Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 11, 1990 TAG: 9004110303
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY BUSINESS EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Razing of the Jefferson Street leg of Hunter Viaduct at the downtown tower site can start as soon as detailed loan documentation is completed, probably within the next three weeks, said Davis Drumheller, Virginia development partner for Faison.
The tower, to be 20 stories high, will have Dominion Bankshares and Woods Rogers & Hazlegrove law offices as anchor tenants. John Rocovich's law firm also plans to move there, and the Parvin Wilson law firm is expected to sign an agreement soon.
This will account for 76 percent of the available office space, Drumheller said. He is working with "good prospects for another 10 percent" of the space.
The tower will be as tall as a 22-story building because the first and the top floors will be 26 feet high, the equivalent of two stories, he said.
Shops will be on the first floor and the next six levels will be for parking. Offices will start on the eighth floor.
After Faison gives the city notice to start clearing the site, Branch Highways Inc. is expected to take about 30 days to remove the viaduct leg. Branch was awarded the $180,130 contract in November.
Drumheller said he is optimistic that the tower construction can start in May. He said work can begin while the viaduct is being removed.
City traffic officials have said that changing street signs will take two weeks. Signs must be posted for the new traffic patterns required after the viaduct leg is removed.
First Street, between Campbell and Salem avenues, and Jefferson Street, between Salem and Norfolk avenues, will be converted to two-way traffic in an interim plan. Downtown traffic is expected to be tied to a proposed inner-loop road system in two years. Also, a bridge is to be built across the railway at Second Street Southwest.
Groundbreaking for the tower was planned for January, but city officials said longer negotiations were required to complete legal documents needed for the six-level parking garage within the tower.
Drumheller said his company is pleased that such a complex transaction could be negotiated, drafted and signed in five months. In other cities, such complicated agreements have often taken nine months to a year to complete, he said.
The agreement also was signed by the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority because that agency will own the parking garage.
by CNB