DATE: Friday, September 5, 1997             TAG: 9709050607

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B6   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:   49 lines

FUND-RAISER OPENS NEW CONFERENCE CENTER CHESAPEAKE EVENT EXPECTED TO DRAW 900 AND MAY TEST PATIENCE OF THOSE PARKING.

The city's gamble that its new conference center can get by with less parking than required under the zoning rules will get an early test tonight when the center hosts its first affair.

Tonight, the center unofficially opens with a fund-raiser for attorney general candidate and Chesapeake resident Mark L. Earley. Gov. George F. Allen will be the keynote speaker. Just under 800 guests are expected to attend.

The building, at 900 Greenbrier Circle, has 340 parking spaces on site. Overflow parking had been targeted for the adjacent Holiday Inn Chesapeake. But the hotel is hosting a regional NAACP convention tonight and is expecting between 350 to 375 people.

``I feel confident that the area can accommodate the citizens that are attending both affairs,'' said Mayor William E. Ward, who said that Economic Development Director Donald Z. Goldberg had approached other nearby property owners who had extra parking for overflow.

Last November, the City Council voted 6-2, ignoring a Planning Commission recommendation, to allow construction of the conference center without the number of parking spaces required under the city's zoning ordinance.

That ordinance would have required 500 parking spaces at the 51,000-square-foot conference center.

City staff had argued that 340 spaces - 12 of them for the handicapped - were enough.

The Council also reserved an option to buy an additional acre of land near the center for more parking.

Also, less than 24 hours before the conference center opens, the city and the builder had yet to finalize the lease-to-buy agreement.

City officials are not worried, nor are officials from Armada/Hoffler, the builder and landlord of the project.

Under terms of the agreement, the city has until sometime in October to officially occupy the building, city officials said. City marketing and operating staff have already moved in.

The agreement was originally scheduled to be signed Tuesday.

City attorney Ronald S. Hallman said Wednesday that city officials and Armada/Hoffler are working out details for the building's final completion.

Like a new homebuyer, Hallman said, the city wants minor touch-ups and improvements made by the builder after the city occupies the $9 million building. He said there were no problems with the contract.

The conference center is being touted as a major draw for economic development in the city. The center is booked through December and is being heavily promoted by the city.

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