Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 7, 1991 TAG: 9102070147
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY and/ JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Faison company was among seven that have submitted plans for redeveloping the 109-year-old landmark hotel into a conference center. Faison also developed Roanoke's Valley View Mall.
Two Virginia companies, The Henry A. Long Co. of Chantilly, which is headed by a Virginia Tech graduate, and International Developers Inc. of Arlington, also met Virginia Tech's Tuesday deadline for proposals.
Other proposals are from Ackerman & Co. of Atlanta; Classic Properties of New Orleans; Spruce Development Co. of Bloomfield Hills, Mich.; and Winegardner & Hammons Inc. of Cincinnati.
The submissions are just proposals. Bidders did not have to submit a plan for financing the project.
The companies were announced during a news conference Wednesday in the lobby of the now-closed hotel, which was given to Tech in 1989 by Norfolk Southern Corp. Tech officials said they would not reveal any details of the proposals.
Tech and Roanoke leaders want to renovate and expand the hotel from 385 to 415 rooms and build an adjacent conference center. The hotel part of the project is estimated to cost about $35 million.
Roanoke has agreed to commit $4 million in tax-free revenue bonds to help finance an $8 million conference center. Tech would provide the other $4 million. The conference center would focus on corporate training and could accommodate meetings of as many as 2,000 people.
Raymond Smoot, Tech's vice president for business affairs, said Wednesday that an advisory group has been formed to review the proposals and help make the selection.
Smoot said he expects the process to take several months. Once the project is ready to begin, construction would take an estimated 27 months.
The advisory group is headed by Roanoke developer Horace Fralin. Fralin is a partner in Fralin & Waldron Inc. and president of the non-profit Virginia Tech Foundation, which raises money for the university.
The foundation has created a separate unit, the Virginia Tech Real Estate Foundation, as a holding company for the hotel property.
Others in the advisory group are Joe Stephenson, president of Shenandoah Life Insurance Co. and also president of the Roanoke Chamber of Commerce; James Harvey, a Roanoke city councilman; John Rocovich, a partner in the law firm of Moss & Rocovich; David Caudill, president of Dominion Bankshares and chairman of the Roanoke City Trade and Convention Center Task Force; Tom Robertson, president of Carilion Health Systems; and George Cartledge Jr., president of Grand Piano and Furniture Co.
Copies of the proposals are to go to the advisory group in the next few days, but Fralin said he did not know when the group would meet. Officials from the city and Tech will sit as ex-officio members of the review committee.
Brian Wishneff, the city's chief of economic development, said that the advisory committee will review the developers' financial capability, their experience with similar projects, their credibility and reputation, and their approaches in renovating the hotel.
Wishneff said he was familiar with only two companies that submitted proposals - Faison Associates and Henry Long. The Long firm has a hotel and conference center in a business park in Northern Virginia, he said.
"Given the difficult [economic] environment we are in, we are gratified that these developers have expressed confidence" in the project and the city, Roanoke Vice Mayor Howard Musser said. "We didn't know what would happen."
Musser said it may take some ingenuity to fashion a financing package, adding it might have to involve others besides the developer, Tech and the city.
Musser said the city might have to provide more incentives to attract financing, but that will not be known until negotiations begin with the chosen developer. City officials said the renovation and reopening of the hotel is their top economic development project.
Musser suggested that the parties might persuade banks and businesses in the valley to join in the financing. Dominion's Caudill said he believes the project has the support of the valley's business community but needs full community support.
Earlier, Roanoke County supervisors discussed the possibility of chipping in $4 million to build a larger conference center, but they have not agreed to do so.
The House of Delegates passed legislation last week that would create a six-member commission to own and operate the conference center. Three members would be appointed by City Council and three by Tech. The commission would have the power to sell bonds, set fees and establish booking policies for the conference center. The Senate will consider the legislation in the next few days, said Minnis Ridenour, executive vice president of Virginia Tech.
by CNB