Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 20, 1994 TAG: 9402210311
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
It has been a year since Charlie Whitescarver, who usually answers his phone that way, became manager of the three-story on Radford's Norwood Street that once housed a Leggett store.
Now the building houses a variety of businesses and activities, and stands as a testimony that the loss of a major downtown business need not mean empty building space.
This Leggett building was constructed in 1942 and closed in 1986 along with Leggett stores in Christiansburg and Blacksburg when the chain moved its operation to the New River Valley Mall.
When an attempt to auction off the building in 1990 proved unsuccessful, owner Ken Bondurant and his wife, Carolee, made it available for other activities.
``They bought the building from Leggett and decided to invest in the city and its community,'' Whitescarver said. ``They took the risk.''
Now called the Norwood Center, the building houses a mix of business and nonprofit facilities.
Brenda Williams manages the Gallery Cafe, Books & More, which offers food for the stomach and for thought. Besides books, magazines and snacks, it stocks specialty coffees, wines, posters, gift baskets, T-shirts and other items.
A similar variety of goods is available across the hall at the Encore gift shop, where Linda Sifford and Carolee Bondurant take turns behind the counter. They stock gifts ranging from earrings and jewelry, cards, teapots and mugs and calendars to lamp fuel and science and nature books and toys.
When the Gallery Cafe went from a restaurant to a books and varieties store in mid-1992, the Norwood Center lost the ability to serve meals - but not for long. Williams also oversees the Garden Room where people downtown can have lunch.
The Norwood Room, managed by Pam Pinkerton, is available to be rented for banquets and other activities. Her husband, John Pinkerton, handles the food available at Hot Chilis, an evening dining establishment and nightclub in the Norwood Center.
Upstairs is the DiscoveryWorks Museum, with Liz Alteri as executive secretary, offering exhibits both educational and entertaining.
There is also a community room upstairs. It is located in what had been storage space, and furnished in 1993 for use by a number of Radford civic clubs for their meetings.
The building's businesses are operated under the Gallery Cafe Inc. except for Encore, a separate private enterprise, and DiscoveryWorks which has its own staff and board of directors. But they coordinate their promotional activities to benefit each other.
``The renovation of this building was just immense,'' Whitescarver said of the 30,000-square-foot structure. ``There's so much square footage in this building to take care of. It's a big job.''
To keep costs down, he has kept the number of employees at a minimum. ``What I have to do is cross-train my people,'' he said.
And it is not unusual to see Whitescarver, who was director of Radford's Main Street program until he moved to the Norwood Center a year ago, standing in for another employee. If he is not in his upstairs office, he is probably in the Gallery or dishing out chili.
``I've done it all. I've washed the dishes and everything,'' he said.
by CNB