THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 30, 1994 TAG: 9410280287
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 07 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Bill Reed
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
And now for the further adventures of ``The Amphitheater.''
When last we tuned in, the amphitheater project was going down the toilet fast.
The honorables on City Council were scurrying to get their wits together in time to up the ante on a 112-acre tract of land near the Municipal Center called Princess Anne Commons. The object was to save it from the clutches of a private bidder.
In executive session Tuesday, another nose count was taken on the 11-member council. Lo and behold, six instead of five members said they were willing to come up with $300,000 to match a competing $1.6 million bid placed before the Resolution Trust Corp., an agency that handles foreclosed properties.
Alas, the move may have been too late. It looks as though the RTC already has decided to award the land to the other bidder, Century Capital Inc., a local, minority-backed bank holding corporation.
What Century Capital wants to do with the land, which is zoned for agricultural use, is anybody's guess. Representatives of the group last week refused to return phone calls aimed at easing inquiring minds.
There is speculation that Century Capital might want to sell the property back to the city - which could have had it earlier and cheaper with the proper bid - for a tidy little profit.
This is the same site that city officials had selected to locate a 20,000-seat amphitheater for staging big, big outdoor concerts with the Jimmy Buffetts, the Eagles and the Paul McCartneys of the entertainment world.
Local tourism gurus envisioned folks by the thousands breaking their necks to buy tickets to these concerts. And, while they were at it, ticket buyers probably would spend big bucks to stay at Virginia Beach hotels, eat at Virginia Beach restaurants and shop at Virginia Beach stores. It would be one more thing to do in the resort city after dark, other than stare at the punks gathering on the sidewalk on Atlantic Avenue to yell obscenities at passers-by.
And - this is very important - a major entertainment complex would bring in big tax revenues, which the city badly needs. The municipal piggy bank now barely covers the cost of new schools, roads, police and other goodies that help maintain the quality of life in Virginia Beach.
New tax revenue also would help keep property taxes from rocketing into orbit, which also is very important. Owners of local property would like very dearly to hang on to it. They do not wish to see it disappear into foreclosure proceedings initiated by antsy lending institutions.
Well, say council apologists, it's not all that important that the amphitheater be built on the tract next to the Municipal Center. There are lots of other places in the city where it can be accommodated.
True, but the city already has selected and discarded a half-dozen sites to this point for a variety of reasons. Too remote, too close to the Oceana Naval Air Station, too costly, too little, too swampy, etc., etc.
The process of fiddling and faddling could go on forever. Eventually, the amphitheater will find a home in Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News or Norfolk, where Harbor Park, a state of the art baseball stadium that is the home of the Norfolk Tides, alit after being chased out of Virginia Beach. That was after Dixie Stampede, Busch Gardens and the NASCAR track were shown the door. Then there was the horse track that got away . . .
Ah well, we can always fall back on putt putt golf, bumper boats and T-shirt shops.
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH CITY COUNCIL AMPHITHEATER
by CNB