ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 12, 1997 TAG: 9703120050
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: RADFORD
SOURCE: LESLIE HAGER-SMITH THE ROANOKE TIMES
72-space parking lot, upgrades to alley and Norwood Street highlight grant proposal.
Downtown merchants made a strong showing Monday night in support of Radford's efforts to obtain a major grant to redesign the central business district.
Before a crowd of more than 30 people, Community Development Director David Ridpath outlined three projects the city hopes will qualify for funding under a Virginia Community Development Block Grant.
The biggest is a 72-space parking lot behind the south side of Norwood Street. Access to the walled and landscaped lot would be via a ramp, built on the site of the former Carson Drug Store building. The building's owner has agreed to donate it for that purpose, and seven property owners will grant permanent easements to allow construction of the lot behind their buildings.
If the entire $700,000 grant were approved, Radford's match would be $300,000. Construction of the Carson Building parking lot would require $750,000 of that $1 million total.
Two other projects are included in the grant proposal:
Improvements to Pickett Street, the east-west alleyway that has become a major thoroughfare for traffic between downtown residences and the university.
Improvements to Norwood Street and Grove Avenue.
In tandem, the projects are designed to safeguard pedestrians while improving traffic circulation and enhancing the overall look of the downtown. The projects would include decorative lighting, landscaping, signs and sidewalks.
Merchants have seen business languish in recent years because of a lack of parking and poor traffic flow in the downtown, which grips the railroad tracks to the north and is bounded by hills to the south. Development along the nearby Interstate 81 corridor - where a new Radford Community Hospital is planned to open by late 1998 - may pull customers away, unless city planners and the business community can breathe life back into the historic downtown.
The grant projects are part of a master plan for a revitalized downtown that includes a redesign of the sloping Third Avenue public parking lot to level the grades, improvements to storm water drainage, additional lighting and landscaping. A farmer's market might draw customers to the underused lot, as well.
A central square featuring a clock tower and a 49-space public parking structure at Norwood Street and Virginia Avenue is also on the boards. Negotiations are ongoing with Jeff and Harriet Price, owners of the Crestar/First and Merchants Bank building, which would have to be demolished for the project.
LENGTH: Medium: 56 linesby CNB