Roanoke Business- March 2015

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MARCH 2015

SERVING THE ROANOKE/BLACKSBURG/ NEW RIVER VALLEY REGION

Three proposals promise economic development and generate opposition

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CONTENTS SERVING THE ROANOKE/BLACKSBURG/ NEW RIVER VALLEY REGION

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March 2015

F E AT U R E S COVER STORY

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Pipe dreams?

Three pipeline proposals promising economic development generate opposition. by Mason Adams

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE

14 Moving downtown

Developers say demand for urban living is still strong.

by Jenny Boone

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BUSINESS LAW

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Middling prospects Newly minted attorneys aren’t likely to be livin’ large. by Beth Jones

HIGHER EDUCATION

22 Meeting demand

New River Community College educates students on technology’s cutting edge. by Sandra Brown Kelly

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INTERVIEW: Timothy Bradshaw, executive director, Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport ‘The world’s gateway to us’ Leading the Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport into its next era. by Tim Thornton

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COMMUNITY PROFILE: Christiansburg

‘Downtown America’

Christiansburg, that other Montgomery County town, is redefining itself again. by Sandra Brown Kelly

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NEWS FROM THE CHAMBER 34 Day to chair Roanoke Regional Chamber 35 Member news & recognitions

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FROM THE EDITOR

Grown-up challenge

by Tim Thornton

E

nergy is a dirty business.

Coal-fired power plants pump mercury compounds, lead compounds, arsenic compounds, hydrochloric acid and sulfuric acid into the air — not to mention a world-champion tonnage of greenhouse gases. It’s true much of what used to spew from power plant smokestacks is now captured before it gets out, but that means more of those toxins are in the coal ash the Environmental Protection Agency recently decided is not toxic waste. Of course, coal’s environmental damage begins long before it gets to a boiler. Mine drainage, habitat destruction, pits of toxic sludge, methane release — all byproducts of the process.

Natural gas produces less pollution than coal — and right now it’s cheaper — so new plants are using gas, and old plants are being converted to gas use. The new abundance of natural gas comes from shale formations accessible because of fracking, which pumps liquids — everything from water to diesel fuel to secret mixtures drilling companies say are proprietary — into the shale, forcing the potential fuel out. Producers say this is all perfectly safe.

Opponents say damaged wells, earthquakes and ignitable tap water near the operations belie that claim.

Gas gets from well to user through some of the 2.5 million miles of pipelines that carry various kinds of fuel across the U.S. Pipelines are safe in the same way air travel is safe.

Failures are rare but generally spectacular. Like railroads and highways, pipelines with government approval can go just about anywhere their builders want to put them, regardless of property owners’ opinions. Pipelines can also cross — some would say scar — national parks, national forests and scenic rivers.

Nuclear power doesn’t have pipelines, and it doesn’t produce pollution like burning fossil fuels, but mining the ore that is eventually distilled into fuel rods isn’t exactly eco-friendly. And there’s all that nearly immortal radioactive waste and no real plan to deal with it.

Renewables aren’t capable — at least not yet — of filling the place of these energy sources, and alternatives have their own problems. Windmills, which kill bats and birds, are often attacked as eyesores. People who live near them complain about noise. Hydroelectric dams upset ecosystems and kill fish. Solar panel farms destroy sensitive habitat.

Using less energy is another alternative, and a good one, but as many people have said in another context, we can’t cut our way to prosperity.

There is no easy, quick, convenient, inexpensive solution. Like so many grown-up decisions, what to do about energy is a search for the least-bad alternative.

That’s going to require a grown-up conversation — something that’s nearly as elusive as trouble-free energy.

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SERVING THE ROANOKE/BLACKSBURG/ NEW RIVER VALLEY REGION Vol. 4

MARCH 2015

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Bernard A. Niemeier Tim Thornton Paula C. Squires Mason Adams Jenny Boone Beth Jones Sandra Brown Kelly Adrienne R. Watson Sam Dean Alisa Moody Natalee Waters Kevin L. Dick Karen Chenault Sunny Ogburn Hunter Bendall Lynn Williams

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on the cover Three pipeline proposals promising economic development generate opposition File graphic

COVER STORY

Pipe dreams?

Three proposals promising economic development generate opposition

by Mason Adams

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MARCH 2015

E

conomic development advocates routinely cite Western Virginia’s central location and convenient access to the Eastern Seaboard as a key factor in attracting businesses.

Those same factors are behind proposals to build three natural-gas transmission pipelines through the region. All three seek to connect West Virginia terminals flush with shale gas from the Marcellus and Utica formations with a huge customer base on the East Coast. The base includes major population centers, power plants moving away from coal and ports that could export liquefied gas to foreign markets.

Photo by Sam Dean

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cover story The three pipelines are: Mountain Valley Pipeline, a 300-mile, $3.2The billion transmission line connecting a terminal in Wetzel County, W.Va., with a compressor station in Pittsylvania County. The companies involved are majority partner EQT, an Appalachian natural-gas production and transmission company that operates in Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Texas, and NextEraEnergy, an energy company with generation assets in 26 states.



The Appalachian Connector pipeline, formerly known as the Western Marcellus line, would be operated

by Williams Partners LP, which owns the Pittsylvania compressor station, as part of the nearly 1,800mile Transco natural-gas pipeline.

It runs from South Texas through Virginia to New York City and delivers 10 percent of the nation’s natural gas. The Appalachian Connector pipeline would connect a Williams distribution facility in West Virginia with the Transco line. The company estimates it will stretch around 300 miles, but it hasn’t yet finalized the route or released a cost projection.

N rfo Norf No Norfo r folk fol ok olk Virginia B Be eaach e

The Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a proposed 550-mile, $5 billion line backed by four companies, including Richmondbased Dominion Resources Inc. and North Carolina-based Duke Energy, running from Harrison County, W.Va., through Virginia into North Carolina, with an additional spur running east to Hampton Roads.

Mountain Valley Pipeline Appalachian Connector pipeline Atlantic Coast Pipeline

Graphic by Adrienne R. Watson

The influx of proposals, each with different ownership and planned routes, already has triggered a flurry of opposition from residents in counties along proposed routes. When EQT held an open house ROANOKE BUSINESS

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cover story Michael Burnette, Franklin County’s director of economic development, says the Mountain Valley Pipeline could help attract businesses that the county can’t compete for now.

for the Mountain Valley Pipeline at the Salem Civic Center, opposition groups countered with an open house of their own. Their event included legal options for landowners along the proposed route and a news conference with 18 speakers from regional organizations. Among the speakers were representatives of eight “preserve” groups that formed in counties along the route, as well as for the Greater New River Valley.

Since the open house, the opposition groups have worked to organize landowners, lobby lawmakers and sway the various state and federal agencies that will participate in the regulatory process.

Ultimately, a single government agency, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), will decide whether the pipelines are approved. Paul Friedman, the FERC representative who appeared at the Mountain Valley open house, said the agency considers several factors but the primary metric is customer demand.

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New infrastructure From an industry perspective, the pipelines are part of a larger movement to build new infrastructure linking the areas of production to a growing customer base. Most of the Southeast is supplied by natural gas from the Gulf of Mexico, where production has declined during the past few decades.

During that time, the increased use of hydraulic fracturing technology, or fracking, opened previously inaccessible stores of oil and natural gas, most famously in the Bakken formation beneath North Dakota, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

The development of natural gas resources in the Marcellus and Utica shales beneath central and northern Appalachia also has grown rapidly. Production in the West Virginia and Pennsylvania’s Marcellus formation grew from 2 billion cubic feet per day in 2010 to roughly 15 billion cubic feet per day today, accounting for roughly 40 percent of U.S. shale-gas production, accord-

ing to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

All three pipelines proposed for Western Virginia would connect Marcellus shale gas to existing East Coast gas lines, accessing a whole new market.

That potential market includes gas utilities such as Roanoke Gas, which serves the Roanoke Valley; Atmos Energy, which serves the New River Valley and customers in 11 other states. Other customers would include localities seeking natural gas hookups as an economic development tool and electric generation companies that, spurred by market forces and stringent air pollution regulations, are shifting from coal to natural gas to fuel power plants.

