Looking Back: The Story of Bayville at Lake Joyce

The year 2021 marked the end of our time developing the beautiful Bayville at Lake Joyce-- a community of 30 homes quietly nestled off of Shore Drive alongside Virginia Beach’s Lake Joyce. The community took four years to build to completion, with even more time of preparation beforehand.

However, what many don’t see is the story behind the neighborhood that stands today. For the Bishard family, this neighborhood was more than a development opportunity- it was personal.

Where there are now 30 stunning, Nantucket-inspired Single Family Homes was once the school ground of Baylake Pines School. In 2014, after much effort to save it, the school closed due to declining enrollments following the great recession. Steve Bishard, our Co-Founder and CEO was one of many parents joining in on the conversation to save the school.

“For me, it was a little bit personal because I spent so many years there with my children”, Bishard said in a 2017 interview for The Virginian Pilot. His children attended school at Baylake Pines-- his son from kindergarten to eighth grade and his daughter until third grade.

Although he did not initially have plans to develop the school when the land became available for purchase, Steve Bishard jumped at the opportunity to turn the space into a gorgeous community that would not only be a place families could love for generations to come, but also one that would honor and remember the school that once stood on its grounds.

"Working the school into development plans wasn't required, and Bishard said it would have been easier to develop the land without that, but it was important to him to memorialize the school.

"We felt like it was a critical element of that development," he said. "It will be a landmark to the school in the future.""

An excerpt from The Virginian Pilot, May 10, 2017 By MECHELLE HANKERSON

The community today is riddled with the memories of Baylake Pines School- from its name to its monument at the front of the community, and even its street names-- “Graves Lane”, named after Ms. Glenda Graves, an assistant principal at the school who came to work for Bishard Homes after the school closed. 

While the development is completed, it is not gone from our hearts. At Bishard Homes, Bayville at Lake Joyce continues to represent so much of who our company is and what it’s all about- quality craftsmanship, beautiful homes, and a culture that honors both family and community in everything we do.

We are excited to continue offering quality, one-of-a-kind, homes to Virginia Beach and Chesapeake, including a brand new single-family community coming to Virginia Beach in the Summer of 2022.