THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 6, 1996 TAG: 9604050405
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY KATHLEEN BUTLER, SPECIAL TO REAL ESTATE WEEKLY
LENGTH: Long : 103 lines
From the scenic stops on Hampton's exclusive Chesapeake Avenue, residents - and daydreamers - can look across the water at historic Fort Monroe, watch thousands of cars commuting to work each day across the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel and see the ships pull away from the piers at the Norfolk Naval Base.
Perhaps it's the view that has made the waterfront neighborhoods near downtown Hampton so popular.
``We love to walk down there,'' says Marilyn Lyles, who lives about a block from the water known as Hampton Roads. ``And it's just as beautiful on a dark, dreary day as it is on a pretty day.''
Lyles moved with her husband, Joe, to Hampton from Florence, S.C., 36 days ago. They had only 24 hours to look for a house. After a five-minute tour of the place they now call home, Marilyn Lyles says she was sold - not on the house, which needed work, but on the location.
``I liked the look of the neighborhood,'' she says. ``I could always tell the places I didn't like. This just looked like home.''
With its Norman Rockwell-style houses and streets lined with billowing trees that are older than most of the houses, the neighborhood does look like home.
No cookie-cutter houses line Chesapeake Avenue. Instead, that street and the surrounding ones are lined with Tudors, Victorians, colonials and even contemporary dwellings. Some have impressive columns and large picture windows. Others feature wraparound decks and porch swings.
Many of the waterfront properties have private docks. Merrimac Shores also has its own marina and yacht club. And the Merrimac Shores homeowners association maintains tennis courts and a playground overlooking the harbor.
``It's a lovely neighborhood and it's probably the most sought-after neighborhood in Hampton,'' says Sandy White, a Realtor with Long & Foster and a lifelong city resident.
``The neighborhood'' is actually a number of smaller subdivisions bordering the Hampton Roads harbor just off Chesapeake Avenue. These include Merrimac Shores, which runs from the Merrimac Shores Marine south to Church Creek, and Hampton South, which runs from the other side of Church Creek and the corner of LaSalle Avenue southwest toward Newport News.
Connie Curran says she was attracted to the area about four years ago. ``I liked what I though was an old-fashioned neighborhood,'' she says. Although Curran had to adopt an aging house - most of the homes are at least 40 years old - she says she's happy to be settled in an older, more established area.
``I liked the look and feel more than I do the newer, planned neighborhoods,'' she says. And she likes living a block for the harbor. ``The draw of walking by the water is what makes the neighborhood seem so close,'' Curran says.
Curran and her neighbors say they look forward to walks along the waterfront. When the weather is warm, residents often sit and chat on the corner of Chesapeake Avenue as they watch the boats and ships sail by.
When Marco Juarez decided he wanted to buy a house two years ago, he explored neighborhoods in Old Newport News and Hampton's Foxhill section. After looking at houses up and down Chesapeake Avenue, he bought in Merrimac Shores one street back from the water.
A Navy lieutenant, Juarez is also president of MAJ Designs, a landscaping company. He says he wanted a quiet, established neighborhood. Many of his neighbors are original owners of their homes, which date to the 1940s and '50s. And younger families moving into the area are often the second buyers, he says.
Joe and Marilyn Lyles say the neighborhood hasn't changed much in 36 years. ``We have more young couples moving in,'' Marilyn says. ``Everybody's yards were really nice. It was really a nice-looking neighborhood.''
By buying a house just a block from the water, Juarez and other residents have a feeling of living by the ocean without the cost. Waterfront homes are typically double the cost of other house in the area, Juarez says.
A four-bedroom townhouse on the corner of LaSalle and Chesapeake avenues with 2,500 square feet of living area and a detached garage - right on the water - was recently listed at $279,900. Built in 1988, the dwelling is one of the area's newest properties. White, the real estate agent, says it's not unusual for someone to buy an older home and spend large sums of money to renovate it just because they want to live in the neighborhood.
For Juarez, this section of Hampton is also convenient. Just five minutes from downtown and Interstate 64, the Chesapeake Avenue area is close to shopping, schools and the bridge-tunnel to Norfolk. During rush hour, he says, the Naval Base is about a half-hour drive.
When Marilyn Lyles moved to Hampton in 1960, Mercury Boulevard was surrounded by swampland and downtown ``didn't look like much at all.''
But that has changed. Today, Mercury Boulevard is home to Coliseum Mall, other shopping centers, restaurants and motels. Hampton's population has swelled to more than 130,000.
Downtown visitors can shop in a variety of boutiques, take a spin on a restored 1920 carousel or check out the Virginia Air and Space Center.
``We've thought of moving (to a smaller home),'' Marilyn says, ``but we can't find anyplace we like as well. It's been a happy home for 36 years.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos by Jim Walker
Most of the homes along Hampton's Chesapeake Avenue are 40 to 50
years old and the're made in many styles.
A high percentage of people in this area have never sold their
houses.
By walking along the Hampton Roads waterfront, residents can see the
Norfolk Naval Base and the harbor site where the Civil War ironclads
fought their famous battle.
by CNB