ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 24, 1996 TAG: 9601240049
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARY BISHOP STAFF WRITER
A band of Roanoke government leaders and private planners produced colorful pictures, slides and a long list of intentions Tuesday to do what many have thought impossible: A revival of the Henry Street entertainment district.
After a dozen years of talking about it, a city-sponsored committee and the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority announced they're ready to build an $18.5 million tourist magnet on the nearly deserted site of the once-famous black commercial strip.
Jazz and blues clubs, soul-food restaurants and lots of neon and bright windows are envisioned for the street. The earliest it could get hopping again is the spring of 1998.
City Council may hear an appeal next month for $5 million in upgrades of utilities, parking, sidewalks and lighting, as well as the acquisition of a small amount of property and stabilization of the abandoned Ebony Club. The rest of the money - $13.5 million - would come from private investors.
Mayor David Bowers said he liked what he heard at Tuesday's news conference. The city's invested big sums in the City Market and other parts of town, he said, "but we have not made that investment in Henry Street."
Only three buildings remain: The former Dumas Hotel, now Total Action Against Poverty's Henry Street Music Center; the long-abandoned Ebony Club, which also once housed the Lincoln Theatre and later the Club Morocco; and a one-story brick building that would be razed. The music center's two upper floors and the Ebony Club would be renovated.
Henry Street planners want to buy and tear down the Stone Printing building on Jefferson Street to create a parking lot.
The authority already owns most of the property along Henry Street, where musicians Count Basie and Duke Ellington once performed, dined and found lodging in the days of segregation.
Authority board chairman Willis "Wick" Anderson, architect David Hill and former Mayor Noel Taylor, chairman of the Henry Street Revival Committee, emphasized that they're not attempting to recreate the Henry Street of the 1940s and '50s. Original buildings were too small to handle the kind of foot traffic that's wanted now.
Instead, they would line the two blocks with a tight architectural blend of seven brick buildings with 119,000 square feet to house 11 clubs and restaurants, office space, retail shops and new $2.2 million headquarters for the housing authority. Also in the plans is a 3,000-seat amphitheater diagonally behind the music center.
David Hill said minority participation would be sought among the architects. engineers, construction contractors, material suppliers, shop and club owners, their managers and staffs.
Taylor waited years to see solid Henry Street plans go down on paper and he became emotional as he said how glad he was to see them materialize.
The Baptist minister brought chuckles at the news conference when he said that along with the many legitimate businesses on Henry Street, there were "fun and games" and "things that maybe we shouldn't talk about." The street long provided cover for gambling and prostitution.
Planners were careful to say that Henry Street should not encroach on but work in tandem with the City Market and other tourist attractions. The street would be marketed for bus tours, conventioneers and the estimated 160,000 young adults and college students who live within a two-hour drive of Roanoke. While the market is primarily a restaurant area, Anderson said, Henry Street will cater more to entertainment.
If City Council likes the idea, the authority would ask potential developers to submit proposals soon. The authority prefers to work with a single developer to supervise construction and pick tenants.
The plans closely follow the philosophy of a Tennessee developer who's almost certain to submit a proposal. John Elkington, who has run Memphis' popular Beale Street blues strip for 14 years, and his Performa Entertainment Real Estate Inc. have visited Roanoke many times in the last year and worked on the land use plan unveiled Tuesday. His company reported record revenues of $16.3 million on Beale Street last year.
He said from his Memphis office Tuesday that he has already talked with 60 potential tenants for Henry Street and more than a dozen possible investors.
Residents can hear more about the Henry Street plans at the Gainsboro Library, 15 Patton Ave. N.W., from 4-6 p.m. Thursday and noon to 2 p.m. Tuesday.
LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: WAYNE DEEL/Staff. 1. Former Roanoke Mayor Noel Taylorby CNB(right) and Willis "Wick" Anderson, chairman of the Roanoke
Redevelopment and Housing Authority board, outline renovation plans
expected to draw young people living within two hours of the city.
color. 2. (headshot) Hill. Graphics. 1. Plans for a new Henry
Street entertainment district, shown in this drawing, call for jazz
and blues clubs and soul-food restaurants. color. 2. Map by staff:
Henry Street land use plan.