Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 14, 1991 TAG: 9103140280
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE/ NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Don Irons' plans to build student apartments on the historic downtown site has raised public rancor for several months.
"Relative to what Mr. Irons can accept and what the town can afford to pay, we're rather far apart," Hedgepeth said. "Conversations relative to that have been concluded."
The mayor met Tuesday afternoon with Irons to discuss the possibility of Blacksburg buying the 1.5 acres at Draper Road and Wall Street.
Irons, a local lawyer, submitted plans to the town several months ago to build two apartment buildings that would sandwich the historic Thomas-Conner House.
He also plans to convert the century-old house into apartments, for a total of 106 units. The house is now being used for offices.
"He never gave me a definitive number and said, this is my bottom line," Hedgepeth said. "It's safe to say we were at least half a million [dollars] apart."
Irons declined to comment on details of his meeting with the mayor, but said he plans to resubmit the Draper Place project to the town's Planning Department next week.
If the site plan is approved quickly, Irons said, his goal is to have the apartments finished by the fall semester at Virginia Tech.
But, he said, he's "certainly willing to talk to anyone who has any interest" in buying the property. "No one has approached me on that."
Citizens from all over town, but mostly from the nearby neighborhoods, have turned out by the scores to protest the project. They say it would destroy one of the last open spaces in downtown, desecrate a historic structure, and create traffic, noise, safety and pollution problems in the future.
They have signed petitions and appealed to Irons in letters, in editorials and in private.
The property is zoned for multifamily development, and the Draper Place project needs only to meet technical muster to get the town staff's approval.
Tech professor Tom Sherman said he's received dozens of replies to his newspaper advertisement calling on the town to buy the property to use as municipal offices.
"Many of us thought the town purchasing the property was one option, but not the only option," Sherman said.
A trust or non-profit group could be established to buy the land, or a consortium of groups could buy it, including the New River Valley Preservation League, which has shown interest in helping to save the house.
But, Sherman said, no one has actually initiated such a move. "Part of the problem is we have people like me who know virtually nothing about forging these kinds of entities."
He asked that the town not "turn their backs on this," but form an ad hoc committee or task force to discuss ways to stop the Draper Place project.
by CNB