Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 15, 1990 TAG: 9006180186
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Cathryn McCue
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Wait until next year, and that just might happen.
Working with downtown merchants and the Virginia Tech performing arts department, the town is putting together plans to convert the Armory parking lot into a park with an outdoor stage and band shell.
"This is pretty conventional stuff - a lot of towns do this, but it builds [consumer] traffic downtown," said economic-development coordinator Doug Eckel.
Details aren't worked out yet, but Eckel said the idea would be to have noontime concerts, probably on Fridays, and regularly scheduled weekend events sponsored by different merchants.
"So for instance, you would have the Blue Ridge Outdoors and Books Strings & Things rock and roll event," he said.
The parking lot still would be open when no shows were scheduled. During concerts, the section of Draper Road between College and Jackson streets probably would be blocked off.
The Downtown Merchants Association donated $10,000 to the project and has pledged another $10,000 after this year's annual Stepping Out festival.
The remaining $63,500 for the park is included in Blacksburg's 1990-91 capital-improvement budget.
Eckel said studies of a proposed parking deck at the nearby Donaldson Brown Center have postponed the project, which the town wanted to build this summer, as well as a lack of immediate funds. Tech and the town are studying possible sites for a long-awaited parking deck downtown, and the center parking lot is the top choice so far.
Eckel said previous downtown plans show that the Armory lot would be an access point to a deck located at the center's parking lot.
"We're just not sure what's happening with the parking garage," he said, but stressed that the proposed Armory park is still a viable project and will be built within the next year.
by CNB