FOREST OFFICE MOVING ITS JOBS TO VALLEYPOINTE

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

DATE: SATURDAY, February 20, 1993                   TAG: 9302200176
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short
FOREST OFFICE MOVING ITS JOBS TO VALLEYPOINTE
Almost 100 jobs will leave downtown Roanoke by summer when the Jefferson National Forest regional headquarters moves from the Poff Federal Building to a new office building to be constructed in Valleypointe Corporate Center.
Lingerfelt Development Corp., Richmond owner of the 250-acre center near Roanoke Regional Airport, said it will build a one-story brick office building for the federal agency.
It will have 27,000 square feet and 130 parking spaces on a 3-acre tract near the entrance to the center in Roanoke County. The development cost was not reported.
Four employees in offices of the Food and Drug Administration and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture also will move to the Valleypointe center.
The forest office move of 95 jobs from the ninth floor of the Poff Building is the result of expansion by the Department of Veterans Affairs offices and the federal courts, said John Thompson of the General Services Administration's regional office in Philadelphia. The GSA administers offices and leases for federal agencies.
"One thing we looked at was that it is close to Interstate 81, and we hope to have an informational sign for tourists and visitors" along the highway, said David Olson of the forest office.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB