Virginia Beach, Va. - The sale of the Cavalier Hotel and surrounding property to a Virginia Beach developer was approved Monday.
Judge Jane Marum Roush approved the $35 million sale to developer Bruce Thompson in Buckingham County Circuit Court according to the court's clerk.
The sale of the property is expected to close in 40 days.
Thompson is scheduled to present his concept of how to develop the Cavalier Hotel property to the Virginia Beach City Council during a workshop Tuesday afternoon.
Those who live near the property tell NewsChannel 3 that they are hopeful Thompson will present a plan that preserves the hotel.
Clay Nugent, 95, was there when the Cavalier first opened in April 1927.
"Well it was beautiful and it was everything brand new," Nugent explained. "Nothing that we had down here – in Norfolk or anywhere else – could compare to that Cavalier."
Nugent remembers swimming in the pool and listening to big bands that would come to the hotel, as well as the trains that would bring visitors from all over the East Coast right to the hotel's front door.
"The Pennsylvania Railroad had express trains – they’d bring people from New York and Philadelphia," Nugent recalled. "They’d roll up right in front of the Cavalier."
Nugent has watched the entire process of the Cavalier being for sale with earnest - he's hopeful it can be saved.
"It makes me sad to think of them demolishing that hotel," Nugent said. "Get somebody in there to rehabilitate and put it back to and maintain it like a first class property."
Related:
Live chat answers questions about future of the Old Cavalier Hotel
Group using Facebook to advocate for saving the Cavalier Hotel