The pipeline partners All four of the companies behind the Atlantic Coast pipeline have a direct stake in selling gas or power. AGL Resources and Piedmont Natural Gas both sell gas directly to consumers, while Domin-

Photo by Sam Dean

ion and Duke Energy generate and sell electricity. Because of federal clean air regulations and market economics, Dominion and Duke are closing coal-fired power plants and moving to build natural gas-powered operations.

“We still have the obligation to keep the lights on 24/7,” says Jim Norvelle, communications director for Dominion Energy, the arm of Dominion that focuses on natural gas infrastructure. “Natural gas is the primary choice. It’s abundant, inexpensive and has half the carbon output of coal.”

The preferred route for the Atlantic Coast pipeline runs well north of the Roanoke Valley, crossing the Blue Ridge Mountains in Augusta County, but the proposal does include alternatives that pass closer.

Williams Partners LP, on the other hand, isn’t a power provider but a 100-year-old pipeline infrastructure company that touches about 20 percent of the country’s natural-gas supply. The company operates the Transco interstate pipeline system,

which delivers about 10 percent of the nation’s natural gas and has been operating in Virginia since the 1950s.

The Transco line includes about 850 miles of pipe in Virginia and delivers about one-quarter of the natural gas consumed in the state.

The Appalachian Connector would link natural gas from the Marcellus and Utica formations with the Transco line, further reinforcing its supply lines. Williams spokesman Christopher Stockton says the company is only in “the very preliminary stages of planning this project” and still is evaluating customer demand and a potential route. The Appalachian Connector is being designed to move up to 2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day into the Transco pipeline by late 2018, Stockton says.

The Mountain Valley Pipeline has attracted the most attention from Roanoke-area media and opponents, due to its timing and route.

It also would connect to the Transco pipeline at the Pittsylvania County station. Until last year, EQT had operated a distribution company similar to Roanoke Gas, but it sold the company to focus on drilling for and moving gas.

EQT communications director Natalie Cox says the company is evaluating demand from consumers and manufacturers to determine where distribution points might be needed.

“The rationale for the Mountain Valley Pipeline is matching the prolific supply of natural gas in the Marcellus and Utica [shale formations] with the incredibly increasing growing demand in the mid-Atlantic and Southeastern region of the U.S.,” Cox says. “Population growth and conversion of coal-gen power plants to natural gas is growing demand like crazy.”

Opposing views Opponents at the local and regional level raise many arguments.

They say the pipeline will scar the mountains, destroy viewsheds valuable to the tourism industry, boost

the potential for environmental disaster and usurp the property rights of landowners along the way. The pipeline companies don’t technically take the land, but they do require easements that stretch 150 feet wide for surveying and ultimately 75 feet for the pipeline itself. Most easements are privately negotiated with landowners, but if FERC approves the pipeline, the companies may use eminent domain, which allows them to buy easements, regardless of landowners’ wishes, at a price set by a judge.

A variety of local opposition groups, as well as the Blue Ridge Land Conservancy, the Sierra Club and the Roanoke Valley Cool Cities Coalition, spoke out against the Mountain Valley Pipeline at a news conference preceding an alternative open house that competed against EQT’s.

In her opening statement, Roanoke resident Getra Hanes Selph expressed concerns over the pipeline’s potential effects, including “property rights violations, property devaluation, impacts to tourism and agricultural-based economics, public safety and environmental damage along the path of the pipeline to include contamination of local water supplies.”

Others worried about climate change and contended that the gas moving through the pipeline won’t make it to domestic consumers but instead is bound for an export market.

Cox dismissed the question of exports, saying the pipeline ends at the Pittsylvania County station: “Where it [the natural gas] goes from there, we don’t control, but the reason for this pipeline isn’t for export. It’s to supply the southeastern U.S.” FERC archaeologist Paul Friedman has overseen a variety of projects, including an Oregon pipeline that crossed the Rogue River and the Pacific Coast Trail. He says FERC staff will produce an environmental impact statement (EIS) evalROANOKE BUSINESS

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cover story

Elizabeth Buteau, 11, from Nelson County, was among those who traveled to Richmond to oppose the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.

uating the project’s adverse effects and weighing whether they can be avoided, reduced or mitigated. The EIS will include consultation with a variety of state and federal agencies.

“The commission will then go to its economic staff and look at the economics of the project — markets, rates, tariffs — and decide whether in the end this project has public benefit,” Friedman says.

If FERC concludes the answer is yes, the pipeline will get a green light to move forward with construction, along with the use of eminent domain, if necessary. EQT hopes to have that certificate in hand by fall 2016, with construction to follow soon and transmission beginning by the fourth quarter of 2018.

Potential customers With that process in mind, what are the pipelines’ potential customers saying?

Roanoke Gas President and CEO John D’Orazio says he’s had “very brief discussions” with offi12

MARCH 2015

cials from both the Mountain Valley Pipeline and the Appalachian Connector. He’s waiting for more details to emerge but says Roanoke Gas would be interested in additional sources to reinforce its existing supply, currently fed by the Columbia Transmission and East Tennessee transmission lines.

“Right now we’re in a wait-andsee mode to see exactly what FERC approves,” D’Orazio says. “Once we know the route, we can run economic models. [Even if] it does make economic sense for us and our customers, but we don’t know whether these lines will interconnect with existing lines we’re already tied into.”

Atmos Energy’s 24,000 Virginia customers also are supplied by the East Tennessee line, but Atmos is larger than Roanoke Gas, selling natural gas in eight states, mostly in the Southeast. It’s taking an even more cautious stance than Roanoke Gas. “We’ve looked at the Mountain Valley project, but as of right now

we’re not involved,” says Mike Ellis, vice president of operations for Atmos’ territories in Tennessee and Virginia. “These pipeline contracts, when they offer them to a distribution company like us or Roanoke Gas, you’ve got to sign up for longterm capacity. It’s a financial decision, obviously. We both know these pipelines are headed toward serving large power projects. We don’t have any kind of need for any capacity like that.”

Depending on routing, a natural-gas transmission line may help expand gas service in localities that don’t currently have it. In Roanoke Gas’ coverage area, the main locality that stands to benefit is Franklin County.

Franklin officials have included water lines and natural-gas service on their economic development wish list for decades. The county joined the Western Virginia Water Authority in 2009 and now is seeing development of water lines from Roanoke toward Rocky Mount and from Bedford County to the Smith Mountain Lake area. The Mountain Valley Pipeline’s proposed route could well create a natural-gas connection to be managed by Roanoke Gas, whose service area includes the county.

“For many years, extension of natural gas into Franklin County has been a top priority,” says Michael Burnette, Franklin’s director of economic development. “Natural gas has become one of the major needs for businesses looking at any area, or even to expand within an area.

We find that prospects looking at communities throughout Virginia are asking first and foremost, ‘Do you have natural gas?’ [To] all of those projects, we have to say, ‘No, we don’t,’ and we get cut out of the process.”

Previous discussions have focused on extending the Roanoke Gas line south from Clearbrook, but that approach has proved cost-prohibitive, Burnette says. The Mountain Valley Pipeline proposal could provide a much more affordable opAP Photo/Richmond Times-Dispatch, Bob Brown

tion.

“From an economic development standpoint, if it does come, then the county would be able to get a tap that would be close to Rocky Mount,” Burnette says. “It could cost the county very, very little to get natural-gas service to the industrial parks and the major industry of the community.”

Another potential customer, American Electric Power, is considerably less interested in the various pipeline proposals.

“We would certainly support that economic development benefit, but as far as we’re concerned, really we don’t have a need at this point for natural gas. Neither do we have any kind of contract or partnership or a supply need from any of these that have been proposed at this point,” says AEP spokesman John Shepelwich.

AEP is shutting down five coalfired power plants in addition to individual generating units at six other plants, because of the prohibitive cost of improvements necessary to meet the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS). Meanwhile it’s planning to convert two 240-megawatt, coal-fired generating units at the Clinch River Plant in Russell County to natural gas, at a projected cost of $65 million.

Shepelwich says the company needs to build only a 5-mile pipeline to connect to a gas transmission line.

“It’s a relatively short connection, and that is really our only need at this point,” Shepelwich says.

Ultimately, the decision to allow one, two, all three, or none of the natural gas transmission pipelines rests in the hands of FERC. A much more complicated array of factors – the market price of natural gas; the land acquisition process, including potential eminent domain cases; changes to state and federal laws and regulations that could affect land acquisition, construction and distribution; the international economy and demand for fuel overseas; will determine when, where and whether they get built.

