Seeing green in everything
0 Comments | The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star, Norfolk, VA, Jul 24, 2010 | by LEE TOLLIVER
By Lee Tolliver
The Virginian-Pilot
VIRGINIA BEACH
Gale Higgs sees green.
When she strolls around the massive expanse of her Marina at Marina Shores, she thinks she’s making a difference for the environment. When she heads into the massive boat-storage building, she sees hundreds of vessels illuminated by light passing through plastic panels instead of energy-sponging electrical lights.
“Green,” she says.
At the swimming pool, she smiles at the pastel chairs, benches and tables made out of recycled plastic instead of wood.
“More green.”
Along the property’s eastern edge, she marvels at the cranes, ibises and herons that make a tidal marsh their home.
“Mother Nature is as green as it gets.”
The 56-year-old Higgs sees it everywhere.
A small beach where boat owners can relax in the afternoon sun has been left intact instead of building more dock space.
Throughout the property, indigenous bushes, trees and palms have been planted to restore the area to what it might have been like hundreds of years ago and to provide nesting for native birds.
As a crew works on beautification, Higgs points out that no pesticides are allowed.
“It’s the way I think,” said the Kellam High School graduate who has owned the marina since she and her late husband, David Levine, built it 22 years ago. “My home is even more green.”
Higgs knows that not everything at a marina can earn the “green” label. There are combustible engines that require fuel and oil, and cleaning agents used by some boaters that are not compatible with the environment.
“You do as much as you can, the best you can, to make a difference,” Higgs said.
Growing up as a member of the Malbon family in rural Virginia Beach in the 1960s, Higgs understood and appreciated Mother Nature. Before school, she and her siblings would march through hip-deep mud to get the day’s pigs off to slaughter before it got too hot.
After taking a few college classes, Higgs got her real estate license when she was 19 – when Virginia Beach was starting to see a boom in growth. She was introduced to Levine on a blind date when she was 26. Their careers in real estate helped fan an instant attraction.
When Levine decided to build a marina on the waterways of Lynnhaven Inlet, he tasked her with designing a 270-foot by 270- foot building to store boats on racks.
“No clue,” she said with a smile. “None … zip. I was in way over my head.
“But David always thought that if you could read and write and think, that you could do anything. Every time I walk through that building, I think of him and how cool this was. I designed and built a building. A pretty huge building.”
The couple’s plan was more expansive than just a place to store and launch boats. With 16 acres, they had room for what now includes two restaurants, a boat sales company, fish cleaning station, service department, pool club, boat slips and several small offices available for rent.
“We’re a lifestyle as much as a marina,” Higgs said.
After two decades on Lynnhaven Inlet’s Long Creek, where the marina faces million-dollar homes and boats of all sizes, Higgs decided to make improvements while increasing the facility’s relationship with its environment. She brought in a marketer and began a total revamp.
The owner of several other area businesses so far has spent $3 million on the marina upgrade.
Part of the plan is to attract transient boaters heading north and south.
“Too many people are stopping on the Peninsula and not coming here. They don’t really know about us,” said Higgs, who now is married to Scott Higgs, another real estate agent.
The marina has been included in the boat traveler’s bible, “The Waterway Guide,” which lists marinas from the Baltimore area south to Jacksonville, Fla.
“If you boat up and down the coast, you have one of these,” said Dale Bowen, Higgs’ marketing consultant
pool table brisbane