Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 17, 1993 TAG: 9403180036
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
No, downtown Roanoke can't claim to be pulsating with economic and cultural revitalization all around the town. But the rhythm recently has picked up a couple of strong beats.
Last week, ground was broken for the conference center that will adjoin the renovated Virginia Tech-owned Hotel Roanoke, promising a much-needed burst of new activity on the east side.
This week, the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra and Opera Roanoke will join the eclectic mix of tenants at Roanoke's old Jefferson High School, brought back to life as the Jefferson Center, on the west side.
Except for its old grads, the high school's salvation after two decades of boarded-up decay may not carry the same sentimental value as a rehab of the city's venerable hotel. In terms of economic-development significance, the Jefferson Center is also a lesser light.
But the 70-year-old high school's rebirth as a multipurpose facility is nonetheless a major event in the life of Roanoke. Housing various city offices, community-service agencies and cultural organizations, the new center could spark an economic uptick on the downtown's western edge like the boost that Center in the Square and the historic City Market have given the eastern edge.
Indeed, this is why the city appropriately bought into the project, launched by alumni to save the architecturally classic building, with a $3.5 million bond issue for the initial renovation work.
That "Phase 1" work just completed, the $5.5 million Jefferson Center has emerged from the mists of Roanoke history and is back on the map as an address of importance, a place of bustling business. The kids are back, too - this time, not high-school students, but youngsters enrolled in a day-care program run by one of the tenants, Total Action Against Poverty.
Soon, the Jefferson Foundation is expected to begin a new fund-raising drive for renovation of the school's 900-seat auditorium, which could be used by the symphony, the opera and other performing-arts organizations for events that are best suited for a midsize theatrical setting.
It remains to be seen whether enough money can be raised to convert the auditorium into the world-class, acoustically superior concert hall that the Jefferson Foundation's leaders first envisioned, and whether the auditorium project might foster continued growth of the arts in this area. As with the Hotel Roanoke project, broad community support may prove a precondition.
So, too, it's likely to be some time before it's known whether the Jefferson Center will live up to its potential as a magnet for economic activity in the downtown's western section.
In the meantime, though, it's not only nostalgia buffs who are glad to see cars and people going to and fro and the lights on again at Jefferson High. We welcome back this grand, old dowager of a building. And, incidentally, nice face lift!
by CNB