Gloucester County EDA Former Page School Property
ULI Virginia was invited to conduct a Technical Assistance Panel (TAP) program to study the potential for redevelopment of the former Page School property on Highway 17. The County requested the Technical Assistance Panel to “provide a fresh perspective and redevelopment strategies for the property”. The former Page School located at 56530-6644 George Washington Memorial Highway was destroyed by Hurricane Isabel in 2003, making the site available for future uses. The property is currently being used as the transportation facility for school buses until its planned relocation from this site to a new facility now under construction.
The County intends to use the former bus garage for utilities, mosquito control and storage. The land with the bus garage includes the water tower and is slightly over 2 acres in size, leaving approximately 28 acres of marketable land for new development. It is the largest developable site controlled by Gloucester and will revert to the County who will inturn donate it to the EDA for potential new economic development projects.The County estimates the cost to get the site from a Tier 1 to a Tier 4 status to be between $1 million to $2.5 million and views achieving that goal necessary to have a competitive site with other localities in Virginia. The County estimates that redevelopment with light manufacturing, recycling, energy or distribution and logistics uses would generate about 30-40 skilled, above average paying jobs with a capital investment of $9 million and increase the tax based by a projected $271,000 over the first 4-years of operation.
1. What enabling projects (i.e. public infrastructure, master planning, etc.) would be necessary or beneficial to ready the site for market?
2. How might lack of existing or limited resources to provide adequate infrastructure influence potential end users and how to market the site?
3. What land uses are appropriate for the site based upon location, adjacent land uses, market demand, and adopted, long-term planning objectives.
4. Are there funding opportunities beyond those already identified?
5. How would you address the existing facilities?
Report Summary: ULI Virginia was invited to conduct a Technical Assistance Panel (TAP) program to study the potential for redevelopment of the former Page School property on Highway 17. The County requested the Technical Assistance Panel to “provide a fresh perspective and redevelopment strategies for the property”. The former Page School located at 56530-6644 George Washington Memorial Highway was destroyed by Hurricane Isabel in 2003, making the site available for future uses. The property is currently being used as the transportation facility for school buses until its planned relocation from this site to a new facility now under construction.
The County intends to use the former bus garage for utilities, mosquito control and storage. The land with the bus garage includes the water tower and is slightly over 2 acres in size, leaving approximately 28 acres of marketable land for new development. It is the largest developable site controlled by Gloucester and will revert to the County who will inturn donate it to the EDA for potential new economic development projects.The County estimates the cost to get the site from a Tier 1 to a Tier 4 status to be between $1 million to $2.5 million and views achieving that goal necessary to have a competitive site with other localities in Virginia. The County estimates that redevelopment with light manufacturing, recycling, energy or distribution and logistics uses would generate about 30-40 skilled, above average paying jobs with a capital investment of $9 million and increase the tax based by a projected $271,000 over the first 4-years of operation.
1. What enabling projects (i.e. public infrastructure, master planning, etc.) would be necessary or beneficial to ready the site for market?
2. How might lack of existing or limited resources to provide adequate infrastructure influence potential end users and how to market the site?
3. What land uses are appropriate for the site based upon location, adjacent land uses, market demand, and adopted, long-term planning objectives.
4. Are there funding opportunities beyond those already identified?
5. How would you address the existing facilities?