ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, April 5, 1996 TAG: 9604050070
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: S.D. HARRINGTON STAFF WRITER
ABOUT 88 ACRES would be turned into a retreat with cabins, shooting and fishing schools, and a corporate training building.
Al Hammond's 300-acre farm off the Blue Ridge Parkway in southeast Roanoke County has been the target of developers for years.
Beginning in 1985, Explore Park wanted the land. In the early 1990s, the National Park Service wanted to use most of the farm for the Roanoke River Parkway. And a couple of years later, the county targeted the land for a visitors center.
Each time, Hammond refused to sell his rolling hillsides, which offer some of the best views in the valley along the parkway.
Now, the Roanoke businessman plans to develop the land himself.
Hammond, president of Printech Inc., wants to turn about 88 acres into a retreatwith log cabins for lodging, fly-fishing and sport-shooting schools and a corporate training building. But he hasn't yet put a price tag on the proposal.
The development, The Village of Turkey Run, also would have a spa and fitness building with a wood-fired hot tub, according to preliminary plans.
Beyond that, Hammond's plans are sketchy. His request for rezoning from agricultural to a planned commercial district was tabled for 30 days on Tuesday to work out some details.
"He has a lot of great ideas, but they keep evolving," said Roanoke County Planning Director Terry Harrington.
Some of the things the county wants to work on with Hammond are the size of the development, whether parkway motorists would be allowed to stay at the center and what type of food service would be used, said county planner Janet Scheid.
Right now, Hammond intends to hire a catering service for the center. County planners will ask him to consider opening a restaurant.
And opening the facility for public lodging is an item the parkway apparently needs, Scheid said.
"In Roanoke County, even where there are intersections there's not a hotel around the parkway."
Harrington said the county also would like more detail on how Hammond may develop the rest of the site. The land must be rezoned before any construction can begin.
A session with the planning commission has been scheduled and a public hearing probably will be set for May 7, Scheid said.
The county's industrial development authority and economic development director Tim Gubala have worked with Hammond on the plans. And they have agreed to help market the center.
Gubala said he and the IDA became involved with Hammond on the site when it was first considered by the county as a potential site for a visitors center. Hammond had agreed to work with the county, possibly building the visitors center himself and then leasing it to the county.
Since then, Roanoke County has decided on a site coinciding with the Roanoke River Parkway, which is now under construction to connect the Blue Ridge Parkway with Explore Park.
Hammond then came up with the retreat center as an alternative plan.
Gubala said the development could coincide with not only the Blue Ridge Parkway tourism but also with Explore Park.
Explore director Rupert Cutler said he welcomes any development on the site which will complement the living history park.
Cutler says he has plans at Explore for a corporate conference center and similar lodging that Hammond envisions. That, he said, would not be developed for another 3 to 4 years.
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