LATE CHECK-OUT OK'D: GIFTS STILL TAKEN

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

DATE: TUESDAY, January 5, 1993                   TAG: 9301050186
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CHARLYNE H. MCWILLIAMS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
LATE CHECK-OUT OK'D: GIFTS STILL TAKEN
Organizers of Renew Roanoke haven't called it quits yet.
Money is still coming in to help the rebirth of the Hotel Roanoke.
Contributions now total $4.7 million, according to a Monday news release.
"We are delighted with the number of contributions and the results over the holiday weekend," said campaign chairman Tom Robertson.
On Thursday, the last day of the year, 100 to 150 donations came into the Renew Roanoke office. Robertson said Monday that more than 2,500 contributions had been made and he expected to see more from other businesses.
"I want to encourage those who have been thinking about a gift to make a decision in the next few days so we can wind up the campaign," Robertson said. The Renew Roanoke office, at Jefferson Street and Franklin Road, will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Renew Roanoke is a group of civic leaders who announced in November plans to raise $5 million for the hotel's rebirth. The fund-raising campaign was not only to raise money toward the $42 million hotel-conference center project but to show its owner, Virginia Tech, that the project was feasible.
Ray Smoot, assistant vice president of Virginia Tech, reiterated in Monday's news release that Virginia Tech will assess the project this month and decide its future.
He said he was "excited about what is being accomplished in the Roanoke Valley."
"Frankly, it is amazing," he said. "The community support indicates the positive feeling that the valley has for the hotel and what its reopening will do for the economy and the valley's image."
Former owner Norfolk Southern Corp. closed the hotel in 1989 and later gave it to Virginia Tech. The university has the option of giving the hotel back to the railroad before the end of 1993 if renovation doesn't seem likely.
It would cost an estimated $3 million to remove asbestos and $75,000 each to renovate the 351 planned rooms. Room rates for the first year are projected to be $75. The hotel would be managed by Phoenix-based Doubletree Hotel Corp.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB