward with the nearly 53-acre project to be called King's Pointe at Western Branch.
The project will consist of two- and three-bedroom condos that will cost between $175,000 and $200,000. That's a price range that's sold well the past year, driven in part by the first-time homebuyer federal tax credit.
As part of the project, the company recently purchased 39 acres on Gum Road in Chesapeake for $5.15 million. A spokeswoman for The Dragas Cos. did not return a call seeking comment on the project.
In a land rezoning application filed in March, the company said the recession and credit crunch has caused lenders to rein in financing for projects of single-family homes. The company said there's an "oversupply" of 112 high-priced single-family homes on the market within two miles of the site, which abuts the intersection of Interstate 64 and Portsmouth Boulevard.
"A single-family subdivision is clearly not the most optimal use of this property," the company wrote in its application.
Last year was the second-best sales year on record for The Dragas Cos., which specializes in less expensive homes. The company led the region in sales volume in 2008 with 315 homes for revenue of $74.8 million.
"The lower the price, the higher the activity there is," Helen Dragas, chief executive of The Dragas Cos., said in January. "I think there's still a short supply of high quality, lower-priced homes."
Josh Brown, (757) 446-2318, josh.brown@pilotonline.com
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Here we go again
Why does Chesapeake keep on approving these projects? Here we go again with the building of small, inexpensive homes that will require more city services. The schools in Western Branch are already overcrowded, and the roads are made to handle the traffic burdens of 25 years ago. Property values will go down, more mobile units will be built behind the schools, taxes will stay too low, classes will get more crowded, SOL scores will go down, new roads will not be built, and the kids on Airline Boulevard will keep going to Western Branch Schools. I guess the Wal-Mart crowd and Dragas people can rejoice. The new residents in these condo's will not pay enough in personal property taxes to cover the city services that they will utilize.
single family land
we can thank the no-growth not-near-me nabobs of negativism and their nattering nitwits on city council for the demise of single family homes. it now costs 3 times the cost per lot merely do get a site plan through the kafkaesque regulations of the engineers, planning depts, deq, waterworks, zoning boards, planning boards, city councils, army corps, epa and all the remaining fiefdoms of bureaucrats whose regulations do little more than a common sense carolinian can see in 10 minutes. this is before you turn a shovel of dirt.//add that process to the bubble of fannie mae/freddie mac and well......................be careful what you ask for
Dragas Project
Sounds like a good place for more slums.
A good project
Anyone that has either lived in or owned a home in a Dragas community can attest to the quality of construction, the landscaping and community as a whole. Sure, Dragas got caught up in the Chinese drywall fiasco through a subcontractor, but they also took great pains to make it right, basically gutting and rebuilding the units. I haven't heard of any other home builder doing the same.
A condo community is only as good as the residents want it to be. The board is made up by people that the residents select! The condo fees also pay for such things as water, sewerage, landscaping, insurance, trash and the pools. The fees are set by the board, which is made up by the residents!
The price point is where a lot of people can afford them. In my opinion, this is a good project.
Are condos for everyone? Of course not, but those that see the benefits as well as the restrictions, they can be very suitable and comfortable.
And no, I don't work for Dragas.
Chesapeake would not listen to our calls
I DO NOT want my $400K home losing value because of cheap apartments down the street. Western Branch already has the slums on airline Blvd zoned in our schools. We do not need more people at school, we need more business bringing in revenue dollars not apartments!
Dragas
I think it's interesting and a bit sad that we've come to the point where $200,000 homes are considered "slums." Have you walked through Dragas communities like Ridgley Manor and seen how beautifully they are maintained?
agreed
I do not know why they do not rezone Airline Blvd. residents to Deep Creek especially if Deep Creek has such a hard time keeping students. It is bad enough they have those apartments on Taylor Road that has basically turned into slums with good landscaping.
Condos Today....
= Section 8 tomorrow.....
Hidden under the news of the
Hidden under the news of the consumerism Christmas holiday was the story of Fannie and Freddie getting permission to pay their top execs huge bonuses for their horrible performance. Of course F and F had to be bailed out with huge amounts of money billed to the middle class. On top of this they should have been delisted from the stock market, and were wrapped under tons of fraud where the the people who comitted it (Raines) still receive some $100,000 a month for life from them after getting busted.
But in the end, they are to thank for artificially propping up residential home prices. If it wasn't for the gov't giving large loans, then people wouldn't be able to borrow so much to overpay for the junk housing.
hmm
I live about a mile from Gum Road. It is two lanes, narrow, and very curvy in some spots. It cannot be expanded because of private property, woods and so called protected wetlands on each side. During bad thunderstorms or hurricanes, trees and branches fall on houses and do extensive damage. They also completely block Gum Road.
Good luck to the condo buyers. They are going to have one terrible drive home every day, live on sinking swamp land, and their kids are going to be going to the very overcrowded Western Branch schools.