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COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE

Moving downtown Developers say demand for urban living is still strong

Developer Faisal Khan bought an old hotel for $1.3 million and has converted it into 90 apartments.

by Jenny Boone

N

o more long commutes to work, mowing the lawn and driving to bars and restaurants for nighttime entertainment. Matt Woods’ favorite restaurants are steps away.

For Woods, an assistant principal at Woodrow Wilson Middle School in Roanoke, home is a historic, former downtown hotel that has been converted into one-and two bedroom apartments. Convenience was the reason Woods set out last summer to live in a growing urban neighborhood, and he hasn’t been disappointed. “It’s just really nice. Everything’s convenient, everything’s around me,” says, Woods, a 25-year-old Frank-

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lin County native.

His fifth-floor apartment provides the amenities of an urban lifestyle, with an open-concept kitchen, stainless steel appliances and a bar area. There’s a fitness center in the basement.

Woods lives at the Ponce de Leon, a former Campbell Avenue hotel and office building that now has 90 apartments. It joins a host of historic downtown structures that have been renovated for living space in the past 12 years, reflecting a steady transformation of life in downtown Roanoke.

The number of downtown apartments and condominiums rose 225 percent in six years, from

301 in 2008 to 980 last year, according to Downtown Roanoke Inc., a nonprofit downtown development and advocacy organization. It projects that downtown living spaces will increase to 1,151 in 2015.

Real estate developers, like Faisal Khan, who led the Ponce de Leon revival, are banking on this growth and continued demand, mostly from young professionals who want to live within walking distance of shops, restaurants, art galleries and other entertainment.

The swell of downtown residents has been fueled in part by students and employees of nearby healthcare entities, such the Virginia Photos by Sam Dean

Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute, located just outside of downtown, and the Jefferson College of Health Sciences.

State and federal historic tax credits are financial incentives for many Roanoke developers who are renovating old buildings. Yet as demand rises, a challenge is becoming evident — developers are running out of large buildings in Roanoke’s downtown to purchase.

Khan was quick to snatch up the 78,000-square-foot Ponce de Leon in 2012. The site includes an eight-story structure, connected to an adjacent six-story building. In 1890, the site was a five-story hotel, called the Trout House. It sits atop the Lick Run Spring that weaves underground through downtown.

In 1931, the building became the Ponce de Leon Hotel. In 1970, it was converted to an office building, called Crystal Tower. Several years ago, a for-sale sign went up.

“I loved the building, and the price was right,” says Khan, a Roanoke Valley native who also has renovated the building at 401 Campbell Ave. into downtown living space and has plans for oth-

The Ponce de Leon has transformed from hotel to office building to apartments and retail space.

ers. Khan bought the Ponce de Leon for $1.3 million. His company, Khans Builders & Contractors, served as general contractor on the project.

When his crew began exploratory demolition at the site, they discovered some unique art deco

features that had been covered up in past renovations. Khan and his crew set out to restore these architectural details, including the shiny terrazzo floors in the lobby and the original crown molding.

Crews painted the building’s tall exterior white. Khan says he sat

Faisal Khan’s aim was to make the Ponce de Leon’s lobby look like it did in 1931.

ROANOKE BUSINESS

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commercial real estate

Lick Run Spring’s water used to be treated like a nuisance to be disposed of. Now it’s the centerpiece of a patio behind the Ponce de Leon.

at his kitchen table for months, using his daughter’s colored pencils to experiment with various color schemes for the structure’s exterior

art deco designs on the top sides of the building and its columns. These designs now are shades of red, green and gray.

Khan also restored an original wall fountain in the building’s lobby and added an art deco wall clock, a brass globe statue and other vintage pieces from his travels to antiques shops and flea markets around the country. “I wanted it to look like it would have in 1931,” he says.

Khan used an old postcard advertisement from the Ponce de Leon Hotel to re-create the original look of its lobby and adjacent mezzanine.

Crews tore down walls to create an open mezzanine lounge space off the lobby, with tables, couches and the original wroughtiron stair railings.

Residents use the building’s original elevator cabs, complete with the brass knobs. Some of the apartments have original hardwood floors.

Apartments vary in size from 450 to 1,039 square feet, with rents ranging from $675 to $1,400 a month.

Another unusual feature is an outdoor water garden patio behind the building. It discharges water from Lick Run Spring in a curved brook pattern.

The Ponce de Leon’s ballroom has become a sitting room off the Ponce’s lobby.

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MARCH 2015

Top photos courtesy The Ponce de Leon Bottom photo by Sam Dean

As for commercial space, Rock/ Paper Beauty Lounge leased space on the building’s first floor. Khan says he’d like to land a restaurant there as well.

When the $13 million Ponce de Leon project opened, 79 of its 90 apartments already were reserved.

As of early January, all but one of the apartments was rented. “As soon as an apartment becomes available, we have a fast turnaround,� says Susan Roberts, assistant property manager. “It’s barely enough time to get them cleaned.�

The strong demand for downtown living is why Khan is moving forward to create 56 apartments at the former YMCA building on Church Avenue in downtown, set to open later this year.

The continued residential surge is driving other developers to plan more projects.

Bill Chapman, a Richmond developer who owns several historic apartment buildings in Roanoke’s downtown, spends at least one day a week in Roanoke. He owns the Lofts at West Station on Salem Avenue and Parkway 301, formerly the Shenandoah Building, on First Street. “We have phone calls [from inquiring residents] that we are turning away,� he says. “There’s clearly still demand.�

Chapman says he has spent more than $25 million on residential renovation projects in downtown Roanoke since his first, the Fulton Motor Lofts, opened in 2007 on Salem Avenue. He now owns 160 residential spaces in downtown; his goal is 250. “Two hundred fifty gives us enough critical mass to bring on full-time maintenance and to be most efficient with our leasing staff when it comes to property management,� says Chapman. He’s seeking additional large buildings of at least 50,000 square feet to renovate in Roanoke.

While some unconverted large structures, including the Boxley Building and the former Heironimus building, still remain downtown, Photo by Sam Dean All inset photos courtesy The Ponce de Leon

Like many renovations, the Ponce de Leon seeks to balance modern convenience and historic style.

they are priced too high for a return on investment, says Lucas Thornton, another developer with several residential projects under his belt. Instead, he intends to build his own.

Plans are in the works to construct a 94,000-square-foot downtown building, housing 83 apartments, on Williamson Road. Those

new apartments should open by 2016, Thornton says.

This demand for downtown living space isn’t unique to Roanoke, he says. It’s a trend happening in many downtowns nationwide. “It’s a broad demographic shift to more urban environments,� Thornton says. “You can see that wherever you look.�

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BUSINESS LAW

Middling prospects Newly minted attorneys aren’t likely to be livin’ large

Roanoke attorney Thomas Strelka says the job market is tough for newly graduated lawyers.

by Beth Jones

T

op-dollar salaries at prestigious firms aren’t likely to be the reality for this spring’s crop of law school graduates hoping to begin careers in Western Virginia.

Nine months after graduation, according to the American Bar Association, only 57 percent of 2013 law school graduates were employed in full-time, legal jobs where passing the bar was required. Area attorneys paint a similar picture of the local hiring landscape.

Analysts chalk up the mediocre legal job market to a number of factors: an economy still recovering from recession, technology that allows individuals who previously would have contacted a lawyer to go the do-it-

Photo by Natalee Waters

yourself route and an explosion of students graduating from law school.

“You’ve got a marketplace flooded with young attorneys,” says Roanoke lawyer Thomas Strelka. “That’s a giant supply in relationship to the demand out there.”

Until opening his own practice with his wife, Leigh, in February, Thomas Strelka worked as a partner at a small Roanoke firm. He readily admits the operation couldn’t “pay like the big boys.” Still, he managed to score what he describes as a “topnotch” summer associate from Washington and Lee University School of Law last year.

“I feel that, five years ago, I would have never been able to obtain a sum-

mer associate with the abilities this person had at the price I was able to pay for it,” Strelka says. “That obviously helps me … [but] it’s sad because of the state of the marketplace.”

