Downtown Roanoke Development: Bringing life to the fringes
Photo by Rebecca Barnett | Roanoke Times
Downtown Roanoke’s redevelopment evolution started about 10 years ago with prime properties in the core of the city. Development has been gradually pushing outward, redefining the boundaries of downtown.
We wanted to take a closer look at what was happening downtown, particularly to the west and south, where developers are focusing their attention as the inventory of available buildings in the core of the city dwindles.
The result is Downtown Evolution, a special section in today’s Roanoke Times. You’ll find:
- A story that focuses on the expansion of downtown’s footprint to the west as developers snatch up old warehouses and convert them into apartments
- A story about downtown’s push to the south where Roanoke city officials and Carilion Clinic are taking the lead to develop properties along Jefferson Street
- A profile on developable buildings
- A map of the development over the past 10 years
- A story on the challenges facing the Heironimus building
- A story exploring whether the explosion of downtown living is eating up office space
- A video about downtown’s first grocery store in 20 years.
Let us know your thoughts on this special section and on the development of downtown. Do you think developments on the western edge of downtown are appealing? Do you believe development along Jefferson Street can link the traditional downtown area to Carilion’s properties, including the Riverside development? What changes have you noticed downtown? And what do you think the heart of the city will look like in another 10 years?
November 18, 2012 - 4:00 AM
I am a future Roanoker and very impressed with the blossoming of downtown! We are moving to ROA to “pre-retire.” Initially we had our eyes on the older homes in Roanoke City, but the downtown living is looking more and more appealing. Don’t underestimate the appeal of downtown living to empty-nesters also!
One thought…I wonder if anyone else has considered. The present Valley Metro station is very well located. I know there are limitations as to what transit can offer, but I was impressed by the timing of the transfers so that folks who are riding two buses to get somewhere do not have to mix in a 20-30 minute wait for their second bus. I
Having said that, the garage (though protected from the elements) is dark and full of diesel fumes. I wonder if there is a spot where an “open-air” transfer center could be developed that would have much more visual appeal (despite some occasional weather inconvenience). The “open air” transfer centers are used a lot.
I agree that the Valley Metro station needs a complete overall. It’s dated and very sad looking. Welcome to Roanoke’s depressed Valley Metro Station. We need something more welcoming.
I am a young professional living in SE Roanoke Kenwood area. I make enough money to live in South Roanoke. However, I LOVE my older home in SE and its reasonably priced. I LOVE the area. Im close to Vinton, downtown and 460. A few of my friends who are both medical professionals want to move here to SE but they dont feel comfortable in having to drive on Elm Ave or Tazewell Ave to get back and forth. The homeless, the run down houses, etc…THAT area is in DIRE need of renovation. Its scary!!
I say tear down the Heironimus building and replace it with a new class A office tower. That’d provided needed premium office space and help revitalize the Jefferson Street corridor. I realize tearing down any old building can be controversial, but I don’t see the Heironimus building as an irreplacable gem. Heironimus served Roanoke well in the 20th century; the best way to honor the space would be to have something which serves the city equally well in the 21st century.
I lived in SE when growing up, just off Kenwood on 15th street, so I do agree about Elm ave and Tazewell ave, being so run down. It’s scary. They really need to widen the road to get to South East and Vinton. The traffic from downtown to South East and Vinton is a pure nightmare. My first tought is rip down an entire row of the houses going down Elm ave and widen the road all the way to 13th street. Those house set so close to the road,about 25 feet from the road and are eye sore. The city should buy these house up and widen the road. This would, in return, clean up the drive to South East and improve the needed traffic snarling nightmare. I now live in the Cave Spring area.
I’m very please to see a lot of development going on in the downtown Roanoke area. I feel in the next few yrs, it’s going to improve a lot more. Also, Blacksburg area is growing too with many developments and improvements in their downtown area. Roanoke and Blacksburg are doing a lot more development in the last few yrs. Downtown Roanoke is own it’s way, but not there yet. When the Center in the Square opens, I feel it will bring more development to downtown and more poeple.
If the owner won’t come off that $5.5 million number, the Heironimus building will be sitting and moldering for the forseeable future. Considering what he paid for it just 15 years ago, I have no idea where he’s getting that number.
True, that is a ridiculous price to ask for a building of that size & location in Roanoke. He should feel really lucky if he got $2 mil for it. $1.5 mil would move it fairly quickly & actually help the neighborhood. There’s going to be exponentially more money put into the renovation than the purchase. Sounds like the guy wants to make his fortune off one building.
What an awesome and informative write up! Thank you for posting this Amanda — This is outstanding! As far as Heironimus, I agree with the other posters. The 5.5 mil asking price is completely absurd!
Wonderful section on Downtown, but there’s a big piece of this puzzle missing – developers are focusing on young professionals. My husband and I will retire in the next 15 years or so, and we have a big house with a large yard that we’re not sure we want to keep. We’d like to live downtown, but even the smallest condos cost more than our house – which is in a very nice neighborhood. I’d like to see some developments aimed at older folks – places that are priced about the same as a nice middle-class home with accessible kitchens and bathrooms, elevators, and more than one or two rooms so retired couples don’t get on each others’ nerves. The building would have to have meeting rooms for retirees with plenty of time for hobbies and volunteer work, and maybe a clinc or a pharmacy on the lower level that could be used by all downtown residents. Plus close parking. That sounds like a lot, but it’s true that young people will eventually want to leave downtown for the big houses with yards, and it’s good to have a mix of people in any location.
Roanoke is suc ha fantastic city – check the great article in Guns & Gardens Magazine – phenomenal. If you don’t know that magazine, the title is a bit of irony in that this is probably one of the most chic magazines about our Southern Cities that is currently out on the market. And Roanoke looked AWESOME in it. Keep on building the residences, and the research and technology focused industries. Keep encouraging new, high class restaurants and the arts and cultural institutions. SUPPORT THE TAUBMAN!!! We have so many amenities here that many cities are desperate to have and we need to support them! Forget Steak & Shake for goodness sake – go eat out downtown! These are your neighbors, your friends, the people who live and work in your town to make something original and of high quality – SUPPOR THEM! There’s a reason we have a star shining down on us!
I have no idea what town these people are looking at. Have you people never been anywhere else? In what universe does Roanoke qualify as anything great?
I was downtown today and it’s a joke. These apartments that are supposed to revitalize downtown? They’re mired 2 miles deep in the vacant storefronts of this so-called city. Downtown Roanoke is a commercial wasteland. If you go to 401 Campbell and West Station and Fulton Motor Lofts, you’ll find that those three buildings are the only ones occupied for 6 blocks in any direction. What is the point of living downtown if there’s nothing there? Living downtown in Washington means something. Manhattan means something. Atlanta means something. Hell, living in Grandin Village means something because there is something there. Living in one of these new apartments in downtown Roanoke is like buying the nicest car on the market and not having a gas station for 200 miles.
And for the record, I looked for places to live in virtually all of these buildings and turned them down because I didn’t want to have to walk a mile through town past the jail and the infinite “FOR LEASE” signs to get to the coffee shop or a restaurant.