Virginia Beach to consider buying Oceanfront hotel for Rudee Loop redevelopment
A key parcel of land may soon be included in the future development plans at Rudee Loop.
The City Council discussed purchasing the Schooner Inn hotel in a closed meeting Tuesday and could vote on the matter as early as next week, Vice Mayor Rosemary Wilson confirmed this week.
City staff have been negotiating with the hotel’s owner, the Yoder family, Councilman Linwood Branch said Monday. The council will consider spending $17,575,000 from its tourism investment program, according to a city document.
Bob Yoder has had many offers on the property, including several recently, but has been holding out for the city to develop Rudee Loop, he told The Virginian-Pilot in September. Yoder wanted a deal with the city so he would have more control of the future of his family’s land on which the Schooner sits, he said at the time.
The city assessment on the six-story oceanfront hotel is $6 million.
Virginia Beach is vetting four proposals for Rudee Loop and accepting public input through an online survey. City leaders have ensured that public parking, open space and amenities for surfers and anglers will be part of the final design.
Rudee Loop is nearly 11 acres, with the proposed development area amounting to 6.2 acres of that footprint, according to the city. That figure does not include the road that loops alongside the parking lot of the Schooner Inn.
If the hotel no longer existed, Branch said the road could be reconfigured and the stretch of beach currently reserved for surfing near the jetty could be enlarged.
“The real value of the Schooner is adding to what we already have there; it takes it from a B project to an A+ project,” Branch said. “The Schooner adds a lot of area; it expands our surfing opportunity.”
Vice Mayor Rosemary Wilson supports buying the hotel with one stipulation.
“I would only agree to buy the Schooner if we could use it for open space,” she said.
Wilson, who has served as an at-large representative on council, will represent District 5, which includes Rudee Loop, as of Jan. 1, under the city’s new district system.
Councilman Guy Tower, who currently represents the Beach District and is retiring at the end of the year, was surprised that he may be voting on the hotel deal next week.
“It certainly isn’t anything I proposed,” Tower said Monday.
Stacy Parker, 757-222-5125, stacy.parker@pilotonline.com
