Comments on: Roanoke Market Building kiosks are OUTTA there. UPDATED with artist’s renderings

By: mj

mj — Sat, 05 May 2012 12:25:25 +0000

Original Greg, Since when do you have to be a city resident to eat at the market building and have an opinion regarding it?

James is spot on and that is apparently what has you in a “bitter” attack mode.

By: Original Greg

Original Greg — Sat, 05 May 2012 02:21:20 +0000

We are all entitled to our own opinion. Mine is that the changes have been great. Judging by the crowds at lunch, so does most everyone else that works downtown. And if you don’t like it, there are plenty of other places to eat downtown!

By: gofigure

gofigure — Fri, 04 May 2012 19:15:30 +0000

Arts comments are simply not accurate. It was under Burcham that the rennovation/development plan for the building was launched, along with the STRONG financial committment of the city to the Art Museum. It was Ms. Burcham who took on the Market Building literally in her first month on the job in Roanoke. The current city manager simply inherited the problem along with her debt, her alienation of the residents and business community, her alienation of the surrounding local governments, and the remnants of a handpicked staff whose main qualification was being able to repeat “Yes Ms. Burcham” on cue. And this current city council endorsed every piece of it without question.

By: Art Hill

Art Hill — Fri, 04 May 2012 17:52:33 +0000

Nobody gave a fat-rats-patootie about the market building until the Gotrocks plunked their multi-million dollar museum in the backyard.
This is all politics, and sorry ones at that. I never thought I’d say it, but bring back Darlene Burcham.

By: Lynda K

Lynda K — Fri, 04 May 2012 16:41:44 +0000

Original Greg… When I lived in OSW I would walk to the Market 4-5 times a month. I guess the last time I was there was probably a few weeks before it closed for renovation. I loved Burger in the Square, Red Coyote, the sweets and candy place (can’t remember the name) and the retail shops that were there.
I didn’t even mind the dark, old feeling of the place. Having lived in bigger cities than Roanoke, you find some of the best hang-out spots are in places like that! It seems so sterile now.
I’ll try again once the new renovations are completed.

By: Dennis

Dennis — Fri, 04 May 2012 16:24:26 +0000

I can only imagine that this is a plus, since those spaces were just sitting there empty! They def looked out of place. I’ve been so disappointed w/ the new version of this bldg! I’ve been several times and have not found anything I like there! Have tried several of the new restaurants and it’s just not there for me. I still like Hong Kong but don’t really go there for Asian food. And All Sports is good but I have them here in Salem. So I’ve just quit going there. Oh do I miss El Paridisio!!! (SP?)

By: gofigure

gofigure — Fri, 04 May 2012 14:42:24 +0000

There are not more choices as suggested. There are only 8 choices. No seafood, no Chico, no Zorba, no candies and sweets, no sushi, no salad bar; and two of the current eight basically serve the same menu….bar food available in other locations in Roanoke (Fork and Allsports). Yes it’s clean. It should be for $6.5m. And Mr. Trinkle has a right to operate there just as anyone else does. To insinuate otherwise is off base and misses the point. There is no law against selling pricy yet very ordinary bar food.

By: Howard

Howard — Fri, 04 May 2012 13:34:00 +0000

The Market Building is still a work in progress. Through no fault of the vendors, it’s taken a while for the restaurants to get up to full speed. The old setup worked well for many years, but was allowed to deteriorate. Now we have a new, and in many ways better, layout that has been open less than a year. To think that it would just pop up and be 100% from the start is naive. Given a little time, I expect Roanokers to enjoy this version of the Market Building just as much we did the old one. Kudos to the foundation for not insisting on keeping a concept that was not working.

By: gofigure

gofigure — Fri, 04 May 2012 13:07:12 +0000

This is what happens when beaurecrats get into the real estate business with other peoples money (yours and mine). The design was terrible from the start and anyone with business accumen knew it. $6.5 million for 8 food stalls and a third floor meeting space (tht is seldom rented? With respect to Mr. Elkins, the building was not paid for with tax credits. A portion of the building was paid for with historic tax credits, but it was less than 45%. Bottom line is the City and the group operating the building spent way too much on an over and poorly designed building, and city tax payers DID foot a portion of the bill….the biggest portion.

By: Uptheriver

Uptheriver — Fri, 04 May 2012 12:54:19 +0000

Good call James. Someone’s got to go! No conflict there at all. Nope.