City signs contract with Divaris
By K J Burnell
Aug 13, 2010, 09:01
"If I were you, I'd be trying to get out of the real estate business," said one of two citizens that spoke at a public hearing regarding the City's intent to sell off 67 acres of land behind Charles Dimmock Parkway Tuesday night.
"We're not in the real estate business, that's why we're doing this," Mayor Scott Davis replied.
The "this" Davis referred to is an agreement made between the City and the Richmond branch of a Virginia Beach-based commercial real estate firm to market the unmarketable: A thirty-acre parcel fit for development packaged as a 67-acre commitment.
That may or may not include parts of Roslyn Landing Park and Trail — over Councilmen Milton Freeland and Kenneth Frenier's dead bodies — a point which was hammered home several times during the regular council meeting.
There to listen to Council's concerns Tuesday night was Divaris Real Estate's principal Richmond agent, John T. Wingfield, a veteran of the business with decades of experience in real estate leasing and sales. Wingfield told Council not to worry about the discrepancy between marketing the 67 and 30 acre parcels for development.
"Larger acreage will attract a wider range of buyers," Wingfield said. "In this economy, the only real buyers are going to be big — the little guys can't afford it right now."
Wingfield encouraged the councilors to let him pitch the idea to buyers with the understanding that commercial clients may have other uses for land that is not conducive to conventional development.
"We're trying to do the best we possibly can with this property by being as creative as we possibly can — and by bringing in people who [develop] for a living," Wingfield said.
The primary condition of the exclusive right to sell agreement between the City and Divaris is the City's right to refuse any offers that Divaris brokers.
