The owners of the Weyanoke have recently made the decision to neither renew nor sign any new leases for next year.
Located across the road from campus, the Weyanoke currently houses three different sororities on three different floors of the building. A total of 30 residents live in the building and were notified of the decision on Nov. 7 through an email. The residents will hold their current leases until May 31 of next spring.
Although there are many rumors as to what the Weyanoke will be used for, none have been confirmed. The Rotunda contacted a representative from the Longwood Real Estate Foundation, but has yet to receive an official comment on the situation.
Gerald Spates, the Town Manager of Farmville, said that he received an email from the Weyanoke property owner which stated that the Longwood Real Estate Foundation was involved.
“I just got an email from the Hotel (Weyanoke) this morning because we hadn’t heard anything about what their plans are, but evidently they’re working with Longwood Real Estate Foundation and we don’t know what they’re up to,” Spate continued, “....the developers (want) to know where we were on passing an ordinance on tourism. If you designate a tourism zone, there’s some process you can go through where localities can take taxes that are generated by a business and reinvest them back into a business. We don’t do that. We’ve never had an investor that’s asked us to give them money back into a project.”
The future use of the building still remains unknown, but many believe the Weyanoke will be renovated into a hotel once again or turned into student housing.
As far as the rumors of a hotel being renovated into the space, Spates said that he “always thought years ago the Real Estate Foundation was going to buy the Hotel Weyanoke and turn it into a hotel, being as close as it is to Longwood.”
When The Rotunda reached out to the realtors for the Weyanoke, they replied that they had “no comment at this time.”
This leaves speculations to roam around the possible future of the Weyanoke to continue without confirmation.
“I really don’t know what they’re doing….I’ve been told that the Real Estate Foundation is working with them, so what their involvement is, I don’t know,” said Spates. “It (the email) said they formalized their discussion with Longwood.”
Spates remains confident that the space will be renovated back into a hotel.
“I think we would support turning it back into a hotel. I mean, I think it’d be a great thing, but if they’re going to expand it, then we need to know where they’re going to expand it, what’s going to be done, where they’re going to park,” said Spates.
Although the speculations of the building remain, so does the question of where the residents of the Weyanoke will live next year.
Both Walk2Campus Properties and Green Properties Management, LLC have received residents from the Weyanoke who have been looking for housing next year.
Charlotte Green, the owner and operator of Green Properties Management, LLC, said that one group of girls came to her from the Weyanoke.
Green manages roughly 30 buildings containing 70 apartments. These are all currently occupied, but are only 15 percent full for next year. This leaves space for any residents from the Weyanoke to find housing elsewhere.
“The Real Estate Foundation is very clever and a very smart group....They make good decisions but they’re very quiet about it, or at least seem to be. If they’re involved, it won’t surprise me. They want what’s good for Longwood and that’s a good option for them if they’re involved,” said Green.
Green herself hasn’t heard of confirmation of any use that the Weyanoke will serve, but says that she has heard rumors concerning it possibly being renovated into a hotel or student housing.
“It seems like they’re (the Real Estate Foundation) more into housing for students that’s consistent from August to June, that’s their thing...I think anything’s possible, and even if they capitalize on the opportunity as a hotel and decide that doesn’t work, it’s still good as student housing…It’s a good thing for everybody as long as they don’t destroy the building,” said Green.
Because the Weyanoke only held 30 residents of sororities, Green does not believe that it will make a huge impact to the income of residents to her business.
“I feel bad for the sororities that thought they had a place to be. I think that’s been a good thing for them. I don’t know how long they’ve been there...It was a good idea...I think it worked well for the females and I think it worked well for the town...and I had a feeling when it sold that that might change, so here it is. A couple years later, it’s reality,” said Green.
Walk2Campus Properties has also received residents from the Weyanoke.
Jennifer Carlyle, the regional property manager at Walk2Campus Properties, said that they have received leases from at least a dozen residents who are currently living in the Weyanoke.
According to Carlyle, Walk2Campus Properties currently manages several properties containing a total of 420 bedrooms and are around 99 percent occupied this year. Leases have already started filling up with just over 50 percent of the properties leased for next year.
“We were happy to help them look for housing,” said Carlyle.
These property management companies aren’t the only businesses affected by the Weyanoke’s decision. Jason Badeaux, the owner of Badeaux’s Cajun Kitchen, began renting the space under the hotel in March 2015. Badeaux rents the space from the same owner of the Weyanoke.
Badeaux heard about the change in leases around a week or so ago from one of the girls who lived on one of the floors. He said that he had not yet been contacted about the change.
“They haven’t told us anything,” said Badeaux.
With no confirmation of the Weyanoke’s future use, the possibilities will ultimately affect Badeaux’s business.
“We do get some business from the girls who live upstairs, and they come down for lunch sometimes. But a lot of the other college students in the area still do the same thing. A lot of the faculty at Longwood come over...If they turn it into residential (housing), and they do local residents, those people will have just as much opportunity. If they turn it into a type of hotel, honestly, I think we would do better. You get people out of town. If they do, we’re still student-based, but not necessarily sorority-based...So I don’t really see it hurting us in any way long-term,” said Badeaux.
Badeaux said he hopes it will be renovated back into a hotel and that there is a lot of potential the building holds.
“The people who own it are smart and they wouldn’t make any change if they didn’t think they had a way of making money with it....There’s a lot of potential to this historic building. I would personally love for someone to restore it to what it was, and then maybe come in and put in some modern amenities,” said Badeaux.
Although there still remains to be any confirmation, the main consensus seems to be that the building will be renovated back into a hotel or student housing.
Follow The Rotunda for more updates regarding the future use of The Weyanoke.
The story has been update reflect: "The Rotunda contacted a representative from the Longwood Real Estate Foundation, but has yet to receive an official comment on the situation."
