NEWS

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GOLFERS like to live on golf courses. Boaters like houses near the docks. So people whose passion is fast driving ought to like living at the edge of a racetrack.Amateur auto racing is no eccentric fringe pursuit; it is popular and growing. Any weekend will find clubs of sports car owners renting tracks around the country so that their members can challenge each other. A new idea rapidly catching on is the country club built around a racetrack, like the MotorSport Ranch in Cresson, Tex., where car lovers can buy memberships that let them use the track 40 weekends a year. The obvious next step is a home at the racetrack, and a new project in Virginia is now offering it.The development, the VIR Club in Danville, is a sprawling new complex with multiple tracks for different kinds of racing, suitable amenities and a plan for 50 small condominiums to be ready for occupancy by summer. They are being offered for 10-year leases, at $135,000 each.One early lease purchaser was Allan Casavant, a real estate developer from Pinehurst, N.C., who races two vintage British convertibles, a 1959 Lotus 7 and a 1949 Healey Silverstone. The track is only 20 minutes from Danville, a trip that can seem longer. ''If you've been driving all day, a lot of times you're kind of tired and don't want to go all the way back in town,'' Mr. Casavant said. And convenience isn't the only draw; there is also a social element. ''It's kind of nice to be there and hang out,'' Mr. Casavant said. ''It's a kind of camaraderie.''In the late 1990's, Harvey Siegel, a real estate developer from New York, was looking for an out-of-business track to resuscitate and transform into a country club. An avid racer himself, he owns and races vintage British cars that include an Elva Courier. Mr. Siegel looked at several old tracks before finding the Virginia International Raceway about 100 miles northwest of Raleigh, N.C., in Danville. V.I.R., as the track was sometimes called, had operated from 1957 to 1974, and professional drivers who had raced there included Roger Penske and Skip Barber. The track closed after a double blow: the slump in racing that occurred when the price of oil shot up during the 70's energy crisis, and a fire at the racetrack set by rowdy fans.Mr. Siegel approached the family that has owned the property since 1907, and two years ago he and a partner, Connie Nyholm, a developer in Virginia, signed a 100-year lease for the track and the surrounding 1,200 acres of land.The VIR Club now has 245 members (a basic membership including 17 days on the track is $3,000 a year, with a $500 initiation fee). The track is also rented to clubs and professional promoters for races.

Mr. Siegel calls his development ''a motor sport resort.'' The original track, 3.27 miles around, can be separated into two smaller tracks for simultaneous use.The track has the usual paddock for unloading and preparing vehicles for racing, and -- important to members -- there is garage space on the premises that they can rent for storing their cars. There are also a new go-kart track and an off-road course, and plans are in the works for a rally course. Eight instructors are on staff to run driving schools.A plantation house built in 1840 serves as the clubhouse, and there is a swimming pool. Tennis courts are planned. A business park on the site has attracted a tire store, a body shop and a showroom that will sell expensive used cars on consignment.But the condominiums are what really set the development apart.''Boy, is it nice to be able to walk from the paddock to the villa,'' said Mr. Casavant, already imagining condo living with the thrum and roar of engines in the background.One of his VIR Club neighbors-to-be is Francis Grant, also a developer from New York, who races a 1936 Bugatti.''I have a tough time getting my wife to show up,'' Mr. Grant said. ''One of the reasons that I plunked down a deposit is I was pretty sure that she would be interested in going if there was a place to stay.'' He expects to fly down from New York about four times a year for long weekends of racing.''It sounds like a long way, but it's not,'' Mr. Grant said. ''It depends on how nuts you are about this kind of stuff. I'm pretty nuts about it.'' 

Looking for preliminary direction from the Southern Pines Town Council, developer Allan Casavant presented a conceptual plan for a 93-lot subdivision off Waynor Road near the Moore County Airport.
The mostly undeveloped property is located in the town’s Extra-Territorial Jurisdiction, stretching between a former, rural mobile home park and the tony community of Forest Creek. The project site includes multiple parcels and there was some confusion whether the final footprint would encompass 81 or 91 acres. The subdivision layout and density would likely fluctuate based on a more accurate survey of the property, which will be conducted later this week, because the tract also includes some wetlands and several small ponds.
Casavant said his proposal will follow the same residential style, restrictions and covenants of the Heron’s Brook development in Whispering Pines. He anticipated 1.5 story, cottage-style houses on half-acre lots. If approved, the price point for the 2,400 square-foot-houses would range between $375,000 to $425,000.

