Roanoke development

[weill]

Hopefully it will, I just dont want it to be one of those buildings where the front facade is taller than the building itself.

[StevenRocks]

Hopefully it will, I just dont want it to be one of those buildings where the front facade is taller than the building itself.

That's actually a fairly common visual trick in architectural design. The front facade is made taller to give the building more presence. In the days before flat roofs, there would be a shed roof attached to the front facade. Many flat-roofed buildings have a tall paprapet.

[mclawsdrive]

Looks like maybe the city goofed when it requested bids for developing Countryside golf course. It appears that most of the companies on the city's list didn't recieve the informational packet about the site.

roanoke times

Some developers are interested after all.

[bmedguy]

Looks like maybe the city goofed when it requested bids for developing Countryside golf course. It appears that most of the companies on the city's list didn't recieve the informational packet about the site.

roanoke times

Some developers are interested after all.

At the end of the article is a link to the community the developer that is said to be interested has alredy done. Looks like a good concept. Similar to Colonial Green. However, I do wonder if enough people will be interested in buying a home with airplanes buzzing overhead. I like this kind of neighborhood development for the city, but also like the golf course. What do you all think?

[mclawsdrive]

I love the idea, but I also think the location won't work. Roanoke city schools (especially William Fleming) are not as attractive to most middle to upper middle class families. Also the airplane noise, plus the noise of 581 would be annoyingly loud in much of that area. I think a large suburban style corporate office..or two, should be go along 581.

Think Johnson and Johnson.

With the rest of the property, I'd put some mixed use housing/retail/office where appropriate and keep the rest as a park, maybe even keeping a 9 hole golf course on the site. In fact, wouldn't that be a great selling point for a potential corporation? A golf course directly behind the building.. play 9 holes on your lunch break.

[StevenRocks]

An office park might work. Access from 581 would have to be worked out though. That's going to produce a lot more traffic than the gold course.

[mclawsdrive]

I decided to include a link to the article about Allegiant Air's great success in their Roanoke to Orlando flights.

roanoke times

[seanpecor]

I would opt for residential housing, especially upscale housing - withiin city limits. The city itself has a glut of lower value residential properties, and most (all?) new upscale developments are slotted for Roanoke County. Those houses would sell. We can argue all day about whether or not Roanoke City has quality schools or not. I'm not an expert on Roanoke or it's schools. But if Roanoke City follows other City/County school dynamics, the City schools have a MUCH MUCH larger share of children living in or very close to poverty conditions. And those kids have different and more complicated challenges. And they pull down educational "scores" that our governments in their infinite wisdom apply to our schools. I think if we had a combined socio-economic dataset we'd see that children going to City schools perform generally as well as kids in the County schools provided you are comparing children in similar socio-economic conditions. Anyway, I think a housing development would be an ideal way to appeal to thirty and fortysomethings who have kids, have cash and want to be close to the action.

Sean

[StevenRocks]

The Roanoke City schools get a bad rap, but they're doing a lot better than they used to. I think the addition of upscale housing would force some the remaining deficiencies to be corrected, because people with money don't have to settle for subpar public schools for their kids.

[mclawsdrive]

The Mill Mountain Star will not be illuminated while renovations take place.

roanoke times

I wonder if anyone else agrees with me that midnight is too early to extinguish the star each night. In late June that means it is only on for about 3 hours. I think it should kept on until 3 am, at least during the summer. And 11 is too early to close access to the star. It should be open at least until midnight.

[seanpecor]

The Mill Mountain Star will not be illuminated while renovations take place.

roanoke times

I wonder if anyone else agrees with me that midnight is too early to extinguish the star each night. In late June that means it is only on for about 3 hours. I think it should kept on until 3 am, at least during the summer. And 11 is too early to close access to the star. It should be open at least until midnight.

I think it should be on at sunset and remain on until sunrise. It's a great landmark. Actual stars (well, besides our sun) appear after sunset and remain visible until the sun rises, no? The city council needs to lighten up At a minimum, it should trigger on at sunset and remain on for eight hours.