Attorney Anthony Needham couldn’t name a recent law school graduate working in Montgomery County. “We cycle through young lawyers very quickly,” he says of the county. “The business just isn’t as good as it used to be ... What happens is generally there were some attorneys who would hire associates, and those associates would stick around for maybe a year or two until they find a more lucrative career somewhere else in the state.”

Allison Arnold, 34, numbered ROANOKE BUSINESS

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business law

Recent law school graduate Allison Arnold found her place in the legal system as a magistrate.

among the 2013 law school graduates looking for work. After completing an internship with the U.S. Department of Justice the summer before her final year of law school at Brigham Young University, Arnold set her sights on a job as a federal attorney. The federal hiring programs for new graduates are highly competitive, though, and she didn’t win a spot. “As you move through it, if it’s not working out, you have to remind yourself to stay calm and that you will have a job at some point,” she says.

Arnold spent a few months studying for the Virginia bar exam after graduation. After sitting for the exam in late July, she packed up her belongings in Utah and moved East for a public-service fellowship with the Congressional Research Service in Washington, D.C., while continuing her hunt for permanent work.

“Having that set up gave me something to help me get out here and a small stipend to help me survive those months.”

When she found herself still job hunting in early 2014, even the perpetually optimistic Arnold had a moment of worry that she’d have to return to her former career as a human-resources manager. “I had waited about as long as I could,” she says.

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But then a friend from law school got a job as a Virginia magistrate, and Arnold’s ears perked up.

“It wasn’t something that had been on my radar prior to that,” she says. “I was immediately interested.”

In March 2014, Arnold started work as a magistrate with the 23rd Judicial District in Roanoke. She’s happy. “I really love this exposure to criminal law,” she says.

Having to hit the pavement for months to track down a job would be a bitter pill for a recent graduate of any discipline, but it’s particularly distasteful for law students who typically take out huge loans. Class of 2013 students who borrowed money to fund law school average more than $100,000 in student debt, according to U.S. News and World Report.

The National Association for Law Placement’s 2014 Associate Salary Survey reports a median starting salary of $68,000 at small firms and $160,000 at large firms. Area lawyers agree new attorneys should expect less when starting in this area.

“Today, a starting associate in a small firm could expect anywhere from $45k to $65k,” explains Strelka.

“A larger firm in Roanoke might net a young legal eaglet $70-85k.”

By the time David Robinson graduated from Washington and

Lee University’s law school in 2010, he’d accumulated over $200,000 in student loans. Career opportunities weren’t exactly falling in his lap. “It was very, very hard to find a job initially,” Robinson says.

In more robust days, the summer associate position Robinson scored at a preeminent Virginia Beach law firm the summer before he graduated would have ended in employment.

But that wasn’t reality.

“The economy was really starting to tank,” Robinson explains. “They decided not to make any new hires the year that I graduated.”

When a clerkship for the 23rd Judicial Circuit materialized, Robinson felt lucky.

Judge Robert Doherty took time, Robinson says, to introduce him to lawyers.

Even with networking opportunities, Robinson wound up his clerkship without knowing where he’d go next.

“I put out lots of applications,” he says.

“I wasn’t getting a lot of bites back.”

Robinson worked as an accountant before he’d gone to law school.

“It was awful,” he says. “It’s the most antisocial job you could have.”

Even so, Robinson had started to look at accounting openings when Roanoke attorney Richard Lawrence invited him to work at his firm. “It was a huge relief ... He didn’t make me pay rent. He helped me get clients. He asked me to work on some cases with him,” Robinson says of Lawrence, who died in 2012. “He got me self-sufficient more than anything.”

Today, Robinson feels his law school debt is manageable.

“You don’t really have much choice if you’re not from means,” he says of the loans. “… I do enjoy what I do. It’s more exciting than accounting.”

Some analysts predict the legal job market could experience an upswing in coming years as the supply of new lawyers falls. This year fewer students entered law school than any year since 1973, according to the American Bar Association.

Western Virginia law schools seem to be adapting to that changPhoto by Natalee Waters

ing tide.

Administrators at Appalachian School of Law announced a downsizing plan in March 2014 that would gradually decrease the size of the student body to between 150 and 200 students. (The school currently has 225 students.) Six full-time faculty members have been laid off, says Donna Weaver, spokeswoman for the law school. “We decided being dependent on a larger student body may mean we would have to admit less qualified applicants,” she explains.

Employment outcomes for students remain a top priority at ASL. A fall issue of The National Jurist magazine listed the school as fourth on a list of U.S. law schools with an increased percentage of graduates finding jobs. The magazine compiled its ranking using a data formula that puts the most weight on full-time jobs that require a passage of the bar exam but provides partial credit for parttime jobs and jobs where passing the bar is not a requirement. With that methodology, the magazine found 60 percent of graduates of the ASL class of 2013 had found work nine months later – a 16.5 percent improvement over the class of 2011.

A big factor in that success, Weaver says, is ASL’s commitment to making sure students receive practical legal experience. She points out the school has 120 sites that host students for externships in Virginia, with onefourth of those in South and Southwest Virginia. “These are third-year experiences for our law students, and they have been fruitful for helping them identify local and regional employment opportunities,” she explains.

Law school graduates say prospective students should investigate laws school thoroughly — including the school’s employment rate — before they apply.

Chris and Emma Kozlowski, a married couple who are both lawyers, also advise students to pick wellknown schools. “I think that makes a big difference, and it definitely should be a factor you weigh when you decide how to best spend your Photo courtesy Wikipedia

The Appalachian School of Law plans to reduce the number of lawyers it trains.

money,” says Emma, who graduated from Wake Forest University School of Law in 2013 and now works at Roanoke’s Glenn Feldmann Darby & Goodlatte.

The couple dated as undergraduates at Fordham University in New York. When the time came to go to

law school, they decided they didn’t have to be joined at the hip. “Just to get the best opportunities,” says Chris, who ended up at Emory University’s law school and now works at Gentry Locke Attorneys.

The outlook for newly minted lawyers isn’t as grim as news stories make it out to be, he maintains. “A lot of them are trying to scare people almost,” he says.

On the other hand, Strelka, who graduated from University of Richmond School of Law in 2007, says he wouldn’t advise a nephew to follow in his path, especially since Virginia allows wannabe attorneys to read the law – study with practicing attorneys or retired judges instead of attending law school before taking a bar exam. “I’d tell him ‘If you’re really interested in practicing law, why don’t you hang out with me a little bit and see if you like to do that. And then, why don’t we talk about saving you $100,000 or more in money in student loans?’ ”

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HIGHER EDUCATION

Meeting demand New River Community College educates students on technology’s cutting edge

Business and Technologies Dean Peter Anderson and John Somervell, assistant professor of machine technology, with NRCC’s Mini Mill, an important tool in the school’s advanced manufacturing program.

by Sandra Brown Kelly

T

he robot in the mini-mill at New River Community College is an impressive testimony to advanced manufacturing.

It automatically loads raw material, manipulates it as needed and produces an end product — a business card holder embossed with the college’s name. This $300,000 manufacturing automation cell is a centerpiece for the college’s Preparation for Makers in Advanced Manufacturing program. It began in fall 2013 with a course in “Industrial Robotics Programming.”

NRCC installed the machine in what’s called a makerspace, the term for a place where people of like interests can gather to learn.

The space is open to anyone who wants to know more about advanced manufacturing, says Peter Anderson, dean of the Division of Business and Technologies and an

22

MARCH 2015

NRCC graduate.

The program and the machine are just the latest in a continuing quest by this rural college to be the go-to place for technology. The college has purchased more than 30 small-desk 3-D printers to be used in the tech-related courses offered at its Dublin and New River Valley Mall campuses. Printers also will be installed in the library. Last fall, NRCC offered its first course in Preparation for Makers in Advanced Manufacturing. Years ago the college became one of two schools to offer a program in instrumentation.

In addition to its focus on advanced manufacturing, the school’s immersion in alternative energy is obvious in the view from Anderson’s office in Edwards Hall. On the grounds are two wind turbines along with a bank of solar panels

that automatically track the sun.

This alternative energy park gives students experience in using the various motors and controls that operate the turbines and solar panels and supplies 10 percent of the power to Edwards Hall.

Graduates of the instrumentation program – and of the other technology areas – are in great demand, Anderson says. “We have two to three companies a week recruiting our students.” The recruiters come from local companies, but also from elsewhere in Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee.

