VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Helen Dragas, CEO of Dragas Companies, said she does not feel her company had an “unfair advantage” in pursing a deal to buy Virginia Beach National Golf Club.

Rather, Dragas said her team took the initiative to put forward the “the “best competitive proposal we could.”

Next month, Virginia Beach City Council could vote to sell the 270-acre 18-hole course to Dragas, who along with Texas-based Century Golf, would redesign and refurbish the course. Dragas would then build nearly 660 housing units on the southern end of the property, and build a new childcare center.

Dragas’ proposal, titled “Princess Anne Landing,” was one of nine total groups who responded to the city’s request for proposals regarding of the future of the course.

Still, many on both social media and in public comments have accused the longtime housing developer of having the upper hand, given that she had the city sign a non-disclosure agreement in 2024, more than a year before the city’s intentions of possibly selling the course became public.

As part of an interview Tuesday with 10 On Your Side, Dragas was asked about those accusations and other questions. Responses are edited for style and brevity purposes.

REPORTER: You’ve heard some of the criticisms … sitting through the public hearings. … How do you take it when people say that you got an unfair advantage?

DRAGAS: I say that we invested thousands of hours of hard work and due diligence watching public hearings, media council meetings, digging into those engineering studies that I referenced before that showed the deficiencies, … understanding the comprehensive plan, the Historic Overlay District, the ITA situation, all that. There’s a lot of complexity there and we invested a lot of time and energy to develop the best competitive proposal we could. We never knew we would see it, and we still don’t know if we’ll see a single cent of that investment back. And that’s competition and that’s initiative, and we live in a country that’s always rewarded initiative. And we took it. And while others might have been spending their time on other projects or other endeavors, this is what we were doing. So we didn’t receive any nonpublic information. We just did our homework and I think we tried to solve a lot of problems in one proposal: housing, homeownership, childcare, golf course, you know, redesign and refresh and reinvestment and a future tax stream for the course. So we think we come up with something that provides benefit, not just at offers, but to a lot of other constituents in the city as well. We’re really proud of it.

REPORTER: You were telling me that … long before even the auditors report, you had your eye on that that parcel and thought it would be good for houses. Correct?

DRAGAS: Well, we always knew that there was that section that … could handle some housing, yes. And others did as well. There were other rentals. There was another unsolicited proposal or two. And then I think about half of the respondents to the proposal included housing.

Under the terms that have been negotiated between City Council and economic development staff for months in closed session, Dragas would purchase the roughly 270 acre course for $17.9 million from the city. The city will, in turn, give the $17.9 million back to Dragas, along with $1.8 million from the Virginia Beach Development Authority, to go towards an estimated $38 million golf course redevelopment.

On top of the nearly $20 million the city would give the development team for the golf course work, the city could contribute up to nearly $8 million in public infrastructure along Tournament Drive and Princess Anne Road, to include turn lanes, streetscape improvements, utility relocations, and a sewer extension.

REPORTER: Why does it need to be a public-private partnership?

DRAGAS: So right now the city has millions of dollars in deferred renovation — $7.7 million in identified stormwater deficiencies and remaining clubhouse and facilities repair. That doesn’t cover anything about renovating a 30-year-old course. And … everything needs a renovation, refurbishment at some point in its life, physical life. And so, this course needs that. There’s also public infrastructure that serves the entire area right there. So there’s some Virginia Beach Development Authority parcels that sit there and the first tee … as you probably know, is that land is going to be dedicated to the First Tee. There’s sanitary sanitary sewer infrastructure that serves all those parcels that was originally connected to be temporary, and that was almost 30 years ago. So the city has, I think, some deferred public infrastructure costs as well. What our proposal does is take the city off the hook for future maintenance liabilities. They’re actually going to come out of pocket less than they would if they just did the stormwater and the clubhouse repairs that were made, and in exchange, the city will have a $3.4 million a year tax revenue stream, a completely refreshed and refreshed renovated golf course, a badly needed child care facility and then, of course, the homes, homeownership opportunities for over 600 families.

Virginia Tech football head coach James Franklin and three players — defensive tackle Kemari Copeland, safety Tyson Flowers and running back Marcellous Hawkins — will be present Thursday at the 2026 ACC Kickoff at the Hilton Charlotte Uptown (Charlotte, N.C.). Here are three things I think Hokies fans should hope to learn about the Hokies at media days, centered around which players will be taking questions.

No. 1: How has it been incorporating new athletic director Brian White?

