Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 9, 1994 TAG: 9407140056
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
\ On Tuesday, Mayor David Bowers painted his vision of an urban park jammed with tourists and developed with assistance from Virginia's latest tourism guru, the Disney Co.
Sometime next month, the city will sit down with state tourism officials and Disney executives next month and begin to sort out the ideas and details.
At least in the short term, it appears the city is ready to ante up about $2.3 million for exterior improvements to the Virginia Museum of Transportation and for a three-block boardwalk connecting the museum to the City Market.
But those elements fall far short of Bowers' long-range vision. Questions are being raised about the cost, feasibility and drawing power of Bowers' grander project.
For example, the mayor mentioned Baltimore's Inner Harbor as an example of a city turning a blighted downtown center into a "national-quality" tourist attraction such as he envisions for Roanoke.
But the wildly successful Inner Harbor took 30 years to develop and cost about $3 billion. About 25 percent, or $750 million, was put up by Maryland taxpayers. Its biggest attraction, the National Aquarium, cost $65 million by itself, according to Barbara Bonnell, director of information for the Baltimore Development Corp.
"To have a facility of national stature clearly is going to be expensive," said Brian Wishneff, acting director of the Hotel Roanoke Conference Center Commission. But it doesn't necessarily take billions, he added.
Hampton Roads built its Air and Space Museum for about $30 million; Norfolk spent slightly more than $52 million on its waterfront Nauticus complex; and Richmond redeveloped its waterfront for $23 million, he said.
The Nauticus project was redefined many times during the 10 years from idea to construction, and the same thing may happen in Roanoke, Wishneff said.
"This project is so early on, who knows what twists and turns it's going to take?" Wishneff said.
Some people question whether it will take any.
"I kind of raise an eyebrow whenever I hear David propose something new, because I haven't seen much that he's proposed come to light yet," said former Councilman James Harvey.
The cornerstone of Bowers' vision is a vastly improved Virginia Museum of Transportation. The mayor hopes to boost the struggling museum's annual attendance from about 40,000 into the hundreds of thousands.
It would lure the tourists, who could then stroll three blocks east on a boardwalk alongside the railroad to the City Market and spend freely at downtown shops, bars and restaurants.
Bowers cited high-technology gizmos that could turn the museum into a major lure: an Omnivision movie screen; hands-on interactive exhibits such as a locomotive simulator; and computer-generated virtual reality displays that could give museum-goers the thrill of a 19th-century train ride without ever leaving the station.
He estimated those features could cost millions of dollars. But as of yet, nobody knows where the money would come from.
Meanwhile, the museum is about $300,000 in debt and isn't expected to pay that off until 1999. And its board of directors' plans for a new facade and train sheds fall far short of the mayor's lofty vision.
The modest improvements would cost about $1.5 million, with about half of that coming from the city, said Jim Evans, museum board president. The museum recently snared another $228,000 in federal transportation money.
"The current plans that we ... have are realistic plans to preserve and protect the exhibits that we now have," Evans said.
The high-technology items "could come into play whenever anyone comes up with the money for those things," he said. Nobody has stepped forward with offers, he added.
Will tourists come?
Whatever the amount of the investment, it's unlikely many visitors would travel hundreds of miles to learn about Roanoke's railway history, said Robert Soule, president of the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in Chattanooga.
Soule has visited the Roanoke-based museum. He said he doubts a "small" facility of its size could compete with railroad history endeavors like the $66 million Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, Pa., which is scheduled to open next year.
"The only thing you could hope to do is draw a regional group of tourists from a 100- to 150-mile area," Soule said.
Although both said they favor tourism initiatives, Harvey and fellow former Councilman Howard Musser concurred.
"There are big question marks," Harvey said. "Are people going to come to Roanoke to see something like that? Does somebody up in Pennsylvania really give a hoot?''
"I've had a number of people tell me that trying to bring tourism into Roanoke is a joke, that it's not going to work. We don't have a natural draw, like a beach or something like that," Musser said.
A 1992 tourism survey conducted for the state seems to back up those sentiments.
The nationwide survey of 51,000 families found that barely 6 percent of visitors to Virginia in 1991 stopped in Roanoke. Those who did were older and less wealthy than the average Virginia visitor, according to the survey.
But the mayor said tourism is already on the upswing here. He cited statistics showing steady increases in visitors to Roanoke and predicted that the Hotel Roanoke, when it opens next year, will bring in thousands more.
For example, attendance at the Vistor Information Center downtown climbed from 500 a month in 1988 to more than 4,3000 in one single month last year, Bowers said. And despite severe winter storms, 18 percent more visitors stopped in the center in the first five months of this year compared to last year.
Meanwhile, 26 groups and trade associations already have booked rooms in the hotel beginning next year, and the city is anticipating they will bring more than 17.000 people to the city. Another 12 groups representing 5,676 conferees have tentative plans for conferences here, Bowers said.
The tourist train
The mayor also has broached the idea of a stream, engine-pulled passenger train chugging along a 10-mile route through the Roanoke Valley. It might even go to Explore Park on the Blue Ridge Parkway, linking the region's two major tournist attractions, he said.
Railway museum experts say a working, tourist-hauling train is a necessity.
"I feel very strongly that for the thing to be a success and attract a large number of people, it needs to have something that moves. You can do it with a static exhibit but don't expect it to pay for itself," Soule said.
The Virginia Museum of Transportation stands adjacent to existing railroad stands adjacent to existing railroad tracks. But that's also the catch. Those tracks are Norfolk Southern Corp.s busiest, said Bob Auman, the company's local spokeman.
"It's hard for me to envision how such a train could operate on our existing tracks without interfering with our freight trains . . . Mixing freight and passenger trains is like a farmer mixing beef and dairy cows, Auman said.
Even if the two could peacefully co-exist, it would be a trick getting tourists off the train at Explore, said Joyce Waugh, an economic development specialist for Roanoke County.
The recently opened park sraddles the Roanoke River, and the section now open is south of the waterway. But the train tracks are north of the river, atop a steep embankment overlooking Explore's undeveloped north side.
Evans said there is an existing "belt" line around the city that might make a handy loop. It is the least-used NS track, he noted.
But much of it winds through railroad yards and other unattractive areas, Auman said.
"It'd be pretty much of a grim view. I doubt it would be a `saleable' trip," he said.
Building a new line dedicated to the tourist train would cost roughly $700,000 per mile for land acquisition and construction, he estimated.
The railroad has other concerns, Auman said.
Among them are whether the company would have to give up property for the linear park, which would run next to a fence along the tracks. Strung along the fence are railroad utility and communication lines serving signals and switches.
by CNB