Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 13, 1991 TAG: 9102130624
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER MUNICIPAL WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The money could be used to help pay for the renovation of Hotel Roanoke or the development of sites in the Roanoke Centre for Industry and Technology, Fitzpatrick said.
He thinks the city should investigate the possibility of moving administrative offices for the Fire Department, the Water Department and the Roanoke Police Academy into the old school building on Campbell Avenue Southwest.
City voters have approved $3.5 million in bonds to help pay for converting the former school into a center for the performing arts and community service agencies.
The Jefferson Center Foundation, a private group composed of alumni and others, is trying to raise $2 million as its share of cost.
Beverly Fitzpatrick Sr., who heads the Jefferson Foundation, said the group would favor moving the city offices into the building.
"We've got plenty of space. We would welcome them," Fitzpatrick said. Having several city offices in the building would not interfere with plans for the center, he said.
The offices are housed in a building on Kirk Avenue that was sold by the city as part of the deal to acquire four Victorian-era buildings from James Trinkle, president of C.W. Francis & Son, a realty firm, to prevent them from being demolished. The city has been leasing space in the building since it was sold to Trinkle.
The city had been considering renovating the historic buildings at 118-124 Campbell Ave. S.W. and moving the offices into them. But engineers have estimated the renovation cost at $1 million.
Partly in an effort to avoid that cost, council voted 10 days ago to take a three-month option on another building at 348 Campbell Ave. S.W. that could be used to house offices.
At Beverly Fitzpatrick Jr.'s request, council has asked City Manager Robert Herbert for a report on the projected economic impact on moving the offices into each of the three potential locations.
"We need to know the long-range impact at each of these sites and what other development and economic activity that it might generate in the area before we make a decision on the option," he said.
If council decides to buy the building at 348 Campbell Ave. S.W. that was formerly occupied by IBM, Herbert said earlier he would recommend that the city try to sell the Victorian-era structures. If the city sells them, officials said they won't allow the new owners to demolish them.
The purchase price for the former IBM building would be $815,000. The city could move offices into the building with little, if any, renovation costs, Herbert said.
But the city would not need the IBM building if it moved the offices into the Jefferson Center, Fitzpatrick said.
The city paid $400,000 for the Victorian-era buildings. It received a $100,000 state grant to help pay for them on the condition that it preserve them. The city can keep the state money if it sells the structures to private developers, officials said, and they are preserved.
Trinkle had planned to raze the buildings for a parking lot, but preservationists protested and urged the city to prevent them from being demolished because of their historical significance.
by CNB