THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 10, 1995 TAG: 9502100501
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
Wind-chilled waterfront developers Wednesday toured half-a-dozen Albemarle river and soundside communities targeted for renovation as Harbor Town tourist attractions.
Shivering local boosters pointed out the dockside charms of Hertford, Edenton, Plymouth, Columbia and Elizabeth City in a tour arranged for planners from the Rouse Co., an international organization that specializes in harbor face-lifting.
``I don't need a coat - I'm fine,'' said Robert Barron, president of Rouse Enterprises in Columbia, Md., whose firm is expected to get a $200,000 planning contract from the tourist division of the N.E. North Carolina Economic Development Commission.
Barron repeatedly returned to a heated tour-car driven by William Rich, an Elizabeth City entrepreneur who hopes to raise a $15 million public-private fund to help finance the Harbor Town projects.
The Harbor Town plan is one of the first major community efforts to win the support of the commission, which has been struggling for more than a year to find a developmental focus.
``It's all coming together now,'' said Bunny Sanders, head of the commission's office of tourist development in Elizabeth City. Sanders is trying to jointly establish a system of high-speed ferryboats to carry tourists between the Harbor Towns.
Under the plan, nearly all of the estuarine and riverine communities in Northeastern North Carolina would be linked by the high-speed water transportation system, with individual communities being enhanced with specialized tourist attractions.
``It won't work without the fast ferries,'' said Rich, the Elizabeth City developer.
Also involved in financing the Harbor Town plan is a committee of bank executives headed by Richard Futrell, a Perquimans County native who is chairman of the Centura Bank executive committee. At a meeting of bankers at Hertford's Albemarle Plantation earlier this year, Futrell named a committee to plan a ``money pool'' to help promote Harbor Town.
While an icy northwest wind whistled down the Perquimans River, Barron bravely faced the magnificent waterside view from a 400-acre site that the towns of Hertford and Winfall are acquiring jointly with Perquimans County for future community development along Harbor Town lines.
``We're going to pay $800,000 for the finest waterfront property you'll find anywhere,'' said Charles Ward, a Hertford businessman who is a member of the economic development commission.
``We hope to build a Quaker village here, as a setting for a marina and a motel. The area was settled by Friends, and the oldest Quaker settlement in the state is right there across the river.''
From Hertford, Barron went on to Edenton, where County Manager Cliff Copeland and Town Manager Anne-Marie Kelly, with notable savoir faire, kept the Rouse party warmly indoors for coffee and lunch in historic surroundings.
Charles Shaw, a retired oil company executive who lives in Edenton and who is also a member of the commission, lost no time promoting a pet local project. Shaw told listeners that the Harbor Town plan would provide leverage to improve the old Edenton Airport.
``Tourists could fly in from all over the country and step aboard the fast ferries,'' said Shaw.
Then the party crossed Albemarle Sound to Plymouth, Columbia, Engelhard and Swan Quarter. The Rouse tour will end today with visits to Belhaven, Bath, Washington, Weldon, Murfreesboro and Winton.
Barron started the tour in Elizabeth City Thursday morning and will return the Pasquotank River community late Friday.
Baltimore's waterfront renovation with the associated Camden Yard ballpark is one of the Rouse firm's more successful efforts. Rouse also played a role in Norfolk's waterfront rehabilitation. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
DREW C. WILSON/Staff
Waterfront developers from the Rouse Co. and officials of Columbia
walk along the Scuppernong riverfront at Columbia Thursday
afternoon. Among them is Robert Barron, president of Rouse
Enterprises in Columbia, Md., whose firm is expected to get a
$200,000 planning contract from the tourist division of the N.E.
North Carolina Economic Development Commission.
by CNB