The property is currently zoned for rural residential use. After discussion with town leaders, Casavant said he would likely request rezoning to RS-3 — a category with similar square footage restrictions, per lot, but allows for cluster development to create larger open space areas. The adjacent Forest Creek development is zoned similarly but it has not been fully built-out at this time.
“We need to maintain density for this project to make economic sense. If the Council decides it is better to do it at true 30,000-square-foot lots, this would mean more impact on the wetlands and we may have to go to a two-story house,” Casavant said. “I personally prefer the cottage-style instead of that big box look.”
The conceptual layout he presented included a primary entrance on Waynor Road, and a secondary emergency-only gated access that would connect to Forest Creek. Casavant proposed an easement would serve for fire access and could also provide a buffer between the two communities.

“To meet emergency access requirements, it would count (as a secondary access point),” said Town Manager Reagan Parsons. “There will be fire station right in front of this land, at some point. Theoretically with the back gate, it would count as emergency access as long as the Fire Department can get trucks in and out from two different locations.”
Council members Teresa VanCamp and Fred Walden both expressed concern about the potential for overdevelopment of homes in the area. In particular, land around the Moore County Airport has seen heavy investment from the military community, with families looking for new homes and good schools within a commutable distance to Fort Bragg.
“We do think there is a market for this price home with a Southern Pines address,” Casavant said. “Colin (Webster) is doing really well right up the street with Heron’s Brook. It is a never ending stream right now. We are willing to make the investment because we believe the houses will sell.”
Southern Pines Mayor David McNeil encouraged Casavant to work closely with town staff to develop a project “that would fit nicely in Southern Pines,” and takes into consideration some blending of product between the new development and where it would abut with Forest Creek.

Contact Laura Douglass at (910) 693-2474 or lauradouglass145@gmail.com.​

Laura Douglass, Staff Writer  May 21, 2016 Ted Fitzgerald/The Pilot

Untouched for decades, a mansion with a backstory and aesthetic appeal worthy of Hollywood is the newest old kid on the block in Aberdeen.

The massive brick manor — protected and hidden by acres of overgrown trees and landscaping — was nearly forgotten to time until a local builder stepped in recently to reimagine the home as a special event and wedding venue.

Built in 1913, it is one of only a few historic Page family homes that hearken back to a time when wealthy industrialists transformed the local landscape.

A migration of Highland Scots first began settling the Sandhills region in the mid 1700s. Miles of pine-forested lands near the headwaters of Rockfish Creek gave rise to a community called Blue’s Crossing, named after Malcolm McMillian Blue. He tapped the trees for tar, pitch and turpentine around 1850. Following the Civil War, a railroad track and local station encouraged growth in the area’s economy.

In 1880, Allison Francis “Frank” Page began purchasing great tracts of pines and established a lumber mill on Devil’s Gut Creek, later known as Aberdeen Creek. A dam on the creek created Aberdeen Lake and powered a sawmill and gristmill. Between turpentine and timber, the region flourished, and Blue’s Crossing was incorporated and renamed Aberdeen in homage to its Scottish heritage.

Page built a large frame home for his family on a hill that overlooks Aberdeen Lake — an area that became known as Page Hill. As many as 11 homes were built on Page Hill for his eight children and their families.

In addition to being a prominent figure in Moore County’s history, Page was also instrumental in the founding of Cary. In 1854, Page and his wife bought 300 acres of what was then called Bradford’s Ordinary. He was the first mayor and postmaster of the small village, 12 miles west of Raleigh. Using lumber from his mill in Aberdeen, he built the two-story Cary Academy school.

Page named the community after Samuel Fenton Cary, a prohibition leader from Ohio. A staunch prohibitionist and religious man, Page was also active in politics, where he sided with the Whigs in opposing slavery and secession prior to the Civil War.

Several of the couple’s children became notable in their own right as statesmen, educators, ministers and businessmen. Most famously, their eldest son, Walter Hines Page, began his career as a writer, editor and publisher. In 1900, he joined Frank Doubleday to create the Doubleday, Page & Company publishing house. Three years later he was appointed to serve as ambassador to the United Kingdom by President Woodrow Wilson, a post Page held during World War 1.

By the turn of the 1900s, Aberdeen had grown to a population of approximately 1,000 people, and the downtown area included retail stores, sawmills, drying kilns, a foundry, a machine shop and two hotels. The Page family pooled its wealth and left a permanent stamp on downtown with the construction of the Page Memorial Library — the oldest continuously operating public library in North Carolina — and the Page Memorial Methodist Church.

The brick Neoclassical Revival church was designed by famed architect J.M. McMichael and built by T.B. Creel. Dedicated in 1913, the church structure continues to beautify the downtown district and remains as it was first envisioned, with four iconic columns, a large lighted dome, and arches of stained glass windows.

