The Virginian-Pilot
©
NORFOLK
Eventually, city leaders would like to see a high-rise hotel or residential development peering over the Chesapeake Bay in Ocean View.
Today, they will take steps towards one day landing that kind of development.
The City Council is expected to approve spending nearly $2.4 million to purchase the old Ramada Inn Hotel on East Ocean View Avenue near the intersection of Chesapeake Boulevard.
The hotel, which most recently operated as a Howard Johnson, was once a center of activity in Ocean View. Its rooms, pool and restaurant overflowed with tourists and local residents in the 1960s and 1970s. It was condemned and closed by the city more than a year ago after inspectors found mold and structural problems.
Located across East Ocean View Avenue from a city-owned public beach, it offers sweeping views of the Chesapeake Bay from second-floor rooms. It is adjacent to half a dozen properties owned by the city, including the Ocean View Golf Course and Ocean View Senior Center.
Its location made it essential that the city control the site, said Councilman W. Randy Wright, who pushed city officials to purchase the property.
The markets for hotels and residential projects is flat right now, Wright conceded. “But when the market comes back, a developer will put a quality project there,” he said.
Several developers over the years tried to purchased the property from hotel owner Vijay Shah, including one who would have built a Food Lion there. Ocean View needs more grocery stores, but not on that site, Wright said.
Wright said the property, including 2.4 acres of land, is assessed for $2.8 million by the city.
“It’s a piece of property we need to control,” Councilman Barclay C. Winn said. But, in an economic downturn, the city needs to stop acquiring property and “start selling.”
Harry Minium, (757) 446-2371, harry.minium@pilotonline.com
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I'm glad. I go past there
I'm glad. I go past there daily, and live not terribly far from there.I would like to know where the money will come from?
Oh boy! more condos!
I can't wait! how 'bout you?
"Essential"? "Need"?
Did either councilman explain why they think it's "essential" for the city to control this property and why there's a "need" for the city to determine what goes there? I can't think of any reason. And why does Food Lion "need" to not go there? If Food Lion wants to go there, seems to me that's where Food Lion should go. It's the owners and tenants of property who ought to be deciding what goes on the property, right? What parade of horribles do Wright and Winn claim is going to happen if they don't control the development there? Would that parade actually happen? And would any of it actually be bad?
I think its because there is
I think its because there is a Farm Fresh just two blocks away.
Homeless opportunity
I drive by there and think about the homeless folks who live out there. There is no housing for the homeless in Ocean View; NEST meets downtown, and the Union Mission is off the Boulevard. If someone could take that property and convert it to some kind of shelter....
WHAT???
So being homeless is undoubtably a terrible situation that I would never want to be in. But if I were homeless and they offered me a free place to live or stay and it wasn't in Oceanview I have a right to complain???? Are you kidding me, Norfolk has spent more on the homeless in the past few years then they have on the working citizens of the city. The city offers them shelter, with a warm meal if they don't want it that's on them, not on US to build more shelters so they can be homeless where they want to be......it makes no sense.aaaaggghhhhhhhh!
based on a selling price of $2.4m...
and an assessed value of $2.8m, does this mean that our assessments in OV and Willoughby are overassessed by 14%?
Norfolk (or any other jurisdiction) has no business being in the real estate business.
Real smart to take this property off the tax rolls now. No doubt developers are falling over each other to get it.
The city can't pay for the
The city can't pay for the services they are supposed to be providing. There are potholes in most of the neighborhoods in Norfolk. They should not even think about spending a million dollars an acre to buy a piece of property in speculation of increasing values later.
This is not a function of government.
This is an abuse of tax dollars and politicians using tax dollars for their own projects. Follow the money and you'll see the connection to a friend or relative. We are in a financial hardship now, the city doesn't have the funds to make the payroll. Why would anyone even consider doing this?
Why would anyone even consider doing this?
Don't you know who owns the business across the street from this parcel?
That's who's considering this. Only the city will sell her the parcel.