Spotlight FRONT’n About

Roanoke developers branch out to Southside >

Not content with redeveloping older properties in downtown Roanoke and in the Wasena neighborhood, John Garland has set his sights on Southside Virginia. In conjunction with Cherney Development - which recently turned the old Happy's Flea Market on Williamson Road in Roanoke into office and storage space - two former schools and a shuttered Winn-Dixie supermarket – the former John Redd Smith School in Collinsville, the former Fieldale High School in Fieldale and the vacant supermarket property in uptown Martinsville) will become living spaces with nearly 100 apartments for local residents. Henry County that can be historically preserved,” says Garland, “they need more buildings to do that. That’s actually what happened in the Roanoke area, once one developer started and others how worked and how it was successful. Other developers got on the bandwagon.” Construction on two of the Southside properties is underway; the third in Martinsville, a mixed-used development, is slated to start this summer.

A growing need for mid-market housing in Martinsville and Henry County as the industrial employment base there grows enticed the two developers; more than 12 million dollars will be spent on project construction for the three properties. Some of that cost will be reimbursed through the historic tax credits. Garland has also purchased a handful of older properties in Pulaski and is keeping an eye out for any new opportunities in Roanoke, where he has rehabbed several older properties, converting them into mixed use spaces.

Liberty Trust Hotel open for business >

A project about five years in the making is open for business - the Liberty Trust Hotel, in the former bank and office building on South Jefferson Street in downtown Roanoke. The upscale "boutique" hotel features 54 rooms, many with sweeping views of the city. Vishal Savani is managing director for the development company: “the response has been fantastic. Our guests loved the décor, the design; they loved the location.”

Room rates range from 160 to 500 dollars a night. Features in the 113-year-old Liberty Bank Building including the original copper door framing and marble columns in the grand entrance were left in place with other features to qualify for historic tax credits. “The lobby has a grandeur that dates back to the original bank lobby that it was,” notes Savani. The original bank vault on the ground floor will be employed as a tasting room. The building was also used as office space for decades before Richmond-based Savara Hospitality purchased the property.

Gene Marrano photos