Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 3, 1990 TAG: 9005300424
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF BUSINESS WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Those who are watching it, however, expect it to have a large impact on future development along Jefferson Street.
That structure, a recycling of three buildings at Jefferson and Kirk, is the headquarters of Sherertz, Franklin, Crawford & Shaffner.
The architectural and engineering firm's $1 million renovation is expected to be finished in September.
The three buildings will house the firm's 90 employees with room for another 20 or so.
Franklin Kimbrough, executive director of Downtown Roanoke Inc., said the SFCS building will help create the critical mass needed to spark further growth.
Atmosphere, image and attitude are vital to development, he said, and the SFCS renovation will freshen the look of downtown.
Business brings business, Kimbrough said, and the new image has heightened interest in other properties in the immediate area.
Retaining the 90 employees helps downtown too. Kimbrough said people who work downtown spend 30 percent of their disposable income at nearby businesses.
The project involves a change of address, but not the location, for SFCS.
The firm's front entrance, previously noted only on a small plaque at 14 W. Kirk, will take a bolder look at 305 S. Jefferson.
Patrick Shaffner, president, said the Kirk building entrance will still be used by employees and for deliveries.
Four large windows have already been opened in the once-solid wall facing Kirk Avenue.
Shaffner said the upper facade of the two Jefferson Street buildings will be restored to its original appearance.
An overlay from the 1960s will be stripped away, and the original cornices will be restored.
At street level, though, SFCS will inset a new front of glass block, concrete, steel and brick.
The 24,000-square-foot interior will undergo what Shaffner called a complete office landscaping.
Michael Ramsey, SFCS business development officer, said the renovation surrounds - but does not include - the firm's first office.
SFCS was founded in 1920 as Eubank & Caldwell in the corner building now occupied by a greeting card shop.
The firm later moved to the Boxley Building, which it designed, then to the First Federal (now CorEast) building.
Ronald Crawford, executive vice president, said SFCS bought the Kirk Avenue building in 1982, leasing part of the space to the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce.
It had 24 employees at the time. Within a year and a half, Crawford said, the number had risen to 40.
SFCS purchased 305 S. Jefferson, rented out the first floor to a data processing company and expanded into the two upper stories.
The Luck and Jefferson buildings were connected by a new bridge over an alley.
In another 18 months, SFCS outgrew the space and bought 307 S. Jefferson, again expanding into the upper two floors.
By 1987, Crawford said, the firm had 75 to 80 employees.
SFCS terminated its leases with the street-level tenants: Automated Data Processing, the Peanut Store and Barr Brothers jewelers. The firm used that level for storage.
When it grew to a staff of 90, Crawford said, SFCS considered its options, including a move out of downtown. It also weighed continued ownership against becoming a tenant.
The firm decided to stay where it was, to make the space more efficient and to enhance its image with a more imposing entrance.
The move of the Chamber of Commerce to the Crestar building gave SFCS an added 5,000 square feet in the Kirk Avenue building, Crawford said.
The street level space on Jefferson will be more fully utilized while the separate structures are better tied together.
The three buildings have been gutted by the contractor, Lionberger Construction Co. The new interior design provides space for about 110 people.
They will be housed on two floors in the Kirk Avenue structure and on all three stories in the two buildings that face Jefferson.
Below the old brick walls, the entrance will be set back in a contemporary design with a play of materials.
The entrance, Crawford said, will present a better image of "who we are and what we do."
Shaffner, the president, said recent developments downtown played a part in the decision to retrofit rather than move. But the primary spur was the firm's feeling of commitment to downtown.
Kimbrough of Downtown Roanoke Inc. said the SFCS project is independent of the Dominion Tower construction by developer Henry Faison.
Still, Kimbrough said, "it started with Faison - then boom, boom, boom."
The SFCS project, he added, helps hold the line on property values in adjacent blocks. It enhances the prospects of good quality business downtown.
The SFCS remodeling could have an effect on other owners of downtown property, Shaffner agreed.
Shaffner said he's already heard talk of other potential remodeling projects, especially on Jefferson Street.
by CNB