It is a local landmark, a place where people go to fish, crab and simply spend time together.
Now, an owner confirms there's a deal in the works to sell Lynnhaven Fishing Pier in Virginia Beach.
The rumors have circulated for years, but Wednesday Bobbie Lou Cashman-Duff, one of the owners of Lynnhaven Fishing Pier, verified the deal in progress with Westminster-Canterbury. She emphasized nothing is official yet, but it should be finalized next month.
“I've been coming to this pier for about fifty years,” Spencer Dildy said. “Ever since I was a little boy my aunt used to bring me out here.”
You hear life stories like Dildy's over and over again at the Lynnhaven Fishing Pier.
“Everybody says 'where you going,'” he described. “Anybody ask for me they say 'he's on the fishing pier. That's where he's at.'”
The regulars aren't just fellow fishermen. This local treasure has solidified bonds.
“It's like a family here,” Dildy explained. “I don't care where you come from. Everybody get along together.”
But now we know for this family, this story is not going to have a happy ending.
“Now they're taking my home away,” Dildy lamented.
Bobbie Lou Cashman-Duff said there's something in the works with their neighbors, Westminster-Canterbury, but it likely won't be official until October.
The family has been approached to sell many times over the years, but never went through with it. Bobbie Lou remembers just before her father passed away he said she'd know when it was time. She told 13News Now Wednesday, it's time.
The owners explained they've poured in hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix storm damage over the last ten to fifteen years. Last year alone, that total included $45,000 for Hurricane Matthew destruction. They can't keep it up.
They're not sure what will become of the property.
Folks like Elwood Reed, who said this place is therapy, fears they’ll tear down the special spot. That would go against an inscription seen while walking along the wooden planks. It reads "save the pier."
“It'd be kind of devastating because this pier has been here for a long time, a long time,” he added.
We reached out to Westminster-Canterbury for comment.
"Currently we are at full capacity,” President and CEO J. Benjamin Unkle, Jr. said in a statement. “We are always looking at ways to better serve the community and our residents. No final decision has been made about any specific opportunity."
Again, Cashman-Duff is expecting the decision to be final next month.