Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 8, 1995 TAG: 9501060050
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: F-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"We've seen some pickup in our area," especially in the vicinity of Charlottesville, said Jay Turner, president of J.M. Turner & Co. of Roanoke, one of the region's major commercial contractors.
"We see some opportunities coming in this year," said Turner, who's heard that various industries are looking at this area for possible development. "If the [Roanoke Valley] Regional Partnership and economic development people are successful in landing some of them, there will be more construction jobs."
He worries, on the other hand, that rising interest rates could push up costs and "slow it down some."
But there seems to be some construction work for 1995 in the pipeline.
"Right now we're carrying a fairly good backlog - better than last year," said Patrick Shaffner, a partner in the engineering and architectural firm of Sherertz, Franklin, Crawford and Shaffner. He expects the 1994 to 1995 flow-through of projects to be better than it was from 1993 to 1994.
"I don't see any problem except interest rates could become a problem," Shaffner said, but "it hasn't been so far."
However, a lot of the company's design work is being done for clients outside the Roanoke area. "Other areas seem to be a lot stronger than this area," Shaffner noted.
John Bradshaw, a partner at the architectural and engineering firm of Hayes, Seay, Mattern and Mattern, said his firm is doing a lot of specialty design work rather than office buildings.
But he looks forward this year to a lot of work renovating and revamping existing facilities, especially for the federal government. This should be "a positive year" for corrections facilities and juvenile homes throughout the southeast, he said.
Governments also are renovating infrastructure, such as bridges and sewer plants and the sewer lines for the Roanoke River and Tinker Creek in the Roanoke Valley.
Hayes, Seay, Mattern and Mattern enlarged its staff last year and expects to have the work to hold that employment level this year, Bradshaw said.
Rick Whitney, who was to be installed Saturday night as president of the Roanoke Regional Home Builders Association, looks for a relatively stable year, on a par with 1994. Interest rates could be a problem, he said, and some people predict a 5 percent decrease in housing starts. But he foresees continued demand for housing.
Robert Fetzer, immediate past president of the home builders, said this year may not equal the "banner year" of 1994 - one of the best ever for home builders - but it should be a good year if mortgage rates don't go over 10 percent. When mortgage rates rise above that level, it's "a psychological thing" that could deter both residential and commercial construction, he said.
But Fetzer doesn't think that will happen.
The remodeling market also is important to home builders, and more people are staying in their homes and remodeling because that is a good investment, Fetzer said. Roanoke has a large inventory of older homes, he said, and the city's enterprise zone program could lead to a lot of renovation work downtown.
He praised the Urban Revitalization Code offered by Gov. George Allen, which would reduce the regulatory barriers to remodeling in older urban neighborhoods. The more liberal rules would encourage people to renovate older properties, Fetzer said, and that would be a boon for Roanoke.
Other programs could give housing a boost, too. Fetzer cited a proposal to permit first-time home buyers to dip into their Individual Retirement Accounts for funds.
Fetzer also sees potential for remodeling because children are staying home longer, aging parents are moving in with children and more people are working out of home offices. All encourage home owners to remodel to gain flexibility in their living arrangements.
by CNB