“New River has a reputation for educating people for current and future job positions,” says Peter Botton, a New River graduate and projects engineer for ESS Technologies of Blacksburg, which manufactured the mill’s robot.

The school has a strong relaPhotos courtesy New River Community College

tionship with local industry, especially with nearby Volvo Trucks North America. “Our glamour client is Volvo,” says Mark Rowh, the school’s vice president for workforce development and external relations. NRCC provides welding education and the American Welding Society certification Volvo requires. Volvo job applicants must first take the state’s Career Readiness exam to determine whether they have the right skills.

The school has a staff person whose job is to be a liaison with Volvo.

Celanese Corp. in Narrows also uses the college’s readiness testing, Rowh says.

“We’re focusing on making sure students finish the academic side and also that they have the credentials and certifications they need for employment,” he says. Rowh and NRCC President Jack Lewis are involved with the New River Valley Economic Development Alliance board. Rowh, who has worked for 25 years at NRCC, also doubles as the college spokesman when Lewis is unavailable, as he was because of illness during interviews for this article.

Wearing two hats, or more, is old hat at the school, notes Greg Rooker,

NRCC’s solar panels and windmills provide training for students and energy for Edwards Hall.

president of the New River Community College Educational Foundation. Rooker, a retired publisher whose father, Daniel Rooker, helped establish NRCC, credits Lewis’ leadership for the school’s development.

“I don’t know how he does what he does financially,” says Rooker, who has seen Lewis become emotional talking about the importance of reaching students, especially firsttime college students. “He is a ser-

vant leader.”

Lewis has “put his wallet out there,” Rooker says.

The president and his wife, Mary Ann Lewis, have given more than $300,000 to endow nine scholarships. “I’m also proud that 100 Rooker percent of the foundation board gave money,” says Rooker, who with his wife, Fran, endowed

NRCC has more than 30 3-D printers for students in its high-tech classes.

ROANOKE BUSINESS

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higher education seven scholarships. The Rookers were among recipients of the 2010 Chancellor’s Award for Leadership in Philanthropy given by the Virginia Community College System.

Last year, the college nominated Paul Duncan of Christiansburg and his son, Gary Duncan of Salem, owners of Duncan Automotive Network, for the Chancellor’s Award.

Paul Duncan has endowed five scholarships to promote automotive studies, and last year the Duncans

24

MARCH 2015

gave the foundation 100-plus acres of land near the college’s Dublin campus.

The foundation’s $11.1 million endowment ranks eighth among Virginia’s 23 community colleges.

For 2014, the foundation awarded $250,000 in scholarships and managed another $250,000 in private scholarships to students, says Angie Covey, the organization’s executive director. In addition, the foundation helps support a program where the

college computer club members refurbish donated computers and give them to students who do not have computer access. The foundation received 235 applications last fall and was able to give 50 students computers and offer free upgrades and repairs to another six.

The latest effort by the foundation has been to raise $75,000 to match a grant from Giles County to support the college’s first Community College Access Program (CCAP). County High School students who graduate in 2015 can attend NRCC free for two years.

The students must maintain a 2.5 grade-point average and participate in a community service program. “Students also must pay for their own textbooks; we want them to have some skin in the game,” says Covey. The matching funds came from some 30 businesses, with Celanese being the largest donor.

The foundation also supports events, such as the 2014 ComicCon at the library, and this year will bring in the Barter Players and music shows that include bluegrass queen Rhonda Vincent. “I love this college,” says Covey, who has been at NRCC in various positions for 22 years. She is an NRCC grad who later attended Tech as an undergraduate and as a graduate student, as many NRCC students do.

The relationship with Tech also works in reverse. Since the college opened a site at New River Valley Mall in 2007, Tech and Radford University students increasingly are taking advantage of the lower community college tuition to take core courses there, says Linda Claussen, NRCC’s director of Distance Education and Off-Campus Services.

She came to NRCC in summer 1977 as a Tech graduate student to help start an on-campus child-care center. The child-care facility operates on the Dublin site as part of the college’s Early Childhood Program serving 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds, with children of students and staff given priority placement.

The mall site, in space previ-

New River Community College at-a-glance Campuses 5251 College Drive, Dublin; 400 New River Road, Christiansburg (inside New River Valley Mall) President Jack M. Lewis, 2000 to present Annual Budget $20.6 million (does not include grants, etc.)

Students per semester 4,500-5,000 Full-time faculty/staff 133 Part-time staff/adjunct faculty 260 Educational foundation assets $11.1 million Founded 1959 as New River Vocational-Technical School Joined Virginia Community College System 1966 Website www.nr.edu

Source: New River Community College

ously occupied by Regal Cinema, is doubling its space to add room for workforce development classes, computer labs, a graphic-arts lab and makerspaces. STEM courses — science, technology, engineering

and math — are offered there and are feeder courses to Tech. The mall site sets up a temporary bookstore at the beginning of each semester.

Library services, academic advising, financial aid, career coaches

and veterans support are provided throughout the semester.

Offering courses at a shopping mall is just another example of the efforts the college makes to reach prospective students.

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INTERVIEW: Timothy Bradshaw, executive director, Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport

Tim Bradshaw, the new executive director at the Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport.

26

MARCH 2015

‘The world’s gateway to us’

Leading the Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport into its next era

by Tim Thornton imothy Bradshaw grew up in Roanoke County, graduated from William Byrd High School and moved away to join the Coast Guard. “I did search and rescue with the U.S. Coast Guard, flew around Alaska and different places,” Bradshaw says. “I thought I wanted to fly for a living, but times were tough back then and I really saw that my career was more in airport management, so I’ve been chasing that career for many years.”

He chased that career through Teterboro, N.J.; Louisville, Owensboro and Bowling Green, Ky.; to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he was airport director of the Eastern Iowa Airport before coming to Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport.

“It was a chance to come back home after all these years,”

T

Roanoke Business: Many people think it’s cheaper and simpler to drive to Charlotte or Greensboro and fly out of there instead of Roanoke. How close is that to being true and, to the extent it is true, what are you going to do to fix it?

Bradshaw: I haven’t looked at the data yet, but I would probably find that it’s true because those airports have greater competition. That’s what we’re lacking here, competing airlines. When I got in this business 30 some years ago, there were a lot more airlines.

Now were down to three: American, which just gobbled up USAir; Delta and United. So that consolidation has left us with not too many choices. They’ve got a hold on the domestic market now. The only way you can get fares to come down reasonably is to bring in a low-cost carrier. People always say, what about Southwest? Well, Southwest is wonderful. But you have to fill up a 737 eight times a day to make their business model work, and we just do not have the population base to support that. So those communities enjoy the benefits of having much more competition, and that’s what makes the difference in our Photo by Sam Dean

Bradshaw says. “And also I saw an opportunity here where I could use the skills that I’ve been able to develop over the years in developing air service and developing airports and try to lead the airport into its next era.”

Bradshaw, 56, follows Jacqueline Shuck, who was the airport’s executive director for 25 years.

“Airports are the economic engine of the region. It’s the pulse of the local economy, too. When the airport is doing well, it’s usually an indication of how the region’s doing,” Bradshaw says. “We don’t just serve Roanoke. We serve the region. I like to think of us as a catalyst for regionalism.”

Roanoke Business visited Bradshaw in his office at the Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport terminal.

markets ... We’re going to do a leakage study this year to see where people are driving to, look at some fare comparisons to see what people are paying in these other areas … Once we’re armed with that data, then we can start to target and attack those areas that we can try to fix … So our goal is to try to bring in additional competition … We’re not going to see things change overnight, but I think over the next 18 months or so, we’ll start to get a better handle on the situation, start focusing our efforts on where we need to go and hopefully we’ll start seeing some results.

RB:You’ve described this as a business-flying community. How much of the traffic out of here is business and how much is leisure?

Bradshaw: It’s about 60-40. That sounds almost even, but you’ve got to remember Allegiant. Allegiant flies a larger airplane out of here two days a week … That tends to drive up the leisure quite a bit. The thing I remind people, too, is we always think of where we’re flying and where we’re going to, but [we also need to] think about peo-

ple coming here … This is the gateway to the world, but it’s also the world’s gateway to us. We have to think about all those people trying to do business with us. I’ve had discussions with Virginia Tech, and they’re disappointed sometimes in the service and trying to get people in and out of here. They’re a world-renowned research center. It’s important for them to have access to the global transportation system. It’s not only important for us going somewhere, but for people getting to us.

