Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 11, 1990 TAG: 9003082198
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF BUSINESS WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Over the decades, Roanokers advanced plans for the street, including transforming it into a sealed pedestrian mall.
Even though nothing came from the proposals, boutiques have slipped into the shops along the south side of the street in recent years. Most of their home-grown proprietors are doing well.
Now Downtown Roanoke Inc. and the city are taking another look at Kirk Avenue with a new plan to play up its strengths.
One of Kirk's assets that is hidden from a casual stroller is a new local landlord with a personal interest in downtown development.
Art Strickland, along with three friends from Northern Virginia, bought the property in October 1988 from an estate that had no ties to Roanoke.
Strickland, whose law office is one block away, owns the south-side land from Mike's through Mr. Su's.
He and his partners, Strickland said, would invest in building improvements provided they become part of a broader development.
Another plus for Kirk is its location.
"Look at a map or think of activities downtown," said Bob Hooper, former director of Downtown Roanoke Inc.
Kirk Avenue, Hooper said, is "ground zero - the dead center of downtown."
His successor at Downtown Roanoke Inc., Franklin Kimbrough, said Kirk's fortunes rose with the revival of the Roanoke City Market.
Kirk, he said, is a natural funnel from the municipal complex to the market.
Kirk is also anchored by the parking garage on the First Street side and, at Jefferson, the dual portals of the Dominion Bank Building and the office of Sherertz, Franklin, Crawford & Shaffner.
Some 500 people work in the Dominion Bank Building. The architectural firm on the opposite corner employes 92 and takes an interst in Kirk Avenue.
Kirk is "a busy little street," said Nancy Tate, who opened Kopyright Inc. there 14 months ago.
Another strength is the atmosphere along Kirk, where two-story buildings buffer the narrow street from more imposing and distant structures.
Kirk, said Hooper, is "user friendly. It's a lot like the market."
Bigness has its place downtown, Hooper said, but pedestrians also like a cozy and intimate environment. "It's the womb of downtown."
Kimbrough said Kirk is built on a pedestrian scale. It offers activity and excitement, but also seems safe and secure.
It's a street that works, Kimbrough said.
Councilman Bev Fitzpatrick, who's been working with Downtown Roanoke on the project, views Kirk as comfortable.
If that block of Kirk is successful, Fitzpatrick said, development will spill to the east along the block to the City Market.
Ron Crawford, a partner at Sherertz, Franklin, Crawford & Shaffner, donated a plan for Kirk Avenue under the auspices of Downtown Roanoke Inc.
Crawford said his goal was to enhance and beautify the pedestrian space without intrusion into parking and loading areas.
Crawford would organize Kirk, separating two functions. Any plan to ban vehicles, he said, fails to consider the realities of the way merchants work off a street.
His plan calls for landscaping, benches and sections of brick pavement with trees set in island-like sidewalk extensions. It matches the small scale of the buildings.
Kirk Avenue, Crawford said, demands a sensitive, not a grandiose, approach.
The city delayed sidewalk work while it reviewed Crawford's proposals.
Its plan calls for trees on seven islands that jut slightly into the street, the only place for them on the narrow pavement.
Work on the $100,000 project is expected to begin in late May and take about six weeks. Victorian street lights may be installed later.
iThe project will be financed with sidewalk replacement money included in the city's 1988 bond issue.
City Manager Bob Herbert said the false islands with their trees will bring a new touch to downtown, but still accommodate business needs.
The plan for Kirk Avenue, Herbert said, is affordable, yet "something very special."
Parking is foremost among Kirk Avenue's problems, which largely reflect those inherent in all of downtown.
C.E. Hardy, who moved his jewelry store to Townside Festival Feb. 1, said parking was the "biggest gripe" among his customers. Many of them avoided the nearby parking garage.
The store he had opened in 1980 began to suffer with the closing of Miller & Rhoads, whose rear entrance was across the street.
Giulio Corsini, a tailor who also opened in 1980, said more people walk Kirk than stroll Jefferson.
But he can't count on customers who drive. Nobody likes to pay for parking, Corsini said.
