Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 13, 1993 TAG: 9301130370
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
ROANOKERS SAY `YES' TO HOTEL
IN THE SHORT space of seven weeks, Roanokers ponied up $5 million to help close the gap between the projected cost of, and the money available for, renovating Hotel Roanoke.That was the goal set by sponsors of the fund drive, including the Virginia Tech foundation to whom Norfolk Southern donated the building. How could this be achieved, in a time of such economic uncertainty?
Part of the answer almost certainly lies in the fact that the hotel occupies a special place in the hearts of many Roanokers (and, for that matter, many non-Roanokers as well).
For years, the hotel helped limn the character of Roanoke as a railroad city with a first-class railroad hotel. Even closed, the building remains a defining feature of the cityscape, a structure viewed daily not only by thousands of Roanokers but also by travelers passing through on Interstate 581.
The hotel project can be seen and grasped in a way that, say, the Explore Project never was or could be.
Moreover, support for bricks-and-mortar projects is different from support for the ongoing operations of civic, religious, educational or service agencies.
Measuring the $5 million raised in a few weeks for the hotel against, say, the $4.7 million raised for all of 1992 by the United Way of Roanoke Valley may be a useful yardstick. But it also can be a misleading one. The hotel's fund-raisers were seeking one-time-only pledges; United Way fund-raising is a year-after-year endeavor.
Part of the answer lies, too, in Carilion Health Systems President Tom Robertson. The head of the largest Roanoke-based corporation stepped in to chair the Hotel Roanoke campaign; Roanoke's biggest corporate citizen was also the drive's biggest donor.
But above all, the success of the drive may be regarded as evidence of Roanokers' faith in their community's future. Not just nostalgia drove this effort. The hotel's renewal is only a piece in Roanoke's renewal, but it is a prominent one.
A successfully rehabbed hotel, particularly in conjunction with a new conference center, would mean enhancement of Virginia Tech's role in Roanoke, expansion of the valley's tourism and convention potential, and reinforcement of a special feature that helps Roanoke stand apart from the rest of the crowd.
The gamble that $5 million could be raised from the community turned out to be a winning wager. Economic uncertainty? To be sure. Despair? Not on a bet.