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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 7, 1993                   TAG: 9309020347
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

RESORT HOTEL

ISN'T IT nice to drive by Hotel Roanoke and see that the renovation work is actually under way? After a long period when its future was in serious doubt, f+iouro hotel will be saved.

And so, it appears, will be another venerable institution: The Homestead in Bath County.

Like Hotel Roanoke, The Homestead is a symbol of Virginia hospitality. Like Hotel Roanoke, before that facility was shut down and boarded up, The Homestead has been on the financial ropes.

Comes the good news now that Club-Resorts Inc. of Dallas, the same company that's credited with reviving Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina, is willing to invest up to $50 million to revitalize the 227-year old mountain resort in Bath.

There are certain "contingencies" that must be met - not the least of which is that the hotel's 1,200 employes again vote no to unionization. So the deal is not yet sealed.

But for The Homestead - where the registration books read like a Who's Who of world history, where almost every president, including Thomas Jefferson, has been a guest - the future is looking considerably brighter now than it has for the past three years.

We hope it works out. And, mind you, not just for the movie stars, the sports-world celebs, the foreign dignitaries and the bluebloods of international society who like to hobnob there.

The Homestead always has extended its Southern graciousness to all who've come through its doors, irrespective of their station in life. Like Hotel Roanoke, it's a legend, an icon.

Anyway, in these parts we're partial to old hotels.

Keywords:
CLUBRESORTS

by CNB