ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 2, 1990                   TAG: 9009060036
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B/5   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: George Kegley/Business Editor
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

NEW PROJECTS UNVEILED

An architect's sketch of an expanded Hotel Roanoke and a trade-convention center on the site of present Norfolk Southern offices was a key feature in more than $180 million of Roanoke development projects described by City Manager Robert Herbert Thursday.i

Herbert showed a slide of the sketch to about 50 people at a U.S. Savings Bonds luncheon but he and Virginia Tech officials refused to release the sketch to a reporter afterward.

Herbert said the illustration belongs to Tech, and Mode Johnson, assistant to the vice president for business affairs there, said Tech officials "need to look at it ... to see it and review it before it is authorized for release." Tech, owner of the hotel, is seeking a national hotel chain to remodel and operate it.

The slide showed an addition for a graduate center at the west side of the hotel and a large brick convention center across the street.

In his talk, Herbert said the city and Tech are trying to develop a conceptual view of a refurbished hotel with a graduate center beside it and a trade-convention center on the site of the two Norfolk Southern office buildings on North Jefferson Street.

This project "is a question of how, not if," Herbert said. He priced the hotel renovation at $20 million to $30 million and the convention center the same.

Herbert described a package of 13 public and private developments ranging from $150 million to $250 million planned in 1990-91. Not including Norfolk Southern or Dominion Tower, they are to provide 1,900 new jobs, he said.

The city expects to complete negotiations with Norfolk Southern in about a month, clearing the way for the rail system's $20 million office building for 1,000 employees at Williamson and Franklin roads, Herbert said.

Carter & Associates of Atlanta is scheduled to start development of the NS offices this spring and to complete the building by late 1991, said Bob Auman of NS. He said $17 million has been budgeted for the building.

Other projects on Herbert's list:

Advance Auto expansion in the Centre for Industry and Technology, $5 million -$6 million; Roanoke Memorial Hospital, $30 million-$60 million; Dominion Tower, $42 million; city parking garage with residential units on Church Avenue southeast, $9 million -$11.5 million; Community Hospital, $5.2 million; Sherertz, Franklin, Crawford, Shaffner architects, $1 million; Market Place Center on East Campbell Avenue, $2 million-$3 million; United Parcel Service distribution center and an adjacent shell building for speculation, $15 million-$20 million; Virginia Transformer, $3.5 million; and Elizabeth Arden distribution center, $10 million.

In addition, Herbert said, the city expects the 143 acres recently added to the Centre for Industry to bring another 1,000 jobs and $869,000 in new taxes.

Herbert said he challenges other Roanoke Valley governments to produce developments on this scale.

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