Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 10, 1994 TAG: 9411100059
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The building has been vacant since Lowe's moved its operations to a superstore earlier this year.
The sale is to close Jan. 3 and Virginia Construction Supply will move to the new site immediately afterward, said W. Jackson Burrows, vice president of Virginia Construction Supply. The purchase price for the structure and nine-acre tract is $1.27 million, he said.
The company is a distributor of construction products for commercial and highway contractors.
The sale was brokered by Dennis Cronk of the Roanoke firm of Waldvogel, Poe and Cronk Real Estate Group Inc., who represented Virginia Construction Supply.
Burrows said Virginia Construction Supply will occupy about 43,000 square feet of the 63,000-square-foot building. The remaining space, including a retail-type display area facing the street, is available for lease.
Virginia Construction Supply has its office several blocks away at 1645 Apperson Drive near the Salem Valley 8 Cinema. The company also leases space adjacent to the office building.
Burrows said the company bought the Lowe's building because it needs additional space along with room for further growth.
The company does not plan to increase its work force initially when it expands into the larger quarters, Burrows said. But as the company continues to grow, he expects there will be a need for more employees.
Lowe's put the building up for sale a year ago, when it confirmed that it would consolidate its retail operations at a new superstore at Towne Square Shopping Center in Northeast Roanoke. The North Carolina home center chain operated the Apperson Drive store for seven years and according to sales-tax data did $8.3 million in business there in 1992.
Salem officials had bemoaned the closing, saying it would cost the city about $100,000 a year in lost taxes.
by CNB