The same architect was also commissioned to design a home on Page Hill for Frances J. Page, a daughter of Allison and Catherine Page. She had married a lawyer, Thomas Bonner Wilder, of Louisburg, nearly a decade earlier, and the family quickly grew to include seven children.

The beautiful 6,000-plus-square-foot brick home was built on eight acres in 1913, along Allison Page Road. McMichael designed the house around a traditional center hall with a grand staircase, formal parlors and dining rooms on the main floor. The second floor boasts six bedrooms, plus servants’ quarters with its own set of steps leading directly to the kitchen and butler’s pantry.

“This was a monster-sized house even at the time they built it. But they had the money to do it,” said Aberdeen Mayor Robbie Farrell, himself a well-versed town historian. “Coming here is like stepping onto a movie set. To find a gem like this in the woods and then to find out its place in history. The history of it is what has me intrigued. I would hate to see it torn down.”

Unfortunately, the Wilders’ sole legacy is their home. Little else was left behind to tell their story. The Great Depression wiped out many families, including wealthy industrialists like the Pages and Wilders. The grand home was in decline by the 1950s, when it was sold to Dr. F.B. and Ruby Bishop.

Dr. Bishop was a retired minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church and his wife was a grammar school teacher, who taught in Aberdeen schools for 30 years. The couple brought with them their two young children, Roy and Elva.

“Mama decided to buy the house after seeing the sun dial in the yard. It said ‘Grow Old Along With Me,’ and she fell in love with it and the house,” said Elva Bishop, of the Robert Browning-inspired piece that remains on the grounds.

Over the years, her parents made minor fixes to the house but never undertook any major renovations. The unintended result is a nearly perfect time capsule.

Stepping onto the deep front porch, the house draws you in. Rooms left with period furnishings are significant by themselves. The Bishops purchased much of their furniture and art from an auction at the Campbell House in Southern Pines as it was transitioning to a culture and arts center for the community.

“What I remember most from living in the house is the sound of the wind in the pines and the sound of a whippoorwill,” Bishop said. “We never had air conditioning, but we would use the upstairs sleeping porch in the summer.”

Her mother died in her beloved house, with Elva holding one hand and her brother holding the other.

“I bought my brother out of his half of the house. He wanted to sell it then, but I didn’t want to see it go. I thought I’d move back one day,” she said. “But when I retired, I moved around a lot and have traveled. For a long time, the house just sat. There was no word out that I wanted to sell, but about three years ago there was interest from a developer. They wanted to level the house and I said no.”

As the streets around the mansion developed into large neighborhoods of tract-style housing, the mansion remained hidden behind thick trees. But development interest continued. It was a childhood friend of Bishop’s brother who reached out to local builder Allan Casavant. And like her mother and Elva herself, he found that he was captivated by the house from his very first visit.

“One of the reasons I agreed to sell to Allan was he wanted to restore the house. I had been fielding calls for over a year from people who wanted to tear it down,” Bishop said. “Allan didn’t want to tear it down, but it took us a long time to work out an agreement. I’ve been living in Guatemala — literally on the side of a mountain — so we had to talk through email. There is no phone connection there.”

Casavant said he had not even been aware the house existed until a few months ago, despite working in the immediate area for several years.

“I’m really more of a new construction guy, but this is much more fun. I had refurbished an 1840s beach house in Ocracoke, and now it is one of the most photographed houses on the island. This is a much bigger project, but as soon as I saw it, I thought the house could be saved. I fell in love with it.”

“It was my surveyor’s wife who suggested this would make a great place for weddings. I realized it would be tough to fix it up and sell it as a home, but when I began to see it as a venue, I knew there was an opportunity. When I learned more about the history of the house, that was even more exciting.”

In homage to the massive willow oak trees dotting the property, Casavant has christened the home “Willow Oak Manor.”

A top-to-bottom rehabilitation is in order, but the bones of the house will endure; the goal is to maintain the historically accurate appeal. Rough plans include converting a section of the yard as an outdoor venue space, installing a large semi-circular porch to the rear of the home, building an outdoor pavilion, and adding a catering kitchen.

Initial renovation efforts are focused on clearing out overgrown landscaping around the house and repairs where needed to the exterior. Casavant said the slate roof is mostly in good shape, but some damaged areas will be repaired. More substantial work inside includes replacing all the galvanized pipes and upgrading the electrical wiring to handle modern HVAC equipment.

Also on Casavant’s “to do” list is attracting interest from an investment partner.

“There is so much potential here,” he said. “You run out of money before you run out of ideas.”

