Skybus goes south

Starting December 17, Skybus Airlines will begin offering services from Portsmouth International Airport to two Florida destinations. Customers will be able to jet down to the Jacksonville and Daytona Beach areas through St. Augustine Airport, or they can fly to the Charlotte County Airport to access towns in Southwest Florida like Fort Myers, Naples, Sarasota and Port Charlotte. Tickets for the two routes went on Sale at 6 a.m. on Sept. 25. As with all Skybus flights, the first 10 seats cost just $10, plus taxes.

Skybus has done well since its first flight from Pease took off in May, according to Dick Green, executive director of the Pease Development Authority. “They’ve been running about 85 to 90 percent full on all flights,” Green said, adding that the response to the Florida routes has been “overwhelming.” “That’s a real hot market, especially during the winter months,” he said.

Green predicts senior citizens, college-aged spring breakers, pre-season baseball fans and a variety of other people will take advantage of the direct flights to Florida. “This is certainly a very viable alternative for them so they won’t have to take a trip to Boston or Portland,” he said.

Early tickets for the Florida flights have already sold out, but Skybus will be booking reservations to Florida for flights through March 6. All reservations for Skybus flights must be made over the Internet. Skybus connects Portsmouth to a number of destinations throughout the United States using A319 jets, most of which have connections in Columbus, Ohio. The airline flies to secondary airports and charges for in-flight meals, which allows it to offer low ticket prices.

new shopping center descends on Epping

If you’ve ever wondered what to do in Epping, shopping could soon be the answer. Planning has begun for a 300,000-square-foot shopping center to be located at the intersection of routes 101 and 125. Although no tenants have been announced, negotiations are underway between the developer, Drakes Appleton of Hampton, and a number of national retail chains.

The new shopping center will be located behind the Burger King and the Mobil Station on the southwest corner of the intersection. It will include two big box stores and a 100-room hotel, according to Erik Saari of Jones and Beach Engineers Inc., the company in charge of doing the design and permitting work for the project. Although the project has received all the necessary local, state and federal grants, exact details of the shopping center will not be revealed until tenants are secured.

“We still don’t have the final tenant mix nailed down,” Saari said. “The layout may change slightly depending on who is the tenant.”

Saari estimated that the project will take nine months once construction begins, if everything goes according to plan. He thinks Epping is ideally suited for a new shopping center. “Epping is a rapidly expanding retail market. It’s centrally located with great access,” he said. “Plus, you’ve got other big retail players in the market already. There are municipal services in terms of water and sewer already in place. It’s highly visible. And the population growth in the background has been exploding over the last 10 years.”

Several improvements must be made to the surrounding area to accommodate the planned shopping center. The intersection in front of Burger King will be widened and will eventually serve as the development’s main entrance. Also, the ramps entering and exiting Route 101 will be widened, and other improvements will be made to Route 125. Saari estimates that the highway portion of the project will cost about $1.5 million.   

Ten or 15 years ago, improper logging created extensive wetlands at the site where the shopping center will be located. When the new development goes in, about 7.3 acres of the wetlands will be affected. To mitigate the environmental impact of the project, the developers have set aside 250 acres of conservation land. Eighteen of those acres will be located at the back of the project site. Another 130 will be located on land in Nottingham that abuts Pawtuckaway State Park. The remaining acreage will be off Blake Road in Epping.