ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, December 30, 1995 TAG: 9601020031
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
Roanoke's Elks Club is for sale - sort of.
For $2.5 million, the Elks will consider selling "if we find a deal," said Steve Nelson, a director of the fraternal organization. The club, he said, would move elsewhere "if the conditions are right." That means, he said, that the lodge could "walk away debt-free with a new building."
Nelson said Friday the idea to sell and move to a new location originated with the real estate agent who is listing the property. "They came to us; we didn't go to them." The interest of the agent, he said, is "to get a listing." But he said the club would sell if it could come up with a new lodge without a mortgage.
Waldvogel, Poe & Cronk Real Estate Group Inc. is circulating an offering flier.
The 15-acre property is on Persinger Road between Colonial and Brambleton avenues. It includes a two-level clubhouse, an Olympic-sized swimming pool and tennis courts.
The flier said the complex has "excellent potential for corporate, medical, educational or recreational use." It called the property one of the largest suburban tracts in a prestigious section of the city.
Darrell Morris, a member of the Elks who also is one of the listing agents, said the property would have to be rezoned before it could be used for the purposes specified in the flier. The current zoning is single-family residential development with a special exception for the Elks clubhouse.
Morris said he anticipated no opposition to a rezoning from the owners of the single family homes around the property.
Morris said the club wants to sell because it needs a more modern building on a single level. Some members are in their 70s and 80s, he said, and they have difficulty walking up and down the stairs.
The upper level, which is open to members of the lodge and their families, contains a dining room, kitchen and access to the pool. The lower level, which is open only to members, contains a bar, billiards room and barber shop. The clubhouse contains 13,966 square feet, and there is parking for 150 cars.
If they sell the property, Morris said, the Elks would have to find another location that is more level. The lodge is not using the entire 15 acres, he said. Depending on the lay of the land, he estimated that the lodge would need about 10 acres, enough for a one-level clubhouse, pool, tennis courts and parking.
No such location has been found, Morris said, but he is looking.
The clubhouse was built in 1974, Morris said. The lodge moved there from the downtown Roanoke corner now occupied by Trigon Blue Cross Blue Shield on Jefferson Street.
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