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

DATE: FRIDAY, August 13, 1993                   TAG: 9308130059
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BUILDING TO GET ITS OLD NAME BACK

The structure, at Church Avenue and First Street, will become the First Federal Building.

Richard Whitney, president of Fralin & Waldron Inc., said "First Federal has a little better flavor in Roanoke" than does CorEast.

The latter carried the name of CorEast Federal Savings Bank, which failed after only three years in business. It was seized by federal regulators in 1991.

Whitney said the building will be remodeled extensively before it is offered for rental.

The structure was acquired earlier this year from Resolution Trust Corp. by a limited partnership called First Federal Building LC.

Fralin & Waldron has no direct interest in the partnership, Whitney said. It is owned by a trust benefiting the grandchildren of Elbert Waldron and by family members of the late Horace Fralin.

The partnership has asked the last tenant in the seven-story, 45,000-square-foot building to vacate the premises. Whitney explained that the owners could not justify the cost of keeping the building open for a single tenant during the remodeling.

An engineering company will remain on the second floor of a two-story annex, however.

Whitney said an architect is still looking at the building before he begins drawing renovation plans and the owners can compute the cost of the project.

The partnership intends to create a more imposing corner entrance and to renovate the elevator lobby facing First Street.

The CorEast signs, including one on the building's roof, will be removed.

Whitney said the partnership will take down the old sign - the one that flashed the First Federal name and the time and temperature on the side of the building - in an attempt to get it working again.

The partnership has no tenants lined up to move in after the remodeling. Whitney said the partners bought the building as a speculative venture.

First Federal began business in Roanoke in 1917 as Roanoke Mutual Building & Loan Association. Renamed First Federal Savings & Loan Association in 1935, it grew into one of the community's largest financial institutions.

It was converted into a stock company in 1979 and bought by Arthur Cohen, a New York developer, in 1985.

Its name was changed to CorEast in 1988 when First Federal was merged with a Richmond thrift also owned by Cohen.