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

DATE: FRIDAY, February 22, 1991                   TAG: 9102220165
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

HOTEL PANEL SEEKING MORE DATA ON PROJECT

A panel of community leaders evaluating proposals for redevelopment of the Hotel Roanoke will seek more details from the seven firms who want to tackle the $35 million conference center project.

Raymond Smoot, Virginia Tech's vice president for business affairs, said Thursday that the seven-man committee did not eliminate any firm from contention during its first private meeting this week.

A developer could be chosen as early as April, Smoot said, though financing arrangements may take longer. The bidders were not required to submit financing schemes with their initial proposals.

Baltimore-based ZHA Inc., the consultant hired by Tech to recruit a hotel developer, will spend the next month fleshing out the proposals, which were submitted Feb. 5.

Norfolk Southern Corp. donated the hotel to Tech in 1989, and the university subsequently announced plans to renovate it and build an adjacent conference center. - Staff report

by CNB