Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 14, 1995 TAG: 9507140066
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MEGAN SCHNABEL STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Have a Coke sign and a smile, Roanoke.
Hey, why not? Coca-Cola is buying. After showing little initial interest in renovating a historic Coke advertisement painted on the side of a downtown building, the soft-drink giant apparently has had a change of corporate heart.
Or maybe an attack of public-image anxiety. Either way, the faded old sign on the back of 114 Market St. S.E. will get a fresh coat of paint in a few weeks, thanks in part to Coke.
"We approve of this artwork and will participate in the restoration of this sign, pending our approval of both the cost of the restoration and the rental of the space," a Coca-Cola official said in a June 27 letter to Richard Wells, the building's owner.
The Coke representative on Thursday would not discuss rent or renovation costs and said only that the company was "in negotiations" with Wells and the building's co-owner, David "Mudcat" Saunders.
The city's Architectural Review Board on Thursday approved the design, a compromise between Coke and building tenants Caveness & Conner, local agents for the insurance company Mutual of New York. The new billboard will feature the repainted Coke sign flanked by two old-style advertisements for Caveness & Conner. The board also approved lighting fixtures to be installed above the sign.
The sign controversy has been bubbling since early June, when Chris Caveness decided to paint over two partly hidden Coke signs on the side of his office building and replace them with a billboard for Mutual of New York.
The Architectural Review Board denied Caveness' request on the grounds that the proposed sign was too large and would cover the historic Coke signs. Building owner Saunders had tried to persuade Coca-Cola to repaint one of the Coke signs and rent the space from him, but the soft-drink company wanted the space rent-free. Saunders, who charges Coke competitor Dr Pepper $3,500 a year for a roof-top neon sign, refused.
Days later, Coke reversed course after a newspaper article about the sign debate called attention to the company's apparent lack of interest in restoring the Roanoke landmark.
"It did generate interest from Coke," Caveness said. "They came back to us and said they didn't realize how much [the sign] meant to the city." Meetings with Coke representatives and Architectural Review Board members led to the new design. The two advertisers will share the cost of painting the sign.
by CNB