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Roanoke development


StevenRocks

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  • 2 weeks later...

City officials released the identity of the developers currently working on a proposal to develop Countryside Golf Course. A key part of the plan is to keep golf on the site, but transform it into an 'executive' style course for faster play. http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/92571

So basically someone just wants to buy the golf course and make some changes to it. I'm not against that. It would be nice if it remained a public course. An easily accessible golf course in the middle of the city is not a bad thing in my opinion.

Edited by bmedguy
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So basically someone just wants to buy the golf course and make some changes to it. I'm not against that. It would be nice if it remained a public course. An easily accessible golf course in the middle of the city is not a bad thing in my opinion.

I agree, although I think there will be something else in addition to the golf course. And what about the airport trading land with the city? I think they wanted some of that land for a safety buffer.

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  • 1 month later...

The blurb said the design is now 80% complete. I'd wish we could get a sneak peek to see what this building will look like! Additionally, folks may be interested that they are finally doing significant prep work for the new hotel. Heavy machinery doing lots of digging and pushing of dirt around! Reserve Avenue wil be so completely transformed from the urban brownfield it used to be in just a couple years.

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The blurb said the design is now 80% complete. I'd wish we could get a sneak peek to see what this building will look like! Additionally, folks may be interested that they are finally doing significant prep work for the new hotel. Heavy machinery doing lots of digging and pushing of dirt around! Reserve Avenue wil be so completely transformed from the urban brownfield it used to be in just a couple years.

As I understand it, the grain milling company is finishing up it's new (massive) milling facility, and once they move operations from the Carilion location, they'll level that facility to make room for more of the biomedical facilities development. Exciting stuff!

Sean

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There's an article about downtown Roanoke in Showcase magazine and the head of Downtown Roanoke Inc. said in regards to downtown living that:

"At present we have 400 people living downtown. Our goal is to have 1000. To reach that goal we are going to need new development, we can't get there with just rehabilitation of older buildings."

"We're attempting to recruit developers from all over the East Coast. Most local developers have experience with suburban development, primarily. We're looking for people who know how to do urban development. It's a whole new ballgame."

http://www.showcasemagazine.com/cms/#

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The Roanoke Housing Authority is experiencing higher costs than expected in its redevelopment of the 400 block of Day Ave, SW. The authority sold the first few completed houses at prices that were quite higher than expected. They plan to make up for the increased costs by charging more on the remaining houses. Story here

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The Roanoke Housing Authority is experiencing higher costs than expected in its redevelopment of the 400 block of Day Ave, SW. The authority sold the first few completed houses at prices that were quite higher than expected. They plan to make up for the increased costs by charging more on the remaining houses. Story here

We actually had a contact on one of those houses, but could not sell ours. After three months, we decided to stay put and do some renovations. I still think it was a good choice for us, but the house we would have bought is going to suddenly appreciate! That is assuming of course they can keep selling them at the higher prices. Old Southwest's demographic is really changing. I hope a developer will recognize that and take a gamble on building something in the 5th street corridor. It would be very cool if the neighborhood could develop it's own little business center along the lines of Raleigh Court.

Edited by bmedguy
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Man that laundromat used to be so sketchy. I first moved into this neighborhood in 1994 and had to use that laundromat for awhile. Every time I went there with my girlfriend I would nearly get into fights. The local crackheads would come in and first hit us up for change then they would start hitting on my girlfriend so of course things would go downhill after that. It was great when I finally got a car and we were able to drive over to the Grandin laundromat.

Your post does bring up a good point though. There is tons of available space in the city for quality development. Both for new construction and rehabilitating older buildings. I get so annoyed when people tell me there's no land for development in Roanoke. There's tons of it. Ok so there isn't really space available for a major manufacturer that needs a couple thousand acres with rail access and all that but there is plenty of space for residential, retail and office. I'm of the opinion that within the city limits you could easily fit in another 50,000+ people without any major changes to the quality of life here with only a few changes to the existing infrastructure. Sure the traffic would be worse but it's not like it's bad now. For comparison San Francisco has 47 square mile and over 700,000 people. Roanoke has 43 square miles and 97,000 people.

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Man that laundromat used to be so sketchy. I first moved into this neighborhood in 1994 and had to use that laundromat for awhile. Every time I went there with my girlfriend I would nearly get into fights. The local crackheads would come in and first hit us up for change then they would start hitting on my girlfriend so of course things would go downhill after that. It was great when I finally got a car and we were able to drive over to the Grandin laundromat.

Your post does bring up a good point though. There is tons of available space in the city for quality development. Both for new construction and rehabilitating older buildings. I get so annoyed when people tell me there's no land for development in Roanoke. There's tons of it. Ok so there isn't really space available for a major manufacturer that needs a couple thousand acres with rail access and all that but there is plenty of space for residential, retail and office. I'm of the opinion that within the city limits you could easily fit in another 50,000+ people without any major changes to the quality of life here with only a few changes to the existing infrastructure. Sure the traffic would be worse but it's not like it's bad now. For comparison San Francisco has 47 square mile and over 700,000 people. Roanoke has 43 square miles and 97,000 people.

I couldn't agree more. I have always chuckled a bit when I read some city official quoted as saying there isn't much developable land. Your SF vs Roanoke numbers illustrate just how ludicrous that kind a a sttement is. If we did incease the density around here, then we should just correspondingly enhance public transportation to ease traffic issues. That's how the successful cities do it.

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5th street would be a good place to put in some office/commercial space. I heard a while back that a Charlottesville developer was looking at a vacant lot beside the laundrymat, but I don't know if that fell through or if there is still interest.

I know the lot. It is right next to the Miller's Hill project. How long ago was it. I never heard anything. I know the city has posted a sign on the parking lot next to the YMCA on 5th street that it is for sale to develop commercial/office space. A transformation really could happen if some dvelopers just took the leap. I think it would pay off. The new Y very nice and is always bringing good traffic to that end of 5th street.

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I know the lot. It is right next to the Miller's Hill project. How long ago was it. I never heard anything. I know the city has posted a sign on the parking lot next to the YMCA on 5th street that it is for sale to develop commercial/office space. A transformation really could happen if some dvelopers just took the leap. I think it would pay off. The new Y very nice and is always bringing good traffic to that end of 5th street.

I think I heard about the Charlottesville Developers about 2 years ago, right when the Miller's Hill project was in it's beginning stages, before any rehab had started. Speaking of the parking lot and the Y. I heard that the city was going to tear down the old Y, which would free up half a square block for development if you include the parking lot on church ave. I think the city should built a 4-5 story parking garage on the entire site, with retail space fronting church ave. It should be designed so that many floors could be added above the garage for office/residential.

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  • 2 weeks later...

At a news conference on Wednesday, Valley Forward, a group of young professionals from Roanoke, proposed a new inn/restaurant on top of mill mountain at the site of the old Rockledge Inn. The proposal has the support of a majority of city council members and members of the Fishburn Family, whose ancestor, J.B. Fishburn, donated the mtn. to the city.

Article has some renderings of the proposed project. Be sure to click on the photo gallery link, which has more sketches of the project and a photo of the original Rockledge Inn.

Edited by mclawsdrive
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Hey, that's neat. How close is Mill Mountain to The Blue Ridge Pkwy? It could be a major destination overnight facility. And with overlooks of the entire city, it will entice travelers to explore the treasures downtown.

Seems like it has all the private and governmental support it needs.

I don't like the brownish/red first sketch, but do like very much Sketch #2

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