ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, March 26, 1996 TAG: 9603260046
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
COLUMN: Reporter's notebook
SOURCE: ELISSA MILENKY
As the opening date for the Harris Teeter grocery store in Blacksburg nears, much attention is being focused on the rebirth of the Gables Shopping Center.
The lighting in the parking lot has been replaced, new signs are going up on all the store fronts, the parking lot is being improved. And then there's the Harris Teeter store, with its facade that looks more like a fancy department store than a grocery.
It's hard not to notice the difference. Just a few years ago, the shopping center was more of a shell with a vacancy rate of more than 50 percent.
Bob Pack, one of the center's owners and a driving force behind the revitalization, would rather the attention stay on Gables itself - and away from him. But the Blacksburg native had a hard time staying out of the spotlight last week when he was named the Greater Blacksburg Chamber of Commerce's businessperson of the year.
The chamber honored Pack for his community service; he is active in the local Special Olympics program and helped develop a playground at Margaret Beeks Elementary School years ago. He is also owner of Pointe West Management and co-owner of Blacksburg Day Care and Child Development Center with his wife, Barbara.
But his work with Gables Shopping Center definitely was instrumental in the award (a news release from the chamber devoted half a page to the revitalization). Pack is not one to take all the credit, however, and attributes much of the center's success to his partners, Radford businessmen Dick, Bill and Jack Cook.
The Cook brothers provided much of the financial backing.
"What we started out to do, once we got the center back, was make it a nice first-class center rather than patch it up," Pack said.
His father, French Pack, built Gables Shopping Center in the mid-1960s. In 1984, the shopping center was sold to a Tennessee company but the Pack and Cook families reacquired it in 1993. The center had lost its vigor by this time, especially after Leggett moved out to the New River Valley Mall.
The day Pack had the deed in his hand, he called Harris Teeter's Charlotte, N.C., headquarters about opening a store in the center - a possibility that had been mentioned before but was never finalized.
"Once we acquired the anchor Harris Teeter store, we knew we'd have a quality store there," Pack said. "To do it right, to get other quality stores there ... we wanted to hold onto it for many years to come."
Many of the vacancies have been filled by now - about 10,000 square feet of empty space remains. The Harris Teeter store opens April 10.
Finally, Pack can begin putting in more reasonable work weeks. On average, he was working 65 hours a week on the center since 1993. The Blacksburg High School and Virginia Tech graduate is proud of his award, but he is also a little embarrassed.
"I have a hard time talking about myself," he said. "It's a team thing. I'm in front of it and very visible, but there's so many people who have contributed to this in many ways."
Elissa Milenky covers business for the New River Valley bureau of The Roanoke Times.
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