OLD SCHOOL DEVELOPER
South Virginia Town in Water Feud with Echelon Partner
Front page of Blackstone, VA, weekly Courier Record newspaper. The photo caption reads: “Developer On The Clock — Tenants in the new Blackstone Lofts luxury apartments on Lunenburg Avenue have been hoping that Town Council and developer Dave McCormack of Petersburg can resolve a dispute over $38,000 in unpaid water and sewer tap fees. Officials ‘upped the ante’ this past Monday night, giving McCormack 30 days (until Sept 27) to pay tap fees, or water will be shut off to the 25-unit building.”
By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
September 4, 2012
Blackstone VA Town Council is threatening to turn off water to the tenants of newly developed Blackstone Lofts luxury apartments if the developer does not pay $38,000 in hookup fees by September 27.
The developer is J. David McCormack, who also is a partner with Edwin Gaskin at Echelon Resources, Inc. Echelon has a contract with the Town of Cape Charles to convert the old school at Central Park into an apartment building.
According to Blackstone Town Council minutes, the council voted March 26 to give McCormack 30 days to pay the tap fee.
McCormack told the Wave Monday night that “We were told there were no tap fees — then they initiated the tap fees. We’re negotiating it.”
McCormack noted that unlike in Cape Charles, where the Town owns the old school property, the old tobacco warehouse he converted in Blackstone was “a private deal.”
“We got taken by surprise — we’re still going to pay. That’s the way I am,” McCormack said.
[Read more…]
LETTER: Bring Back the Harbor Parties — Everyone Benefits
September 3, 2012
DEAR EDITOR,
I must agree with George’s opinion column (although I heard it is more fun to disagree with him): the Harbor is the only logical spot for a Cape Charles sunset party — unless Bay Creek is willing to offer one of its lovely waterfront sites. Whining that George is not nice to our generous Northampton Chamber of Commerce by raising this issue is circumventing the reality: the alternatives suck in many ways.
Cape Charles is resonating with justifications for moving the Harbor Party to the streets of Cape Charles:
— Food vendors unhappy with the competition from the Shanty;
— The Shanty perceiving the police line as an impediment to restaurant access; and
— Music in one venue interfering with music in the other.
And yet, the reality is that both food vendors and the Shanty would benefit from the synergy created by positioning the event in the proximity of the restaurant.
Research has repeatedly determined that a physical concentration of competing vendors results in higher foot traffic and greater sales for all, compared to alternative positioning. [Read more…]