RB:You mentioned Virginia Tech; who else needs a vibrant airport?

Bradshaw: Carilion, for example.

Advance. Meridium. Some of the other larger employers … The employers that have 10 to15 employees who may have an industry where they do a lot of travel, it’s very important to them, too.

We don’t want them moving to Dulles or Charlotte to have better transportation options.

RB: How much of the use of the airport is corporate as opposed to commercial?

Bradshaw: It’s about 40 percent of our traffic … It’s one of my favorite ROANOKE BUSINESS

27

interview parts of the job. You rarely see them or hear about them. They don’t lose their bags. I say the same thing about cargo.

You never hear cargo complaining about the flight being late or anything.

That’s two parts of the airport that kind of run, and nobody pays much attention to. On any given day, you can look over at that ramp at Landmark Aviation, and you’ll see some jets from all over that are coming here to do business in the Roanoke Valley and in the New River Valley.

RB: How important is cargo to the airport?

Bradshaw: People would be amazed at the activity that goes on here at night with the cargo operators. Each night an airplane full of cargo goes to Memphis with FedEx and to Louisville with UPS. So we really are a transportation hub, or a commerce hub, for that traffic coming in and out. I’m sure that there are businesses here that rely on that accessibility of having those overnight packages within the local community here.

RB:There’s an airport here.

There’s an airport in Lynchburg.

There’s an airport in Richmond.

There’s an airport in Greensboro.

How many airports do we need?

How close together should they be?

Bradshaw:The United States had a real large increase in airports being built after World War II, and a lot of cities had service. A lot of them have lost it over the years. I think over time you’re going to see some communities lose their service. … I think the market itself will determine which airports survive and which ones don’t. We don’t have a real plan of service. I know in Europe they have the same issue, too.

What’s happened in Europe, the larger cities have ended up with the airports, not so much in the smaller communities. I think over time it will be an evolution. The strong will survive, and some won’t make it.

RB: Modern cars have a GPS sys28

MARCH 2015

tem that can pinpoint where they are, but the technology we’re using in airplanes isn’t all that different from what we were using in 1947. Are there any big innovations around the corner?

Bradshaw: People are astounded we are still using ground-based navigation systems when we have all the satellites … FAA cannot keep up with the technology, and the industry is demanding it.

We could run our airplanes a lot more efficiently, have better routes in the sky, get in here more on time, better weather capability, all these things if we could finally get over to that satellitebased navigation system. But it’s going to take a long time.

RB: Why should people who don’t fly care about the airport?

Bradshaw:It really leads to quality of life for all of us. We mentioned earlier the cargo, getting your overnight packages. We’re such a mobile society now.

You may have your kids or grandkids living in Phoenix or whatever. It gives you that opportunity to access the national transportation or international transportation, to travel, to do all those things … It also helps to recruit business and industry and that adds jobs …

It’s part of the economic development toolbox … It’s just as important as the parks and recreation, the interstate highway system, the government services. It is a quality-of-life issue.

RB: Roanoke is about to get passenger rail service again. Is that going to affect the airport?

Bradshaw: I think it enhances the overall transportation system that we have. People who are taking the train are not necessarily the people who would take an airplane … I think it will complement the service here.

RB: What are your big plans for the airport’s next three to five years?

Bradshaw: Airport development and

economic development really go handin-hand, so I want to nurture those relationships with our economic development partners. I want to engage the business community. I want to talk with them. My ultimate goal is to put people in the seats of the airplanes. The only way to do that is to grow economic development … My immediate goal is to try to improve upon our existing air service and to get people aware of what the airport does and the role it plays in the community. I think a lot of people just take us for granted. I would, too. You know, it’s there. I use it sometimes. Sometimes I don’t.

RB: What should we have asked that we didn’t?

Bradshaw:The one thing I want people to understand is … the issues that we face here in Roanoke are really the same other communities are facing with air service. It’s a new era now since ’08 – the industry consolidation.

There’s less capacity out there. They’ve shrunk the number of flights by 20 percent since 2008. The airlines are making money. They’re profitable. They’ve squeezed the supply side. I want people to understand Roanoke is not any different from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, or Columbia, S.C., or other small-type communities. They’re facing the same challenges we are. So we’re not doing anything wrong, we’re just … trying to deal with the new way that the airlines do business. And it is tough.

RB: If this is a small community problem, how big would we have to be to not have to worry about our airport?

Bradshaw: Greensboro. We started this conversation with people driving to Greensboro and Charlotte. They have more choices. We are – what are we, 250,000 people in the region? Smaller communities just have more struggles when it comes to these sorts of things.

That’s why people drive to the larger cities. They’ve got more shopping, more things to do, more everything. We’re a great big, little city.

COMMUNITY PROFILE: Christiansburg

‘Downtown America’

Christiansburg, that other Montgomery County town, is redefining itself again

by Sandra Kelly

C

hristiansburg, the county seat of Montgomery County, experienced slow development until the arrival of New River Valley Mall in 1988. It was the project that changed everything. The mall area on the town’s western side began to fill with more retail and residential development, drawing attention away from the downtown.

Town Manager Barry Helms watched it happen. He grew up in Christiansburg but went away to serve in the Army before the mall’s arrival. “It was amazing; every time I came home, I had to figure out where I was.” He returned for good in 1994 and has continued to witness the changing landscape.

Photo by Alisa Moody

ROANOKE BUSINESS

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community profile

Town of Christiansburg County seat of Montgomery County Chartered

1792

Size

14.1 square miles

Original name

Hans Meadow

Population

22,000 (approximately)

Town employees

244 full time

2014 budget

$34.1 million

Mayor

D. Michael Barber Source: Town of Christiansburg/ Montgomery Museum & Lewis Miller Regional Art Center

Since 1990, Christiansburg’s population has increased by more than 6,000 to some 22,000 residents, with growth fueled by families and young professionals who find the town’s lower cost of living more attractive than the county’s

other town, Blacksburg.

Sperling’s Best Places ranks the town’s Cost of Living index at 97.4 and Blacksburg’s at 102.1, noting that housing costs are the main difference. A $180,000 house in Christiansburg would cost $200,000

in Blacksburg, says Ed Gallimore, owner of McNeil Real Estate in Christiansburg.

Christiansburg is in a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) that includes Blacksburg and Radford and has a population of 180,351.

More than 45 percent of residents are between ages 20 and 49, reflecting the influence of Virginia Tech and Radford University, according to the county’s economic development office.

The Oaks Victorian Inn in Christiansburg, for example, already is booked solid for Tech’s graduation dates for the next two years. In addition to the college-related guests, the inn benefits from its proximity to I-81. “We are two miles off I-81 – about half way between D.C. and Asheville – a great spot to break up the drive,” says owner Linda Wurtzburger. She also has had guests from China, Kenya, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

Many establishments find that business fluctuates according to when the colleges are in session.

“When Virginia Tech is here, we

Many Christiansburg businesses benefit from proximity to Virginia Tech. Linda and Bernie Wurtzburger’s Oaks Victorian Inn is booked for Tech’s next two graduations.

30

MARCH 2015

Photo by Alisa Moody

When it’s completed this spring, this Hokie stone facade bridge over Va. 114 will be a significant improvement to the Huckleberry Trail that links Christiansburg with downtown Blacksburg.

are busy, very busy,” explains Abdul Sharaki, who opened the upscale Summit restaurant in 2003 in an 1888 Victorian mansion that had served as the town’s recreation department.

These days, he also gets business from the swim meets that take place at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center, an Olympic-level facility that opened in 2010 and is home to the Virginia Tech swim and diving teams. The 62,000-square-foot center cost nearly $15 million and was a joint project with Tech. It has three pools, a 50-meter Olympicstyle pool, a family leisure pool and a therapy pool. It hosts around 18 meets a year, each drawing 600 or more participants.

The center doesn’t pay for itself, but it provides jobs for 238 people and brings income to the businesses in the area, explains Mayor Mike Barber. A Virginia Tech study credits the facility with contributing $14.9 million to the area last year. Hotels and restaurants also get a boost from the Harkrader Sports Complex, open since 2006 behind Christiansburg Middle School. The complex hosts Photos by Alisa Moody

youth baseball world series that draw 25 to 45 teams, Barber says.

