By MARISA TAYLOR, The Virginian-Pilot
© November 11, 2004
VIRGINIA BEACH The next luxury hotel at the Oceanfront could give the public more beach access and open space but limit the number of parking spaces at the Ninth Street garage.
Developers of the 15-story Marriott plan to swap land with the city, which would give the public more than 50 feet of open space on either side of the hotel on Atlantic Avenue between 9th and 10th Streets.
The curvy, glass hotel would be built where the Dunes Oceanfront now stands, in a joint venture with the present hotel owners.
Tidewater Hotels & Resorts, the company behind the proposal, has asked to lease 300 of the 610 spaces at the city garage for hotel guests.
Tim Stiffler, Tidewater Hotels president, said the deal would give his company enough space to build a hotel with all Oceanfront rooms because the property wouldn't be taken up by a parking garage.
If the City Council approves the project next month, the city could then use the open spaces on either side of the hotel to develop small parks. In exchange, the city would close the section of 10th Street next to hotel.
It breaks up the concrete wall of hotels, said Jim Ricketts, director of the city Convention & Visitors Bureau. We not only get open space, but we get a first-class hotel.
The city plans to make up for the lost parking spaces at the Ninth Street garage by providing more spaces at city property seven blocks away at Rudee Loop.
Most of the year, the public uses fewer than the 310 spaces that would remain in the Ninth Street garage under the proposal, Ricketts said. During the summer, however, extra spaces would be needed.
The 250-room hotel, which also will include 28 condominiums, is the latest luxury hotel that requires some sort of public inducement.
The Marriott deal, however, would involve much less municipal involvement than the citys ongoing large-scale public-private ventures.
Last week, developers unveiled a proposed 30- to 32-story hotel and condominium at Town Center.
The citys contribution of nearly $30 million would be funded through tax-increment financing, which takes future increases in real estate tax revenues within the area to pay off loans within 20 years.
Also, the Hilton Hotel at 31st Street involved $31.5 million in public money, mostly for a parking garage. The 295-room hotel is scheduled to open by New Years Eve at 31st Street and Atlantic Avenue.
The Marriott could be a formidable competitor to the Hilton.
Glenn E. Tuckman, president of Professional Hospitality Resources, which is developing the Hilton, complained about the Marriott proposal in a Sept. 3 letter to the city manager, saying it involved too many public inducements.
His companys concerns include the parking arrangement, the height of the building and a proposed encroachment by the Marriotts pool onto the green space next to the beach.
Tuckman said the city refused to grant his company a similar encroachment, which means the 31st Street hotel will have fewer oceanfront rooms. City officials, however, said PHR had always planned to put its pool on the roof. Tuckman said his companys complaint was not prompted by fear of potential competition.
We support the continuing upgrade of the Oceanfront and share the citys vision, he said. We just think the same set of rules should apply to everyone.
Tourism officials say there is more than enough room in the market for another luxury hotel at the Oceanfront. According to city estimates, Virginia Beach needs at least 800 new hotel rooms to support the $202 million convention center, which is scheduled to open in 2007.
Earlier this year, Virginia Beach officials delayed the citys plans to attract a new hotel at Rudee Loop partly at the request of PHR, which was concerned that another public-private venture would compete with its 31st Street hotel.
So far, the city has spent $11.5 million to buy 3.6 acres at Rudee Loop. Council members said the city should wait five to 10 years before developing the site.
The city has tried to persuade Marriott to come to Virginia Beach since the mid 1970s. But the chain didnt see the citys hotel market as lucrative until now. For decades, Hampton Roads ranked among the slowest growing markets in hotel rates and occupancy.
Instead, the chain opened Norfolks Marriott Waterside hotel and the Renaissance Portsmouth Hotel and Waterfront Conference Center.
