Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 20, 1992 TAG: 9203200162
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF BUSINESS WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Confirming speculation that surfaced in early February, the health insurance company said it will add more than 160 local employees over the next two years.
John Berry, executive vice president and head of the Richmond-based company's government and individual business operation in Roanoke, said the new workers are in addition to the more than 135 people hired over the past five years to meet its increased business.
About 80 percent of the additional workers will be in customer service, Berry said. The other 20 percent will work in support functions such as finance, computers and marketing.
To accommodate the larger staff, the company in July will begin moving about 250 employees to the Signet Bank building in downtown Roanoke, Berry said. The building is at 110 Church Ave., just west of First Street Southwest.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield has signed a three-year lease for 42,000 square feet in the building with renewal options for another two years.
John Leftwich, who manages buildings for Signet Bank in Roanoke, said Blue Cross and Blue Shield will occupy the second and fifth floors and parts of the third and fourth floors.
The space is largely vacant now, Leftwich said. But the new lease means relocation of Signet's executive offices from the second floor.
Roanoke Mayor Noel Taylor, at a Blue Cross press conference Thursday, said the insurance company's expansion downtown is due to the city's provision of adequate parking, availability of office space, efforts of the city's economic development staff and existence of a quality work force.
Taylor said the 160 new employees will have an important impact on the downtown economy.
City Manager Robert Herbert said Roanoke offered a 10 percent discount on rental of parking spaces. Such rates are available for bulk parking, defined as rental of 500 or more spaces by a company that, in turn, handles the arrangements with its employees.
Roanoke saves money under the system, Herbert said, because it no longer has to deal with 500 individual parkers.
Bulk rental also assigns spaces for the entire day. Herbert said Blue Cross and Blue Shield will pay one time for a single space shared by two shift workers.
With the move of Blue Cross and Blue Shield into the Signet building, Herbert said, the city's parking garage across Church Avenue will be filled.
"Downtown Roanoke is where we want to be," Berry said. "And this expansion of office space allows us to keep our operations close to one another."
In 1986, when Roanoke-based Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Southwestern Virginia merged with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Virginia in Richmond, the company pledged to maintain a large work force in Roanoke.
by CNB