Barber, a retired banker, grew up in Christiansburg and was on town council for 13 years before becoming mayor three years ago.

He says that, while the county has

its courthouse in downtown Christiansburg and helps support the town’s fire and rescue services that answer calls in the county, the town is an independent taxing authority with enough reserves to pay cash for land for another recreational Meghan Dorsett’s historic Cambria Depot and its tenants depend on locals and out-oftown visitors drawn by Virginia Tech and the Christiansburg Aquatic Center.

ROANOKE BUSINESS

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MARCH 2015

facility. It was the largest section of land left in the town, Barber says.

The town bought 62 acres behind a strip mall on Virginia 114 and has commissioned a study to determine how it can get a 16-acre park with paved trail around it, a dog park, multi-use fields and an on-site amphitheater. Council also has a bikeway-walkway committee “looking at developing that part of transportation,” Barber says.

“We hope to have more controlled growth, more emphasis on better completed subdivisions with walkways that connect subdivisions.”

The idea of better physical connections for the town’s sections are especially appealing for places such as Lucie Monroe’s Café and Bakery, located off the beaten path in Gateway Plaza on U.S. 460. Lindsey Paradiso, a graduate of Radford University, operates Lucie Monroe’s, which is owned by her parents and is near their other business, The Weigh Station weight loss center. The café’s offerings are in tune with the younger population: fresh baked whole-grain goods, its own brand of coffee provided by Red Rooster of Floyd, gluten-free meals and a diet-friendly menu items such as flaxseed bread and lattes and sodas.

“People don’t expect us to be here,” says Paradiso. “The hardest part is when students go out of town. We definitely see a fluctuation.”

Christiansburg is made up of three areas: the western mall area, the Downtown District of Franklin-Main and Cambria streets with some historic designations and the eastern side of Roanoke Street and Route 460. The hope is find ways to better connect the three.

The Huckleberry Trail, a former rail bed that’s now a paved bike and pedestrian path connecting Blacksburg and Christiansburg, runs six-plus miles from the Blacksburg Public Library to the Christiansburg Recreation Center. It is a major attraction, espe-

cially with its latest enhancement, a bridge that takes the trail over Pepper’s Ferry Road. The bridge over Virginia Route 114 has a gradual rise that makes it ADAcompliant and is part of a $24.7 million VDOT project that widened one mile of Pepper’s Ferry Road. The bridge is to be completed in the spring.

Other projects underway include the conversion of the former county courthouse to a regional 911 center. A new courthouse opened in 2012. On May 7, a farmers market will open downtown, a project boosted by a group of young professionals who founded Downtown Christiansburg Inc. The group has done much to bring excitement to downtown with events that for the past three years have included Food Truck Rodeos, where mobile food units gather to sell their specialties at Chow Down Downtown.

“Christiansburg is beginning to define itself as more of a family town,” says Meghan Dorsett, a former senior planner for Montgomery County who owns the historic Cambria Depot and the businesses in it, including a toy store. The town has begun to “diversify away from the mall,” she says.

Dorsett’s businesses are not at the mercy of the ebb and flow of students throughout the year, “but we are dependent upon the grandparents who come to football games.” They shop the Toy Store and her Cambria Antique Mart as do visitors to the Aquatic Center a quarter mile away. In addition, the depot, a Tuscan Italianate design built by the Virginia Tennessee Railroad and opened in 1868, attracts rail buffs.

“Downtown Christiansburg is an up-and-coming little town,” observes Sharon Scott, executive director of the Montgomery Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Downtown’s historic churches, houses, antiques businesses and offices make it look like “downtown America,” Scott says.

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ROANOKE BUSINESS

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SPONSORED CONTENT | Roanoke Regional Chamber

Day to chair Roanoke Regional Chamber The Roanoke Regional Chamber, Western Virginia’s largest business organization, has elected officers and directors for 2015. F.B. Webster Day, a member of the law firm Spilman Thomas & Battle, has been elected chairman. Other officers are: Barry Henderson, BLH Consulting, past-chair; Karen Turner, Community Housing Partners, chair-elect; H. Joseph Jones, Appalachian Power, vice chair of public policy; Todd MorDay gan, MB Contractors, vice chair of economic development; Ken Randolph, Rockydale Quarries Corp., vice chair of membership; Melinda Chitwood, Brown, Edwards & Co., vice chair of operations/treasurer; Vickie Bibee, BRM, LLC, vice chair at large; Jonathan Hagmaier, Interactive Achievement, vice chair at large; Todd Putney, Medical Facilities of America, vice chair at large; and Joyce Waugh, Roanoke Regional Chamber, president and secretary.

New members of the 2015 board of directors are: Martha Chester, Hughes Associates Architects & Engineers; John D’Orazio, RGC Resources Inc.; Elda Stanco Downey, Roanoke Spanish LLC; Scott Gunn, Doctors Express Roanoke; Don B. Halliwill, Caril-

ion Clinic; Terry Jamerson, The Roanoke Times; Nathan Kerr, Scott Insurance; Todd Nestor, BB&T; Patience O’Brien, County of Roanoke; and Jason Price, Advance Stores Inc. Continuing to serve on the board are: Phillip V. Anderson, Frith, Anderson & Peake; Tye Campbell, SFCS Inc.; G.B. Cartledge III, Grand Home Furnishings; Beth Doughty, Roanoke Regional Partnership; Ellis Gutshall, Valley Bank; Scott Hodge, AECOM; Landon Howard, Roanoke Valley Convention & Visitors Bureau; K.C. Huang, The Center for College and Career Services; Mark Hudzik, Member One Federal Credit Union; Eddie Hunter, First Citizens Bank; Kevin Lockhart, SunTrust Banks; Jeffrey Marks, WDBJ7; Mike McAllister, Cox; Joe Miller, E.J. Miller Construction; John Prillaman, Roanoke Redevelopment & Housing Authority; Angela Reynolds, LewisGale Regional Health System; Brooke C. Rosen, Gentry Locke Rakes & Moore; Eric Stelter, Wells Fargo; Wayne G. Strickland, Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission; Lori D. Thompson, LeClair Ryan; Leonard Wheeler, Wheeler Broadcasting; and Tina Workman, Downtown Roanoke Inc.

2015 CHAMBER CHAMPIONS BB&T Brown Edwards Cox Business Gentry Locke Rakes & Moore LeClairRyan LifeWorks REHAB (Medical Facilities of America) MB Contractors

Pepsi Bottling Group rev.net Richfield Retirement Community Spilman Thomas & Battle PLLC Trane Valley Bank Woods Rogers Attorneys at Law

Note: Chamber Champions are members who support the Roanoke Regional Chamber through year-round sponsorships in exchange for yearround recognition.

EVENT SPONSORSHIP 2015 Capitol Reception in Richmond Appalachian Power Verizon Lanford Brothers Co. Norfolk Southern Corp.

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MARCH 2015

NEW MEMBERS The following businesses joined the Roanoke Regional Chamber from Dec. 10, 2014 to Jan 9, 2015:

Aetna American Red Cross Body Brite Soul to Sole Virginia Driveway LLC Vistage International

Roanoke Regional Chamber | SPONSORED CONTENT

Member news & recognitions Access Advertising & Public Relations announces the addition of Frank Martin as senior research consultant in an intentional effort to strengthen its robust team of research experts. Martin Martin joins Rachel Spencer, director of research at Access.

Martin, a Roanoke native, has more than three decades of research experience.

Advance Auto Parts announces that Tammy Finley has been promoted to executive vice president, human resources, and general counsel. In her new role, Finley will continue to lead Advance’s human resources Finley strategies and functions. She also will assume responsibility for legal, risk services and government affairs functions and will serve as corporate secretary for the organization.

Bundy Group, a boutique investment bank with offices in Roanoke and Charlotte, N.C., has announced the sale of BRC Rail Car Service Co., a tank car repair and services company located in Lynchburg. The company was acquired by Appalachian Tank Car Services in West Virginia.

To reflect Carilion Clinic’s commitment to health and wellness, the organization has a new name for its fitness facilities and wellness/fitness programs: Carilion Wellness.

