Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 14, 1992 TAG: 9203140161
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BEN BEAGLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Conversion of the old Norfolk and Western Railway station near the Hotel Roanoke into a museum, erecting a bronze statue and instaling an urban park along Interstate 81 are major parts of the $8 million project.
The money would be raised from donations.
The foundation plans to dedicate it on June 6, 1994 - the 50th anniversary of D-Day.
Earlier, the National D-Day Memorial Foundation had hoped to build the memorial on Mill Mountain, but the city of Roanoke turned the plan down.
But, said John Will Creasy, a longtime member of the foundation's board, the new plan "offers more opportunities than Mill Mountain did."
Creasy said: "We were forced into a better deal than we had before."
Although there was disappointment when the Mill Mountain plan failed, Creasy said "nobody even talks about it anymore."
He said the plan - which depends on Norfolk Southern Corp. donating the old terminal and approval by the city and others - is more practicable.
It would fit in with plans to renovate the Hotel Roanoke and build a convention center in the same area.
A bronze statue group honoring those who fought on D-Day would be placed in the proposed Gateway Park as the memorial centerpiece.
Creasy said the D-Day memorial complex should draw military conventions from all over the country.
The memorial, he said, "would be part of the biggest picture Roanoke ever put together" - including the redone hotel and the new convention center.
City Manager Bob Herbert said the city will be studying how the new proposal would mesh with other plans in the area.
These include, he said, plans for realignment of Wells Avenue Northwest, Virginia Tech's renovation of Hotel Roanoke and the building of a convention center. Also to be considered is how the proposal might affect the historic Gainsborough neighborhood and St. Andrews Catholic Church's desire to expand its facilities.
There is a possibility for a "head-on collision with some of these projects," he said, but if things work out, the new proposal "looks to me like a super idea."
He said plans for the park would dress up an area of the city that many people consider menacing.
He said the foundation has come up with "a totally different feel and a concept.
"I think they've been pretty creative."
Bob Slaughter, another veteran foundation member and a D-Day veteran, said the board members "think it's a lot more accessible and it will suit the city a lot more."
Slaughter said downtown merchants will back the new proposal.
The foundation also plans to ask for a spur from a proposed pedestrian bridge that would connect Hotel Roanoke with downtown. The spur would connect with the museum.
Also planned is a walkway from Elmwood Park to the Roanoke Civic Center.
Creasy said the flags of World War II allies flying at the memorial would present a striking view to motorists on I-581.
The foundation has said that Roanoke is a proper place for such a national monument because the city is the heartland of the first Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment.
Also known as the "Stonewall Brigade," the regiment took heavy casualties on Omaha Beach.
The 116th was part of the 29th Infantry Division, a National Guard division called to federal service in 1941.
In a brochure outlining its plans, the foundation said it expects to have an operational plan approved and ready by December of this year.
In addition, it hopes to have raised $1 million in pledges and $500,000 in cash and in-kind contributions by that time.
Here is a summation of the plans listed in the brochure:
A railway station renovation that would provide museum space plus room for the city's visitors center. Cost: $3 million.
NS would have to donate the building and Shenandoah Avenue in front of the building would have to be closed.
Building, at a cost of $300,000, a plaza/promenade across Hotel Roanoke property so that pedestrians could get to the proposed museum from the existing Gateway Park. An easement across the hotel property would be needed as well as an endorsement from Classic Properties.
At a cost $1.2 million, develop about nine acres of parkland. Private homes would have to be bought and some existing streets would have to be closed or rerouted.
The existing Gateway Park Fountain would be included, as well as the sculpture.
Develop the existing Commonwealth Avenue and storm aqueduct into a promenade connecting the park and the civic center. The cost is estimated at $400,000.
The city would have to agree to adjust rights-of-way and possible road improvements. St. Andrews Catholic Church also would have to approve.
A $100,000 spur from a bridge already planned to connect the Hotel Roanoke and the downtown area. Presumably, the city will own the bridge and will have to give permission for the spur.
by CNB