Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 6, 1993 TAG: 9301060261
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DANIEL HOWES STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
AN NS GIFT FOR HOTEL? UM, ER . . .
It's the kind of stagecraft any politician would love:The $5 million campaign to help reopen Hotel Roanoke is nearing its goal, and the railroad's new boss - a son of Vinton and longtime Roanoke Valley resident - tonight will deliver his first major speech as chairman of Norfolk Southern Corp.
But don't expect any grand announcement of a multimillion-dollar gift to the $42 million hotel renovation and construction of an adjacent conference center. David Goode hasn't been asked.
Ever since Norfolk Southern donated the money-losing hotel to Virginia Tech more than three years ago, university and city hotel planners have figured the railroad would give money to help complete the project.
Roanoke's waiting, and Goode knows it.
That might explain why he planned a news conference for this afternoon, but then canceled it before anyone in Roanoke or Blacksburg knew he and his public relations people in Norfolk were considering it.
A news conference, the thinking went, likely would focus solely on Norfolk Southern's intentions toward the hotel - intentions Goode is not prepared to talk about.
"At this point, I don't know if he'll be off-the-cuffing it about the hotel or not," said a railroad source familiar with plans for the Roanoke visit.
Instead, several railroad sources say, Goode will tell the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce at its annual meeting that Roanoke's business and political leaders need to come to grips with the emerging global economy; that they need to understand they can no longer depend on the beneficence of Norfolk Southern or First Union Corp. or a disappearing Dominion Bankshares Corp. for jobs and community support.
Norfolk Southern is trying to compete in an increasingly competitive industry whose business must respond quickly to customers' needs and tastes, he'll remind them. So long as business allows, the railroad intends to remain a leading corporate citizen in the Roanoke Valley.
It may seem tough talk for a community recently buffeted by the pending acquisition of its flagship bank and subsequent job cutbacks, a spate of unrelated layoffs and the death this week of its most prominent philanthropist, Marion Via.
Still, Goode is mindful of his ties to the Roanoke Valley, its attachment to Hotel Roanoke and Norfolk Southern's legacy here. Railroad sources familiar with the speech say he has more on his mind than answering the nagging question: How much will the railroad give Hotel Roanoke?
No one seems to know.
Carilion Health System President Thomas Robertson, co-chairman of the fund-raising campaign, confirmed Tuesday that he still has not met with Goode to discuss a possible gift to the project.
"Those contacts are under way, but there has not been a formal proposal made," he said, adding that a meeting will take place "before the end of the month." Robertson would not say how much he and hotel planners intend to request.
Officially, hotel planners are still more than $15 million short of the $42 million needed to put the deal together. Announcement of a $10 million loan from a consortium of banks and Shenandoah Life Insurance Co. is expected next week, sources say.
Assuming the campaign reaches its $5 million goal - organizers reported $4.7 million in gifts and pledges as of Monday - planners still would be some $5 million short, increasing pressure on Norfolk Southern.
Hotel planners will not talk about their fund-raising strategy, especially when it comes to the railroad. But whatever Norfolk Southern doesn't provide, they concede privately, Tech and city officials will have to find elsewhere - or abandon a project some 2,500 individuals and businesses have backed with their wallets.
Raymond Smoot, Tech's vice president for business affairs, predicted that planners would have to find additional lenders or scale back the project if the financing gap cannot be closed through fund raising. "I don't anticipate any state participation," he said, quashing any hopes that state lawmakers might be able to wrest some money from their colleagues.
City officials, who already have committed $18 million in bonds, federal loans and special funds to the project, could try to funnel additional dollars through Roanoke's Redevelopment and Housing Authority. But it could not be learned if that option, explored several months ago, is being considered seriously.
"I still say that within January we've got to decide whether we've got the project financed or not," Smoot said, referring to Tech's self-imposed deadline for reassessing the 3-year-old effort. Already, Tech's real-estate foundation - the hotel's legal owner - has spent more than $1.5 million to maintain the property overlooking downtown Roanoke.