Carilion Wellness encompasses the fitness clubs, formerly known as the Roanoke and Botetourt Athletic Clubs and RAC Xpress, the FIT Rx and FIT Rx 90 programs, Weight Watchers at Work, TRX at Work, walking clubs, painting classes and group exercise classes. The name clearly reflects that the fitness facilities and programs are Carilion health partners.

Firefli has expanded the agency with the addition of Jeremy Basham to the digital creative team as an interactive designer. Before joining the Roanoke-based digital agency, Basham served as an interAmerican National active designer at Modea in University has anBlacksburg. nounced the followLeClairRyan is sponsoring ing staff changes: one of the Habitat for HumanTom Field has been ity residences in the Roanoke named vice presiValley constructed on Chapdent of marketing; Field Sluss man Avenue. The home beJill Sluss has been came the residence of a hardpromoted to comworking, low-income family munications managwho devoted more than 400 er; Allison Lindy has hours of “sweat equity” to been promoted to become a Habitat for Humanpublications editor; ity partner family. Volunteers and Kate Stackpole from LeClairRyan began parhas been named soLindy Stackpole ticipating in the build in the fall cial media manager. of 2014. The law firm plans to build a Habitat for Humanity home in each of B2C Enterprises, an advertising, marketing the cities in which it has an office during the and business development firm, has exnext 20 years. panded its client portfolio with the addition of Re-Bath of Richmond. B2C Enterprises is Re-Bath of Richmond’s strategic partner for brand management, marketing of key services and media planning.

Armentrout

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced that Carilion Clinic’s executive vice president and chief administrative officer, Jeanne S. Armentrout, RN, MSN, has been appointed to the State Rehabilitation Council for the Blind and Vision Impaired.

Hall Associates has announced that Danielle “Dani” Poe has joined the firm. She will provide both commercial and residential sales and leasing services. Poe also will assist with the leasing of Charter Hall at the Roanoke City Market Building. The Roanoke native is a member of the Roanoke Valley Association of Realtors, the Virginia Association of Realtors and the National Association of Realtors.

Lawrence Cos., a business and home movers company in operation since 1932, has unveiled a rebrand initiative in support of

the company’s growth strategy. The rebrand includes not only an updated logo but also renewed mission and values statements.

Poe & Cronk Real Estate Group has announced the sale of the former corporate headquarters of Hayes, Seay, Mattern and Mattern Architecture and Engineering Firm on Franklin Road to Metis Holding LLC. The building, located in the historic Southwest District, was sold for $2,875,000.

Cronk

Huff

Lawrence

Poe & Cronk, a leading regional commercial real estate firm, has announced the addition of new principals. Matthew Huff will serve as executive vice president and chief operating officer. Sherry Lawrence will continue as chief financial officer. Both will serve on the firm’s board of directors. The changes were announced by Dennis Cronk, president/CEO and majority owner of the firm.

Leaders from Roanoke County and Roanoke City were on hand for the dedication of the new Roanoke County Criminal Justice Academy in January. The building is an addition to the Roanoke city Police Academy on Barnes Avenue. Roanoke County is the owner of the new addition. The new facility includes three classrooms with 80 seats, locker rooms, a fitness room and offices for the staff.

The Roanoke County School Board has named Dr. Greg Killough as the next superintendent for Roanoke County Public Schools, beginning July 1. Killough will replace Dr. Lorraine Lange, who will Killough retire June 30 after serving as superintendent since 2006. Killough is a native of Blacksburg and has served as superintendent for Caroline County Public Schools since July 2008.

The Science Museum of Western Virginia attracted nearly 18,000 visitors to view “Tutankhamun – Wonderful Things from the Pharaoh’s Tomb” exhibit during its sixmonth run. The exhibit, provided by the International Museum Institute of New York, closed Jan. 4. Museum director Jim RolROANOKE BUSINESS

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SPONSORED CONTENT | Roanoke Regional Chamber lins reported that out-of-state tourist visits, based on visitor ZIP codes, increased to 20 percent of the museum’s total headcount at the box office.

management, waste by-product application effects on soil and water quality, and reduction of runoff to the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

Senior construction engineering and management and building construction majors in the Myers-Lawson School of Construction at Virginia Tech spent the fall semester collaborating with students in the College of Natural Resources and Environment to develop proposals to upgrade and expand four animal exhibits at the Mill Mountain Zoo in Roanoke, as a design/build capstone course project. The zoo, a nonprofit organization, may use the proposals created by the class to solicit donations to implement elements of the designs. The interdisciplinary initiative was launched in spring 2014 when students in a senior capstone course on conservation biology in the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation identified the potential to improve the design of certain animal exhibits at the zoo in order to better educate the public about the importance of the zoo animals for survival of the same species in the wild.

Elizabeth A. “Betsy” Flanagan, vice president for development and university relations at Virginia Tech, will step down effective June 30 to become senior fellow for advancement. Flanagan has been at the university since 2000.

VT KnowledgeWorks has announced that Plastics One, a medical component and cable manufacture company based in Roanoke, will sponsor two 2015 VT KnowledgeWorks Advanced Manufacturing Awards. A $25,000 grant from Plastics One will provide a $10,000 scholarship stipend to the most outstanding tangible product at the VT KnowledgeWorks Global Challenge Semifinals in April, as well as a $15,000 cash award at the Global Student Business Concept Challenge Finals in August.

Bethany Bodo has been named associate director of the Office of Assessment and Evaluation at Virginia Tech.

Bodo

Gregory Evanylo, Virginia Cooperative Extension specialist and a professor of crop and soil environmental sciences in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech, was Evanylo recently named a Fellow by both the American Society of Agronomy and the Soil Science Society of America. Evanylo is internationally recognized for his Extension programming and applied research on composting, nutrient 36

MARCH 2015

Flanagan

Fred Lee, University Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and director of the Center for Power Electronics at Virginia Tech, has received the 2015 Institute Lee of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Medal in Power Engineering for his contributions to power electronics, especially high-frequency power conversion. Lee joined the Virginia Tech faculty in 1977.

Eleanor Nelsen, formerly a science writer for Wisconsin Public Television and NOVA Next, has joined Virginia Tech as the communications manager for Nelsen the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science. She will work with faculty and leadership at the institute, the Office of the Vice President for Research, and University Relations to oversee the institute’s communications and media relations.

Matthew Serr, field engineering manager for Network Infrastructure and Services at Virginia Tech, has earned the designation of Registered Communications Distribution Designer Serr from Building Industry Consulting Service International, the association for cabling design and installation professionals. Serr is the first person in Network Infrastructure and Services to receive the designation. A member of the Virginia Tech community since 2010, Serr was the primary author of a major update in 2014 to the Virginia Tech Telecommunications Cabling Standard used in all university capital construction and renovations projects and referenced by Virginia municipalities.

Wells Fargo & Co. has named Susan Brown market president and business banking manager for the Southwest Virginia market, based in Roanoke. Brown will lead the business bank- Brown ing teams in Roanoke, Salem, Harrisonburg and the New River Valley.

Brown joined Wells Fargo in 2004.

Woods Rogers named attorneys Erin B. Ashwell and Elizabeth Burgin Waller to principal. Ashwell focuses on appellate law as well as civil litigation in state and federal court. She joined Woods Rogers in 2010.

W a l l e r ’s practice Ashwell Waller ranges from representing corporations in litigation to defending physicians and hospitals in medical malpractice claims. She joined the law firm in 2007.

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced that seven of Virginia’s Community Colleges, including Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke, will receive direct incentives totaling $500,000 for student completion of credentials identified regionally as high-demand by business and industry. The pilot program is an initiative of McAuliffe’s New Virginia Economy Strategic Plan and supports his goal of seeing an additional 50,000 credentials in the Virginia economy before the end of his term. These credentials can lead individuals into careers that boast median wages at or above the commonwealth’s per capita personal income of $48,377.

Waldvogel Commercial Properties has brokered the lease of 3993 Daugherty Road in western Roanoke County to AppTech Solutions. The 27,000-square-foot building sits on five acres west of Salem. Michael Waldvogel, Krista Vannoy and Celie Holmes represented AppTech in the transaction.

Waldvogel Commercial Properties also announced they will assist Stefano’s Restaurant in a new direction. Stefano’s on the Market, located at 202 Market St., is changing its layout to focus exclusively on the restaurant and dining experience.

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