White was named the university’s new athletic director and vice president in June; he previously served in the same roles at Florida Atlantic University. Under the helm of White, the men’s basketball team, coached by Dusty May — he later won a NCAA title with Michigan, and he’s now the head coach of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks — made it to the Final Four in the 2022-23 season. While White’s chops lie more in hoops, his influence on football could also arrive via the chips that he’s surrounded with around the Hokie Club. Virginia Tech has made an effort in finding replacements for its university president (Tim Sands) and athletic director (Whit Babcock), and it’s also procured a record $75 million investment, the majority of which is directed towards the athletic department. How that process of integrating White, who specializes in finances, is going is one of the more intriguing notes to cover.

No. 2: Is there anyone on the secondary that jumps out to either Franklin or Flowers?

The secondary remains one of the more fascinating position groups on Virginia Tech’s roster entering the 2026 season. While Flowers is the established veteran and unquestioned leader of the unit, there are plenty of snaps available around him following offseason departures. Media days won’t provide a depth chart, but they can offer insight into which younger defensive backs have separated themselves during summer workouts.

It will be interesting to hear if there’s a specific player who has caught his attention. Cornerback Joshua Clarke could be one to watch given that he projects into the two-deep after a torn ACL cost him the 2025 campaign. Whether it’s Clarke, an experienced transfer acclimating to Blacksburg like Troy transfer Jaquez White or a younger corner beginning to emerge, those types of comments often provide an early indication of how the coaching staff and players view the rotation before preseason camp begins.

The same goes for Franklin. Coaches are naturally careful with personnel discussions in July, but even subtle praise can be revealing.

No. 3: How does the running back/defensive line depth shape up?

Virginia Tech operated slightly short-handed at running back for the duration of fall camp, missing true freshman Messiah Mickens throughout. Hawkins was hobbled, and though he went through several individual workouts, he did not play in the spring game. How he’s doing is one of the points to note, and while it doesn’t appear to be a serious injury at first glance, clarity is always helpful.

As for the defensive tackle room, Emmett Laws is currently out with an undisclosed injury that defensive coordinator Brent Pry did not go into more detail on. Any update on his availability would be encouraging, particularly for a defensive front that is counting on developing quality depth behind its projected starters. Kemari Copeland and Elhadj Fall appear to be the likely starters at tackle, but beyond Aycen Stevens being at one of the edge spots, who starts at the other is yet to be determined.

As Roanoke hosts the USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships this week, one of the region’s leading advocates for outdoor recreation is taking on a new role at the state level.

Gov. Abigail Spanberger has appointed Pete Eshelman to the Virginia Tourism Authority, marking his second term on the board after previously serving from 2018 to 2023.

For the past 15 years, Eshelman has helped lead the Roanoke Regional Partnership and the Roanoke Outside Foundation, promoting outdoor recreation as an economic development strategy. He said the region’s mountains, rivers and trails have become more than tourism assets; they have become tools for attracting businesses and new residents.

“We took for granted where we live—the beauty, the lakes, the mountains, the rivers, the trails—and we treated them like wallpaper,” Eshelman said. “But then we became intentional with them.”

Eshelman said investing in quality of life has helped distinguish the Roanoke Valley from competing communities.

“I always say quality of life is an economic sector,” he said. “When we invest in that, we see how it attracts companies like RINGANA. We see how it attracts people that can choose wherever they want to move to and live, but they’re choosing to move here over Asheville, North Carolina or Charlottesville because of that quality of life.”

That strategy has helped shape events including the Blue Ridge Marathon, GO Outside Festival and continued investments in parks, trails and outdoor recreation throughout the region.

“It’s not that Roanoke had a bad image; we just didn’t have an image,” Eshelman said. “What we’ve been able to do is show people these are our strengths as a community.”

Now, Eshelman hopes to bring that same approach to communities across Virginia through his appointment to the Virginia Tourism Authority.

“It’s really important that as decisions and policy decisions are being made at the state level that Roanoke has a voice and a say,” said Eshelman. ”I am very proud to do that.”

Eshelman believes the model that has helped transform Roanoke’s reputation can be replicated elsewhere.

“The work we’re doing here, this model, is replicable across other communities,” he said. “I think that whole ‘rising tides lift all ships’ mentality is really strong across economic development, across tourism, across our region and across the state.”

Despite Roanoke’s growing national recognition as an outdoor destination, Eshelman said the work is far from finished.

“We haven’t arrived,” he said. “We have a lot more that we can do. We have to put our foot down on the gas and do even more to kind of keep this competitive edge.”

As communities across the country compete for businesses, workers and visitors, Eshelman said he believes Roanoke’s greatest advantage has been in its own backyard all along.