Hey, isn't that..?

Cape Charles has long list of celeb landowners and prospectives

By Ceri Larson Danes

As seen in Eastern Shore News – 02-11-2006

CAPE CHARLES — In what is usually a harbinger of impending fame for an area, a number of entertainment-types and professional athletes are suddenly interested in the Eastern Shore. And though not yet here in droves, it is the glitterati who have helped to turn many quaint and quiet communities into exclusive domains of the bold and the beautiful. Whether Key West, FL., Martha's Vineyard, Mass., Sun Valley, Idaho, the Hamptons on New York's Long Island, or Lake Tahoe, CA, places that were once home to ordinary people are now high-priced havens for the rich and famous and the masses that bask in their glow.

Here on the remote and still relatively unspoiled Eastern Shore, Hollywood has come knocking. The list includes everyone from a Warner Brothers executive to a former Joe Millionaire television heartthrob who own property. A Super Bowl-winning defensive coach also bought. A pop star sniffed at local property. A racing champ partied here. A motion-picture star had his latest movie filmed here, even if he didn't show. The attraction, so far, has its epicenter at Cape Charles and includes a chunk of lower Northampton County, part of an area touted to would-be visitors for its pristine uniqueness and small-town charm. But the posh amenities of Bay Creek Resort also have attracted an increasingly rarified clientele as property prices reach record highs.

An unnamed polo-playing New York investor recently paid $1.6 million for a lot in the exclusive Heron Pointe section of the resort, according to Linda Buskey, the Bay Creek Realtor who sold the property. He'll be rubbing elbows with the resorts creator, Dickie Foster, whose home was one of several featured during last summer's VisionFest, a ten-day party hosted by the developer that attracted real-estate seekers from as far away as, yes, Hollywood. Gary Credle flew in from the West Coast to take in VisionFest. Having left Virginia Beach for California when he was 11, this Burbank-based big-wig said he still has relatives in the area and had recently visited the Shore. Credle, the chief administrative officer and an executive vice president with Warner Brothers, said he wanted to see what was being developed.

"I don't know that there is any particular appeal for entertainment individuals other than the appeal of the Eastern Shore in general, a sense of stepping back in time. It is less stressful, fewer people, less traffic," said the executive who likens his job to being "the mayor of Warner Brothers," where he has worked for 23 years. Credle didn't buy in Bay Creek. Instead, he purchased a 106-year old, 17-room former hotel near the corner of Mason and Bay avenues in the town's historic district, sited nicely on the edge of business and residential neighborhoods with sweeping harbor and bay views. The hotel has stood empty for years, and Credle, who paid about $1.6 million, plans a major overhaul. Cape Charles architect Leon Parham is currently working on the designs. "It is a bit of escapism for me," he said of the town, "but I don't want to fall off the end of the earth, either." He said he sees great potential in Cape Charles, adding, "I really like it. I like the lifestyle and the attitude."

The Eastern Shore has been discovered, Credle said, and he's banking on its potential to support his business, which he described as a small, European-style hotel once it is completed in about two years. But he also recognized the effect growth can have: "Growth is threatening to everybody -- growth is threatening in Burbank." "I don't see Cape Charles ever being a resort town with hustle and bustle, but it can certainly thrive on summer tourism. It is a business venture and a lifestyle change," said Credle, who will continue to split his time between the two coasts.

Joe Millionaire is here, too. The former star of the reality TV series of the same name, he wasn't named Joe, nor was he a millionaire. But Evan Marriott is from Virginia Beach, and acquired a level of fame after going from heavy-construction equipment operator to pretend bachelor-playboy -- with a cool $50 million -- faced with choosing a mate from a bevy of 20 gold diggers in what was then a Fox-TV ratings leader. He owns the lot next to Foster.

And then there is Darren Perry. He may not be as high on everyone's name-recognition scale, but Perry has a notable claim to fame: he's defensive backs coach for the 2006 Super Bowl XL-winning Pittsburgh Steelers. Born in Chesapeake, Perry had a successful career on the field playing for Penn State and later for the Steelers and the New Orleans Saints. Changing lanes from NFL to NASCAR, one of country's most acclaimed stock-car racers also has a connection to the town. On New Year's Eve 2005, Kurt Busch hosted a party at the resort's waterfront Cabana Bar in the Marina Village. A manager at the bar said Busch plunked down $10,000 for the 250-person party, and that he was long-gone once a ruckus broke out that required sheriff's deputies to break it up.

