Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 1, 1995 TAG: 9504040022
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The long-awaited reopening of the century-old landmark Hotel Roanoke, renovated to its old elegance and joined with a brand new world-class conference center, is an out-and-out triumph of community spirit and commitment.
So scaffolding may be up here and there, stray carpenter's nails hiding in corners, and jittery glitches in service when guests check in Monday for the sold-out, no-vacancies formal opening. Who cares about a few loose screws? Not Roanokers - not when a short six years ago they grieved that they might one day see wrecking balls at the beloved institution.
That the Grand Old Lady on the Hill stands again ready to welcome guests offers splendid testimony to this community's perseverance.
When Norfolk Southern in 1989 closed the venerable building, deteriorating, asbestos-ridden and in the red, it was a shock of despair. Roanoke may have lost its Viscose plant; it may have lost its standing as a major railroad's corporate headquarters. But the symbol of its growth from Big Lick to railroad Boom Town? The thought of its famous hotel being razed might have sunk the city in civic woe.
Instead, people pulled together to save the place: Tireless and creative Roanoke city officials. Virginia Tech, to whom the structure was donated by Norfolk Southern. The railroad, whose generosity continued beyond the gift of the building. An excellent young but experienced company, Doubletree, to manage the hotel. Community leaders too numerous to mention. Hundreds of average citizens who, in an unprecedented outpouring of sentiment and support, raised $5 million in less than seven weeks when it was make-or-break time for a $40 million financial package to make the project a reality at a time when no one was investing in hotels.
Local folks - indeed, people from throughout the world who have special memories of Hotel Roanoke - will be pleased that much remains like it always was: the murals, the rich mahogany and pine paneling, the Old South charm under a Tudor roof. Peacock Alley, the Regency Room and other troves of nostalgia have been faithfully restored but with modern comforts. The restaurant will serve peanut soup.
Nostalgia, though, is not the point. Heartening as it is to see a treasured icon restored to life, the hotel's future economic impact - and especially that of the connecting state-of-the-art conference center - is the project's heart.
The conference center, one of Virginia's biggest, boasts marvels of new technology: video teleconferencing, a satellite downlink, built-in audio-visual devices, ergonomic chairs. Its meeting rooms, lecture hall, ballrooms and other facilities, complemented by chandeliers and other grace notes from the hotel, are expected to draw conferences and seminars that might otherwise bypass Roanoke - in fact are bypassing Roanoke now.
The impact on the local economy's vitality, and not just downtown, could prove substantial. The project seems bound to make the Roanoke Valley more of a destination for tourists and business travelers. Just as significant is the potential for an expanding Virginia Tech presence in Roanoke, with conferences, seminars and other programs. Already, the project has helped link the city and Tech more closely together in farsighted thinking about possibilities for progress.
On Monday, an emblem of the past will open its doors to a community's optimism for the future. Every one with a hand in the doing should take a bow. Hotel Roanoke is putting on the ritz.
by CNB