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

DATE: THURSDAY, March 10, 1994                   TAG: 9403100140
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

TIME TO SAY GOODBYE TO SHELL OF HOTEL EARLE

After months of delays, demolition of the Hotel Earle on the City Market will begin this weekend, according to an owner of the property.

David Saunders, of Market Towne Properties Inc., said the property owners were not opposed to razing the fire-gutted building. The owners, however, were waiting for approval of a tax decertification by the federal government, Saunders said.

The decertification, approved Tuesday, was essential for a refurbishing effort on the property, he said.

The city told the ownership company in October that it had 22 days to tear down the hotel.

"We were between a rock and a hard place," Saunders said Wednesday night. "But now there's been a burden lifted off our shoulders. We're excited about the project."

Saunders said the Hotel Earle and the adjacent Hotel Shenandoah are listed as a single block of property under federal tax guidelines. To demolish the Hotel Earle, a decertification of that section of the entire tract was necessary so the owners could continue to offer a tax credit as an incentive to developers.

In the short run, Saunders said, the 21,000-square-foot Hotel Earle parcel will be used for a private parking lot. Plans call for development of the property as retail and office space.

The demolition of the hotel will take approximately two weeks, Saunders said.

by CNB