Contact Laura Douglass at (910) 693-2474 or laura@thepilot.com.

Laura Douglass, Staff Writer  Jan 19, 2017  

Plans for a nearly 18-acre solar farm have cleared another administrative hurdle, receiving unanimous support from the Aberdeen Planning Board on Thursday.

In December, the Town Board approved a rezoning request for approximately 5 acres of residential land within the project’s intended footprint to allow for a solar collection facility. The remainder of the parcel is zoned for heavy industry, where such facilities are permitted.

Both the conditional use permit and rezoning request were initiated by HCE 1 Moore LLC. The company has developed other solar farm properties in Moore County and intends to build a 2-megawatt facility on Fayetteville Street, just outside the downtown Aberdeen area.

The property is owned by the Aberdeen and Rockfish Co. and has been historically used for railroad materials storage. HCE 1 Moore is leasing the land, and energy output would be managed under a 25-year contract with Duke Energy.

The applicant proposed a 2.74-acre buffer along the western edge of the property, which would also protect nearby designated wetlands. In addition, fencing and a 50-foot vegetative buffer will encircle the entire facility.

The recommended proposal will be heard by the Town Board for final consideration next month. If approved, developers anticipate construction would take three to six months.

Planning Director Pam Graham presented a brief summary of an environmental study conducted by Kirkland Appraisals on behalf of HCE 1 Moore. The report indicates the solar farm will create no noticeable odor or noise, nor would it impact home values for properties adjacent or abutting the project.

The undeveloped site has been timbered previously but, otherwise, has seen little activity over the years. The land slopes toward an existing creek, and very little grading work would be required for the project. The ground underneath such installations is permeable, which limits water runoff concerns.

A point of discussion was how to best maintain unwanted vegetation on the property. With wetlands nearby, the Planning Board added a condition prohibiting the use of chemical herbicides. Instead, they recommended language that requires the contractor to work with a local farmer to bring a flock of grazing sheep to the site, on an occasional as-needed basis.

“Thirty years of herbicide use on one piece of property is not good land management,” said Planning Board Member Janet Peele, who recently retired from ownership of a local plant nursery and floral shop.

The solar panels are proposed for a fixed 25 degree position, at a standing height of 7 to 9 feet. The nearest residence is located 250 feet away, and the developer has worked closely with neighbors to mitigate their concerns about screening.

The Planning Board also requested a provision directed toward the possible abandonment or cessation of operations at the solar farm. If the situation were to arise, specific language in the conditional use permit opens up options and would give the town recourse for dismantling and salvaging the solar farm’s infrastructure, then re-vegetating the property with warm season grasses.

During the public hearing, developer Allan Casavant offered support for the project. He is currently building a 55-acre subdivision abutting the rear property line of the project — a $10 million investment.

“I think this is a great use of this property. I had looked at this land before and didn’t think it was appropriate for housing,” he said. “I don’t think it will harm the project I have underway at all.”

In other discussion, the Planning Board unanimously approved a special use permit on the other side of Aberdeen for another piece of property owned by Casavant.

The former Bishop house — also known historically as the Page-Wilder House — is a formerly grand mansion that Casavant is restoring. Located on an 8.8-acre lot on Allison Page Road, the 1913 brick manor has been severely neglected.

Casavant addressed the board on behalf of Richard Larson, who intends to operate a bed-and-breakfast and special events venue once the property is restored.

The same property is also the subject of a voluntary annexation request that will be considered by the Town Board on Monday.

Vehicular traffic to the proposed special events venue would utilize the existing driveway, a new second access point along a semicircular drive, and a new gravel parking area toward the rear of the property.

Graham noted the public streets in the immediate area were narrow and without curb and gutter. She recommended that venue parking on neighborhood streets be prohibited.

Other conditions imposed with the approved permit included installation of exterior lighting that would not trespass onto adjacent properties, and extending the grace period for noise ordinance enforcement until 11 p.m., on Friday and Saturday evenings.

“We are doing everything we can to save the house,” Casavant said. “The U-shaped drive up will allow for people to be dropped off, and we wanted to avoid the need to create a two-lane driveway so we could preserve mature pine trees in the front.”

In addition to substantial work on the house itself, he anticipated two outdoor venue areas for ceremonies and receptions. Future projects could increase the venue’s space to allow for larger events.

“This is a $700,000 investment. We cannot make it work as only bed-and-breakfast .It must also be an event venue,” Casavant said, noting the property was more valuable broken up into chunks for residential development. “It would be a crying shame to dismantle the house.”

Contact Laura Douglass at (910) 693-2474 or lauradouglass145@gmail.com.​