Local resident Al Brown can be seen as a regular on HBO's weekly dramatic series, "The Wire," and was recently replaced in ABC's new answer to NBC's "The West Wing" -- "Commander In Chief," starring Geena Davis and Donald Sutherland -- as General Alan Pollack, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. When Brown's not on a set somewhere or heading to New York City for an audition, he's usually at home in Cape Charles. Brown and his wife Janet bought a home in the town's historic district in 2000 and, like many others, spent years renovating the property. Brown, who grew up in Philadelphia, said he always wanted to live on the water.

"As a kid growing up in the city, the only water I ever saw was the Schuylkill River," he said. He and his wife started their search for a home near the water in Cape May, N. J."I'd find a house and ask how much, then I'd get back in my car and drive south." He said he kept doing that until he reached Cape Charles. Though production of the latest Oval Office drama has been relocated to Los Angeles and writer/producer/director/creator Rod Lurie has taken a backseat to heavy-hitter Steven Bochco ("NYPD Blue," "L. A. Law"), the pilot was shot in Virginia, at the state's first and only full-service studio complex -- New Millennium Studios in Petersburg.

New Millennium was founded in 1997 by actor/producer Tim Reid, often best known as disc jockey Venus Flytrap in the late-1970s comedy, "WKRP in Cincinnati." A Norfolk native, Reid started the studio with three initial partners: his wife, Daphne, former-Governor and then-investor Mark R. Warner and the Shore's own Dan Hoffler, chairman of the development firm Armada/Hoffler. The studio has played a big role in Virginia's $174 million dollar film industry, offering a 60-acre complex featuring a 15,000 square foot sound stage, editing suites, recording studios, a 15-acre back lot, and an Oval Office set and White House facade that attracted not only "Commander In Chief," but also it's NBC precursor, among many other projects.

Kidding around about the decision to use the Petersburg set, Brown said, "The deal was if you wanted to shoot something at the Oval Office and you also were going to do some outside scenes in Washington, Bush may not want to move out for a couple of hours." Despite the convenience inherent in the Reids' studio and its proximity to Washington, it is the production move back to the Hollywood Hills that Brown thinks led to his replacement. "Since ABC or (parent company) Disney didn't want to be flying people back and forth, and besides they have their own facilities in California, it was a business decision not to pay to fly people in from Virginia." For now, Brown is staying busy when HBO's gritty police drama, "The Wire," based and shot in Baltimore, Md., is in production. He plays district commander Major Stanislas Valcheck, a character he said "has no redeeming qualities.. so I'm not acting at all."

According to Realtors in Cape Charles, Sean Combs, the Harlem, N.Y.born hip-hop performer known most recently as simply "Diddy," had his eye on a beachfront property south of town, but the deal, they said, did not go through. Scott Hornbacher, son of a North Dakota grocer has also spread the limelight around lower Northampton County. Though as a homeowner here for longer than most of his entertainment counterparts in the area, he can't really be considered a glitterati-come-lately. Hornbacher, a producer on the mega-hit HBO series, "The Sopranos," married a Portsmouth native about eight years ago. That's when he and wife Paige bought a duplex in Cape Charles and started spending a lot of their free time here. He's been with "Sopranos" ever since, and though they've sold their house in town, they subsequently purchased another home near Arlington in lower Northampton.

One more name on the Eastern Shore's entertainment hit parade is Stephanie Campbell. Not the star of a recent mega-hit, she qualifies as something more: a powerbroker. Until recently, Campbell, who also owns a house in the historic district of Cape Charles, was executive vice president of programming for DIRECTV, Inc., acting as gatekeeper of what gets on and what doesn't.

Among the newest stars is one of the Shore's own -- the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. There were reports last fall that Tom Cruise would spend some time on this side of the Bay shooting his long-delayed "Mission: Impossible 3." Cruise never made it to the Shore, but for months there was speculation that he would practice stunts on the backloads here and stay locally, off the beaten path. But where? Those in the know wanted to know more.

Second-unit crews ended up with some dramatic aerial shots of the star-quality span, while Cruise's appearance was done on a mock-up, as anyone can see in the movie's teaser trailer at www.missionimpossible.com. If Cruise had discovered all the hidden treasures of this delicate peninsula, he may have hastened the inevitable, and the masses who follow the stars -- whether small-time, super or mega status -- might have pointed their sights and their RVs in this direction sooner. For what it is worth, his no-show could mean the Shore stays shore-like for a while longer.

Until a celebrity golf tour comes along.