ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, December 18, 1996 TAG: 9612180055
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
A 37-classroom university center serving eight schools could be built in an unused railroad office building near downtown Roanoke, according to a feasibility study released Tuesday.
But if taxpayers build the $12.7 million higher education center, will students come? Also unresolved are key issues of funding, ownership, management, parking, and how it would fit in with a redeveloped Henry Street.
The $200,000 study by Motley & Associates was unveiled in the Conference Center of Roanoke, where boosters of the plan gathered beside a large picture window that opens onto Norfolk Southern Corp.'s former General Office Building North.
The nine-story, 66-year-old Federal deco-style structure generally is in good shape - a major factor in the study's conclusion that renovating it would be cheaper than building a new center, said Benjamin Motley, president of Motley & Associates.
State Sen. John Edwards, who sponsored the legislation that paid for the study, said estimates peg the renovation cost at $80 per square foot, rather than the $115 per square foot the state has paid recently for new higher education facilities.
Further savings would come from colleges' and universities' sharing classrooms and support facilities, he noted.
"Thus, the lower renovation costs combined with the savings due to sharing of space is estimated to save the commonwealth approximately $11 million compared to building new buildings for the various programs of the separate institutions," said Edwards, D-Roanoke.
Mayor David Bowers hailed the project as "another chapter in the revitalization of downtown Roanoke." Also behind the idea are the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Roanoke Inc.
The latter organization already has hired Brian Wishneff, a consultant who used to head the city's Economic Development Office, to answer remaining questions about the project.
Funding for the center is another big question. Noting that the state has helped fund similar centers in Norfolk and Abingdon, Edwards hinted that he would introduce legislation to move the project along in the upcoming General Assembly session.
Meanwhile, local officials including City Councilman Jim Trout predicted the valley's governments would have to pitch in to meet some of the costs.
The idea behind the center dates back a few years, but nothing really happened until Edwards made its development a major plank of his 1995 Senate campaign.
After his election, he pushed a budget amendment through the Senate and House of Delegates to pay for the study.
The study envisions that the higher education center would serve Roanoke Valley-based students who already have two years of community college under their belts.
Rather than have to finish their four-year degrees away from home, they could attend classes at the higher education center, thereby saving the major college expense of room and board.
Many of the colleges and universities that would move into the center already are serving some of those students locally. But their space is so limited by the facilities available now that there is little room for growth.
Motley said the study focused only on whether the NS building would be suitable for a higher education center. More study and planning are needed to determine whether there would be sufficient student demand.
Wishneff said the individual colleges and universities likely would do their own market feasibility studies. Douglas Covington, president of Radford University, said Radford already has one under way.
"I think that the market will be sufficient to make course offerings leading to baccalaureate and master's degrees accessible to the citizens of Roanoke," Covington said.
Charles Downs, president of Virginia Western Community College, said Virginia Western is considering the center as a place it could offer worker retraining seminars, a field that has grown dramatically in recent years. He also noted that the cramped community college has found itself increasingly hamstrung in providing space for growing programs offered through the college by Radford and Old Dominion universities.
As envisioned in architectural renderings, the facility would have two entrances: one on Jefferson Street across from the Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center, and a main entrance facing the rear of buildings that line Henry Street's east side.
The main entrance would have a large, landscaped plaza that would include a sculpture, walkways and a children's day care yard.
The interior would offer typical amenities of four-year universities: a student lounge, bookstore, day care center, cafeteria and kitchen, library, offices and laboratories.
At least eight colleges and universities are interested in locating programs there, according to the study. They include Virginia Tech, Radford, Old Dominion, Mary Baldwin, the University of Virginia, Averett College, Bluefield College and Virginia Western.
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