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

DATE: THURSDAY, February 7, 1991                   TAG: 9102070128
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY/ BUSINESS WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

THE DEVELOPERS AND THEIR PROJECTS

Ackerman & Co. of Atlanta has been in business since 1967, according to development manager Sheldon Taylor. It is involved in development of hotels, office buildings, business parks and shopping centers. Most recently, it completed the 364-room Swissotel in Atlanta, Taylor said.

Taylor, a Richmond native, said that he frequented the Hotel Roanoke for social functions, but that Ackerman & Co. learned of the project from a committee set up to seek bidders.

Classic Properties of New Orleans has assembled a partnership that would develop the hotel and conference center, according to president and owner David Waltemath. He declined to give any details about his company or its proposal.

"We don't want to jeopardize our position in any way," he said. "It is a very large project, and we want the job badly."

Faison Associates of Charlotte, N.C., is a commercial real estate development company headed by Henry Faison. Its Virginia projects include Valley View Mall in Roanoke, River Ridge Mall in Lynchburg, James Center in Richmond, and Dominion Tower, under construction in downtown Roanoke. It has developed an Omni hotel in Jacksonville, Fla.

Tony Skillbeck, Faison vice president, said he could not share details of his company's proposal.

He did say that "we are very sympathetic to Hotel Roanoke."

The Henry A. Long Co. is a commercial real estate development company headed by a Virginia Tech graduate and based in Northern Virginia. The company has experience in hotel, conference center and office-park development in Northern Virginia and other parts of the country.

The Long company has developed a 345-room hotel and conference center in Westfields, a mixed-use corporate park near Dulles International Airport. The company also is a partner in hotel and conference center projects in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Colorado Springs, Colo.

International Developers Inc., Arlington, is a real estate development company that has built three hotels in Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., in recent years. It developed the Vista and the Ramada Renaissance hotels in Washington, which include conference facilities.

International Developers has also developed the Ballston Metro Center in Arlington, a mixed-use development that includes offices, a hotel and condominiums.

Spruce Development Co. of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., is redeveloping a 1929 hotel into a combination hotel-teaching facility for Northern Michigan College in Traverse City, Mich., said Paul Nine, president and primary owner. Nine said a charitable foundation is helping pay for the project, which is not as large as the Hotel Roanoke.

Nine said Spruce has been around since the 1970s but is relatively new under its current name.

Winegardner & Hammons Inc. of Cincinnati began in the 1950s developing Holiday Inn franchises, according to Matt W. Baker, vice president of development. The company now 60 hotels but has none in Virginia. It earns about $300 million per year in revenues, he said.

Baker described Winegardner as a "conservative-type company." He said the company submitted a proposal for a scaled-down project because "that's what we think is prudent at this time."