VIRGINIA BEACH — Bob Yoder’s household constructed The Schooner Inn on third Road and has owned the resort for many years. Yoder, an architect, labored on the preliminary design in 1971. The six-story resort with 89 rooms is the resort closest to the jetty on the south finish of the Virginia Seaside Oceanfront, overlooking the Boardwalk and a preferred browsing space.
The Schooner Inn additionally backs as much as one of the vital coveted parcels of undeveloped land on the East Coast: Rudee Loop.
Virginia Seaside is starting to contemplate a number of proposals to redevelop Rudee Loop; Yoder, 71, desires to be part of its future.
“We’ve been ready for over 25 years for the town to determine to develop the property round us and fairly frankly, benefit from that,” Yoder stated final week.
Now, Yoder’s property is in the course of a bidding battle between non-public builders, and that’s caught the eye of some metropolis leaders.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tronc/LR6Y6RFWUZBGXEXZEQDAPRYNAU.jpg "Rudee Loop resort proprietor considers sale forward of growth")
Mike Standing, who owns a number of eating places and different property within the resort space, confirmed he made a proposal on The Schooner Inn earlier this summer season. He heard one other developer was and wished to throw his hat within the ring.
“Something within the resort that’s obtainable, I attempt to buy it as a result of it’s the place I’ve spent my entire life,” stated Standing, 53, a member of the Virginia Seaside Improvement Authority.
He declined to say how a lot he provided. The town evaluation on the property this 12 months is $6 million. Standing desires to ultimately redevelop The Schooner Inn right into a resort that might attraction to surfers and anglers.
“It will complement in the end what the town decides to do there (at Rudee Loop),” Standing stated.
One other developer, Manan Shah, of Pashm International, which owns a number of motels on the Oceanfront and within the Hampton Roads space, additionally confirmed he made a proposal this summer season on The Schooner Inn, however Yoder rejected it.
“The provide was vital,” stated Shah by cellphone this week. “I don’t know what we’re doing improper.”
Yoder stated “the correct negotiations haven’t occurred.” He desires a take care of the town to regulate the way forward for the lower than an acre of land that The Schooner sits on, he stated.
“We need to be part of something that occurs on the loop,” stated Yoder. “We don’t need to promote to a person firm that’s going to construct a 20-story monster that’s going to forged a shadow on the seaside.”
Yoder stated he has turned down gives on his resort previously, and that he’s spoken with Councilman Linwood Department about his want to promote to the town.
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Department stated the general public engagement course of on Rudee Loop is simply starting. Just a few years in the past, a bunch that represented civic leagues, enterprise organizations and different stakeholders developed an motion plan for the resort space. The committee agreed that browsing and fishing at Rudee Loop wanted to be maintained and that open area ought to be enhanced.
“That was a unanimous advice from that group,” stated Department.
Future choices about Rudee Loop can have lasting results and ought to be formed by public enter, Department stated.
“100 years from now, that web site’s going to be what it’s primarily based on choices made at present,” he stated.
The Schooner Inn property may very well be a pivotal piece, Department stated.
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“It might enormously affect how the location would work,” Department stated. “For me, it’s positively one thing I’d prefer to take an excellent have a look at.”
One of many 4 Rudee Loop redevelopment proposals that the general public will take into account quickly, submitted by Gold Key | PHR, features a new resort on the location of The Schooner Inn.
The Metropolis Council would want to approve an actual property acquisition after a public presentation, in response to a metropolis spokeswoman.
Yoder hasn’t obtained a proposal from the town but, he stated.
He’s nonetheless patiently ready.
“We love the property and need to see it a part of one thing greater than simply one other resort,” he stated.
Stacy Parker, 757-222-5125, [email protected]
