ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, November 14, 1996 TAG: 9611140013
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: RADFORD
SOURCE: LESLIE HAGER-SMITH STAFF WRITER
Two years and the clock is ticking - that's how long officials calculate they have to market the present Carilion Radford Community Hospital building.
That's because construction of a new 97-bed replacement health center in Montgomery County should begin in February and be completed by October 1998, according to Lester Lamb, executive vice president with Carilion Health System.
The Roanoke-based nonprofit corporation operates the Radford hospital and this fall received the go-ahead to build its replacement. The new facility will be located about two miles outside city limits on the southeast corner of the Interstate 81-Virginia 177 interchange.
When it moves, 146,965 square feet of space on 3 acres of prime real estate in a well-established part of Radford could be reduced to an empty shell.
Roanoke economic development consultant Brian Wishneff is working to make sure that doesn't happen to an amount of floor space equivalent to about three-quarters the size of the new Wal-Mart Supercenter in Christiansburg. Wishneff, former director of development for Roanoke, started his own consulting business just over a year ago and soon after began work on the Radford hospital reuse.
Wishneff already has what he terms "a handful of live leads." One is a retirement housing development offering escalating levels of assistance, from independent living to full care, with a possibility of up to 30 nursing home beds. Another lead involves retrofitting the structure for business offices, though the prospect may be unable to wait long enough for the building to become available.
"It really needs to be considered a community resource and a community project. It's not to anyone's benefit for the structure to sit there vacant," Wishneff said. Reuse of the building goes beyond the limited interests of Carilion Health System. The outcome of Wishneff's search will
help shape the whole city. "We need to get everyone behind this and think creatively about how we are going to go on."
To do that, Wishneff plans to meet with nearby residents early and often. A neighborhood meeting will be held during the first week of December in the hospital cafeteria. He will be looking for neighborhood representatives from all four sides of the hospital to communicate with on a regular basis.
Apart from soliciting input, Wishneff considers neighborhood meetings a vital means of keeping citizens informed and close to the process. This could prove critical because he sees "a better than even chance" that the building's eventual reuse will require rezoning.
Built on a hill overlooking the New River in 1943, Radford Community Hospital resides in the heart of Radford's "Plan A" district, which extends from Walker to Wadsworth streets on the east and west and from First to 10th streets on the north and south. Evelyn Clark, a real estate broker who lives in the area, describes the hospital as having been "a good neighbor It didn't overstep itself in the scheme of things." Cell phones and sirens have not altered the essential serenity of this neighborhood, with its awnings and wide lawns.
However, additions in 1957, 1963, 1970, 1976, 1989 and 1993 have made the four-story hospital building a veritable patchwork quilt. Today it rests uneasily atop the hillside, hemmed in on all sides, which was one of the justifications for its replacement. Medical clinics and ancillary services vie for space in the surrounding "Medical Arts District."
The Carilion Health System offered it as a gift to both Radford University and the city of Radford, though neither has expressed interest. Mayor Tom Starnes cited the type and the location of the structure as obstacles to its reuse as a new courthouse, in particular.
Wishneff considers the building's piecemeal construction one of its strengths. It could be sold and renovated as a single structure or as three separate units, he said.
Others in the community remain open-minded though less sanguine. "Adaptive reuse of something like that is difficult." said Ken Bondurant of Bondurant Realty. "There are only so many possibilities for a property that has had such a specific use." Its highest worth might be assessed by taking the value of the land minus the costs of demolition, Bondurant speculated.
Wishneff brings considerable experience to the task of finding an adaptive reuse. He spent 17 years in economic development for Roanoke, and served as director of the Hotel Roanoke Conference Center Commission for three years, as well. Earlier this week he gained attention as the likely project coordinator for a proposed higher education center in the Gainsboro section of Roanoke.
Wishneff directed the efforts that reopened Roanoke's old Jefferson High School building after more than a decade of disuse and decay. It is now operated by a nonprofit foundation and each of its three floors has a different use. Cultural organizations occupy the first floor, city services and utilities are on the second and social service agencies are on top.
His office also found a reuse for the old federal building across from Roanoke's city hall. State officials were persuaded to consolidate several offices and move them to what is now called the Commonwealth Building. The move saved tax dollars and has proved convenient for consumers, as well.
Lamb was quick to cite Wishneff's expertise in facilities reuse as he discussed marketing efforts to date. "He's actually been on this for a year now. But if you have a building that you think is available and you go through a planning process and then have to wait for approvals - you're spinning your wheels for a while." In fact, the formal approval process took more than a year; early plans for the replacement hospital were disclosed nearly six years ago.
The war of proposals, which pitted Carilion Health System against Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. came to a close when state Health Commissioner Randy Gordon issued Carilion the certificate of public need required to build new facilities. Columbia, which operates the Montgomery Regional and Pulaski Community hospitals, had proposed building a less comprehensive, 50-bed facility on Tyler Avenue. The approval for Carilion's plan came Sept. 3, and the 30-day deadline for appeals passed last month without event.
Know anybody who wants to buy a used hospital?
LENGTH: Long : 111 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: GENE DALTON/Staff. When Carilion Radford Communityby CNBHospital moves, 146,965 square feet of space on 3 acres of prime
real estate in a well-established
part of Radford could be reduced to an empty shell. color.