Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 26, 1994 TAG: 9403280150
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The buildings will be on four acres adjacent to the new Leggett Outlet Store on the ring road across from the shopping mall. The land is being purchased from HMH Properties Inc., part of Host Marriott Corp. At one time, Marriott had considered building a Courtyard by Marriott hotel on the site.
Plantation & Kanter, a development partnership of real estate agent Robert Copty and lawyer Frank Flippen, paid $450,000 for two acres for the VEC offices. Rockbridge Hotel Development Corp., which is affiliated with Dominion Lodging Inc. of Daleville, bought another two acres behind the VEC site for $250,000.
Avis Construction has a $1.1 million contract to build the 20,000-square-foot masonry veneer VEC structure, designed by Rife and Wood Architects. The VEC will lease the building from Plantation & Kanter for $227,000 a year for 10 years, said Len Ferrara, facilities manager for the state agency. Ferrara said the Valley View site was among seven proposed by area developers when the agency advertised it was seeking new regional quarters.
When the offices are completed - target date is Sept. 1 - VEC offices on Franklin Road Southwest near downtown Roanoke and the VEC regional appeals office on Brandon Road Southwest will move there.
The new facility also will include the state's first telephone claims center, a pilot program for a service the state hopes to add to other VEC offices, Ferrara said. The Roanoke center will be able to process unemployment claims from anywhere in the state. The Best Western Motel will face Valley View Boulevard from behind the VEC building, said Wayne Heslep of Lexington, attorney for Rockbridge Hotel Development. He said the value of the project is $2.8 million. Branch & Associates will be the contractor; completion is planned by late summer.
by CNB