ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Wednesday, February 21, 1996           TAG: 9602210018
SECTION: EDITORIAL                PAGE: A-6  EDITION: METRO 

AWARD CENTER IN THE SQUARE'S MEGA-IMPACT

MOST Roanokers know all about Center in the Square - if they happen to think of it. After 13 successful years, there may be a tendency to take the complex of theaters, museums and shops for granted.

Not so with the Mega Cities Project, the foundation-funded manager of a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awards program. Last week, the center was one of 25 national HUD winners for its innovative approach to urban revitalization.

The growth of the resident museums and arts organizations is due in no small measure to the conversion 13 years ago of an empty warehouse and parking lot in downtown Roanoke into Center in the Square.

The center has had an enormous, if quiet, impact on the quality of cultural life for residents throughout the region, and an important educational impact on throngs of schoolchildren bused to the facility from across a broad swath of Western Virginia.

But that's not all. Development of the cultural complex also has had much to do with the revitalization of the City Market area, boasting 80 new businesses since the center's opening.

It has played a role in the downtown's relative, if sometimes spotty, success at making the transition from the Roanoke Valley's retail hub into an office, small-shop, restaurant and entertainment center. It has given the valley a sense of having a cultural hub.

More generally, Center in the Square's success has contributed to the self-confidence with which Roanoke has gone on to subsequent endeavors involving public-private partnerships - not only downtown, with such projects as the renovation of Hotel Roanoke and of the former Jefferson High School, but throughout the valley.

The HUD award is a vehicle for gaining wider recognition of Center in the Square in the world beyond our region. But the award is also a useful reminder for Roanokers who may have given the center, like oft-worn jewelry, not much thought lately.

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