Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 25, 1990 TAG: 9005250275
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY BUSINESS WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The firm, which has offices in the Dominion Bank building, had been negotiating for space in the Dominion Tower, now under construction at Jefferson Street and Salem Avenue.
The Dominion building is a project of Faison Associates of Charlotte.
Lawyer Doug Wilson said that while his firm was negotiating with Faison, the Marketplace Center project "started to become a reality."
"A proposal was made to us. When we looked at the architect's drawings and what could be done with the space, we found we could have new offices in a first class building totally distinctive from anything else in town," Wilson said.
David Saunders, developer of Marketplace Center with magazine publisher Richard Wells, said the law firm will be on the sides of the building that front on Campbell and Market.
Marketplace Center also will have an interior courtyard complete with street lights.
The law firm now rents 4,500 square feet in the Dominion bank building. It plans to move to its new quarters by November.
The Roanoke Visitors and Convention Bureau has rented 2,500 square feet in Marketplace Center and Saunders also has signed a third tenant, Mill Mountain Coffee & Tea.
The coffee, tea and espresso shop is scheduled to open in July in space on the first floor Campbell side of the building.
It will be owned by Scott Elich and David Johnson, who have moved to the area from Seattle. Elich said this is a new business venture for him and Johnson.
He said both worked for a Fortune 500 company and "got tired of the corporate rat race." He said Johnson and his wife had ties to the area and were familiar with the Roanoke Valley because they attended Virginia Tech.
Marketplace Center, which is bordered by Salem and Campbell Avenue, will have 35,000 square feet of office and retail space. It is scheduled to be completed by early November.
Saunders said office rental rates range from $13 to $15 a square foot and retail rates, $13 to $20.
Davis Drumheller, leasing agent for the Faison project, said he has more tenant prospects but none ready to announce.
Almost half of the Dominion Tower has been leased to Dominion Bank and other tenants signed are the law firms of Woods, Rogers and Hazelgrove and Moss & Rocovich.
The Dominion Tower rental fees per square foot are in the mid-$20s.
by CNB