ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, September 17, 1996 TAG: 9609170083
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
The Colonial Arms Building, a 69-year-old downtown Roanoke landmark, will be on the auction block next month. The structure at the southeast corner of Jefferson Street and Campbell Avenue will be sold at noon Oct. 30.
Jim Woltz of Woltz & Associates Inc., which will conduct the sale, said Monday that the auction will be absolute, meaning it will go for the highest bid provided it is for at least $850,000. The city assessment for real estate taxes on the property is $2.2 million, he said.
The building contains 70,000 square feet on 12 floors. That includes a three-story annex to the original building.
The property is not in foreclosure. Woltz said the property's owner, T.A. Carter of Salem, is divesting his real estate holdings.
Carter could not be reached for comment Monday.
Woltz said Carter purchased the building about 10 years ago and spent about $1.5 million remodeling the facility for rental to Norfolk Southern Corp. for some of its Roanoke offices. The transportation company vacated the building when it constructed its own downtown Roanoke office building several years ago.
Before that time, the building was occupied by the old Colonial American National Bank, which later merged with Crestar Bank. Colonial American left the premises when it built Colonial Plaza at Jefferson Street and Franklin Road, although it maintained a branch there until Norfolk Southern left the property.
Currently, the ground floor and part of the second floor are occupied by the Roanoke office of J.C. Bradford & Co., a stock brokerage.
Woltz said Bradford is the only tenant at this time. The sale is subject to its lease, which has another 1 1/2 years to run.
He said the renovation turned the structure into a first-class office building, comparable to other downtown buildings where rents are $12 a square foot on annual leases. The Bradford firm pays a higher rent for street-level space, Woltz said, but he declined to cite a figure.
But he said that the best use of the property may be as a combination office and residential building with apartments on the upper floors. Woltz noted that the building is in the same block as the Roanoke City Market, where $300 million has been spent on renovations in recent years.
The building "has tremendous potential" for development, Woltz said, because it was virtually gutted and rebuilt during its renovation.
LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: DON PETERSON/Staff. The 12-story Colonial Arms Buildingby CNBin downtown Roanoke will be put up for auction. Its only current
tenant is J.C. Bradford & Co., a stock brokerage. color.