Sean

[mclawsdrive]

The 8 hour idea is a good one. That way in the peak of summer, it would be on almost all night, but in the dead of winter it would turn off at 1:00 am or so.

[weill]

I heard that the star has to be turned off because of the noise it produces, but after living in SE sometime in my life, I never heard the noise...

[mclawsdrive]

A Saturday Roanoke Times article described the housing market in the Roanoke Valley as stable and largely immune to the boom and bust cycles of many larger metros. Home sales are up over last year and sellers aren't providing all the extra incentives that Northern VA buyers are demanding due to the sinking market.roanoke times

[electricmonk]

Carilion expanding again.

"Carilion Health System is picking up its mighty hammer again.

With a $105 million addition to Roanoke Memorial Hospital under way and a $15 million office building nearing completion, it began clearing land two weeks ago for a new medical clinic. System officials don't know what the clinic will cost but have estimated the structure will measure 250,000 square feet.

By most any scale that's a potential landmark, even without knowing what Carilion's architects have in mind because designs have not been released. A large Kroger, such as the one at Cave Spring Corners, is 60,000 square feet. Carilion is thinking big because it's planning to hire a significant number of additional doctors.

"I think it's going to be pretty good-sized building," said Conley Taylor, Roanoke's development review coordinator."

More here http://www.roanoke.com/business/wb/wb/xp-81394

[mclawsdrive]

A midlothian developer submitted a proposal to develop countryside golf course. City officials aren't discussing the matter until the proposal has been reviewed. story

[mclawsdrive]

The potential developers of a hotel at Reserve and Franklin are negotiating with the city for tax breaks to offset the additional costs of building in the floodplain. The hotel would have 127 rooms, built over a parking garage. http://www.roanoke.com/business/wb/81529

[StevenRocks]

I have a hard time believing that the hotel is need of tax incentives. That area is going to filled with offices and labs, which means they'll more than likely be profitable enough to cover their expenses without city help.

[electricmonk]

Yeah, I think it's just a case of "we'll ask for and if they give it to us, great. If not oh well." I think the site work the city has already done should be incentive enough. Roanoke isn't exactly flush with cash at the moment so I don't think they should be giving anything away unless they really need to to seal a deal for something that's going to bring in high paying jobs.

If the owners of the Ramada were smart they would totally renovate that hotel and be a step ahead of the game. But from what I've read and heard they aren't that smart. They don't even tell guests about the potential for flash flooding there when it's been forecast a day or two ahead of time.

[BGW]

If the owners of the Ramada were smart they would totally renovate that hotel and be a step ahead of the game. But from what I've read and heard they aren't that smart. They don't even tell guests about the potential for flash flooding there when it's been forecast a day or two ahead of time.

I posted a rant about staying in that craphole a couple months ago. Management won't even acknowledge that there's been any flooding at all, except in the streets. Current ownership won't do a damned thing, and I for one will laugh when this new hotel drives them out of business.

[electricmonk]

Yeah, I remember your rant. Back in the spring/early summer there was a flash flood there and the paper interviewed some guests that said management never mentioned the possiblity of flooding even though it had been forecast and watches posted. They weren't happy especially after the hotel said it was up to the guests' auto insurance policies to cover any damage. That's just a really crappy way to run a business.

[mclawsdrive]

A large recreation center and office park is proposed at the northeast corner of 581 and 81.

http://www.roanoke.com/news/breaking/wb/82419

[mclawsdrive]

More news on the Proposed Recreation Center in Northern Roanoke County; http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/xp-82488

[mclawsdrive]

Luna Innovations has moved to the Riverside Center on Jefferson Street. The company's outlook is uncertain though. http://www.roanoke.com/business/wb/83433

[mclawsdrive]

A law firm has expressed interest in possibly relocating to the heronimous building. http://www.roanoke.com/business/wb/83598

I still think something more public would be better. Proposals have been made for it to become the new central library. Or a mixed use project with retail/restaurants on the bottom, offices on the 2nd floor and residential on the top 3 floors would be great. It would be great to have a major restaurant/club that took up the whole bottom floor. .. Something like a Hard Rock Cafe.