Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 24, 1990                   TAG: 9004240272
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

TAP ASKS ROANOKE FOR REBUILDING FUNDS

The city administration has recommended against giving the money to TAP, but City Council has yet to make a decision.

TAP board President Cabell Brand said Henry Street is the agency's first choice for a new home - if it can get sufficient funding and work out the timing.

"That's a first choice if you put the arithmetic together," he said.

TAP, which lost its headquarters on Shenandoah Avenue Northwest to a fire Dec. 23, has asked the city for a contribution out of Roanoke's share of federal community development money.

The total estimated cost of the new building would be $3.75 million, according to a city budget document.

Meanwhile, Brand said Monday, Norfolk Southern Corp. has agreed to loan TAP office space at Second Street and Norfolk Avenue until the agency can build a permanent home.

TAP would be able to use the space, adjacent to the Virginia Museum of Transportation, rent-free for up to two years, Brand said.

Since the fire, TAP been operating in borrowed space spread across the Roanoke Valley. Agency officials have said they need a central location to use in the short-term until a permanent home can be built.

Brand said many of TAP's departments could be moved to the intermediate headquarters.

A news conference was scheduled today to talk about the intermediate site and about TAP's long-range plans.

TAP Executive Director Ted Edlich has said the Henry Street site would fit into many of the agency's goals for its permanent home, including keeping a link to Northwest Roanoke and having a home that will be attractive to business and academic leaders.

It also seems to fit into Roanoke city officials' dream of turning the area across the railroad tracks from downtown into a mecca for nightlife, tourism and academic and business conferences.

The agency has a $600,000 federal grant to create a music center and restaurant in an attempt to revitalize the city's once-thriving black business district on Henry Street, which officially is known as First Street.

The headquarters building would be between the proposed Dumas Hotel Music Center and the proposed relocated site of Second Street, the city budget paper said.