Roanoke leaders set a new course for City Market

By Scott Leamon
WSLS10 Reporter
Published: September 30, 2008

  Roanoke city leaders officially axed a Downtown Roanoke Inc. plan to manage the City Market at a retreat Tuesday and talked of “major renovations” for the building this Spring.

  After essentially telling Downtown Roanoke, Incorporated at its last meeting to revise a plan it rejected a recent meeting, council members directed staff to move forward on a plan where proposals would only be sought to design renovations for the building, not manage it.

  The plan calls to work hard to reopen the building as soon as possible.

  The Roanoke City Market has been closed since September 19th due to health concerns and an infestation of mice.

  Once the building is reopened, city leaders directed staff to schedule a series of public meetings on the future of the market.

  Plans for a survey of food court customers were also discussed.

  The consensus among council members was the city could move ahead with a “major renovation” project on the building as early as this March.

  The renovation would close the building again.

  Council members felt they needed at least six months so staff could gather more information about the renovations, including cost, and what to do with the current vendors facing another prolonged closure.

  Most council members also felt it was important to be loyal to current vendors.

  It’s important to remember no formal votes were taken at the retreat, so there’s plenty of time for tweaks.

  The council’s next meeting is scheduled for October 6th.