Molly Bauman, who is "still struggling" to build Roanoke Prints & Gifts, which she purchased two years ago, said the city needs to go one of two ways.
Either Kirk should become a closed mall, she said, or else the parking and traffic flow should be improved.
Both Bauman and Corsini cited another problem in the lack of business on Saturdays when, only two blocks away, the City Market is thriving.
Martha Cox, whose shop called Martha's opened seven years ago, dated a drop in traffic, especially Saturday, from the closing of Hotel Roanoke and transfer of Norfolk Southern personnel.
Patrons of her women's apparel shop are primarily working women downtown.
When traffic first dropped about 18 months ago, Cox opened a second Martha's at Townside Festival. But she said she has no plans to close downtown.
Dalson Chi, owner of Mike's Place, agreed that business began to decline over the last year or so.
Two other women's apparel shops line the block. The competitors agree their proximity helps all of them.
Dorothy Osborne said business at Panache is "terrific" because Kirk Avenue is a retail sleeper.
She'd like to see the storefronts refurbished and painted a single color so that Kirk would look like a mini-mall.
Jerry Weeks, an owner of Christy's, thinks the street has been neglected by the city and needs major surgery.
Christy's moved up the block to a larger location about two years ago.
Weeks said he stayed on Kirk because it's busier than parallel Church or Campbell.
Osborne of Panache said Kirk needs more enterprises like Salon Ltd., which pulls people to the block.
Salon Ltd. is a veteran of 14 years in the location.
Owner James Ferrell said that, for him, "downtown is the only place to be."
Kirk, he said, is a main pedestrian thoroughfare, drawing employees from the municipal complex and from as far away as Appalachian Power Co.
BBT Gifts Etc. is a relative newcomer, opening in September 1988 at the corner of First Street.
One of the owners, Bill Cleveland, said they looked for a place off the City Market, where rents have risen sharply.
Kirk, he said, is close to city hall and to the bank buildings.
As proof of its success, BBT Gifts Etc. will open a second location May 1 at Lakeside Plaza in Salem.
Two newcomers were drawn to the block last October.
Judi Huffman launched Unique Expressions there because "I thought it was a trendy little street."
Malls are too expensive for a small local entrepreneur, Huffman said.
Her first choice was the City Market, but she discovered rent there was also high.
Unique Expressions had good Christmas and Valentine's business, Huffman said, and people are starting to find her shop.
The other new venture is Mr. Su's Oriental Market.
Nam Su is downtown because there seemed to be a Chinese restaurant in every other neighborhood.
He chose Kirk because he hopes to catch people before they reach the market.
Business, he said, is "very smooth, very good."
He's remodeling now to add a restaurant behind the oriental deli.
Like the rest of downtown, Kirk is largely vacant on its upper stories.
The exception is the office of Sherertz, Franklin, Crawford & Shaffner, which fills the upper floors of storefronts along both Kirk and Jefferson.
The firm is currently in temporary quarters on Campbell Avenue while that space is renovated. The remodeling will turn its entrance to Jefferson.
All that empty second-level space intrigued Strickland and his partners, Sam Samaha and Peter Morabito. (A fourth partner, Martin Schorr, has died since they bought the property.)
Strickland said they have architect's plans to renovate the space into six one-bedroom apartments, but the costs didn't work out.
Because of building code requirements for fire flooring between retail and living quarters, the apartments would have to rent for $600 a month.
His latest idea is for a large flea market on the second level.
Without the apartments, the partners' venture fails to turn a profit.
Strickland said rents cover taxes, insurance and debt maintenance. The partners take the depreciation as a tax loss.
Their real gamble is on the renaissance of downtown, and Strickland is disappointed at its pace.
Strickland would invest in the property to give it what he calls as Georgetown image if there is other development.
He sees a need to keep as many merchants as possible in business. The failure of one venture undermines the others, he said.
Parking is the main impediment to downtown development, Strickland said.
Without parking, customers stop coming, he said. By the time the garages are built, the stores have disappeared as well.
by CNB