ROANOKE, VA – From the early 1900s to today - it’s safe to say Downtown Roanoke has changed more than a little.
But many people say the biggest change took place 40 years ago.
“At one point this was an abandoned feed warehouse from 1914,” Center in the Square President and General Manager Tara Marciniak said.
Tara Marciniak is the President and General Manager of Center in the Square.
“It was truly a collective idea to put multiple organizations inside of this once abandoned feed and seed warehouse in hopes of increasing food traffic downtown,” Marciniak said.
And from idea to reality - Center in the Square has been a Roanoke staple for 40 years.
“Downtown wasn’t really somewhere people wanted to go, it was a little bit of a rougher area, and Center in the Square really changed the landscape of that,” 10 News Reporter Abbie Coleman said.
“It’s a tremendous accomplishment for the city to come up with this kind of idea and to partner with our nonprofit,” Marciniak said.
It opened in 1983 with about 45,000 people attending opening weekend.
“The newspaper article is amazing, people are crammed in like sardines, it’s an amazing problem to have,” Marciniak said.
And while many things have changed over the past 40 years in the building - some things have stayed constant.
“Mill Mountain Theater which was previously been called Mill Mountain Playhouse, had unfortunately burned down and really needed a new home, so I feel like that was the catalyst that sparked that sparked the idea,” she said.
Mill Mountain Theater still lives in the building but is now joined by Kid’s Square, the Starcade, the Pinball Museum and more.
“That whole environment, it’s a really stellar thing to add to the downtown area,” she said.
The newest addition came just a few months ago in the form of rooftop restaurant Six and Sky - but Marciniak says the sky is the limit.
“40 years is a big milestone, we’ve gone up and up and up, what’s next?” Coleman asked.
“So literally ‘up.’ It’s funny that you asked it in that way. Our rooftop environment is something we’re looking at next. We may not be able to go out width-wise, but we can consider doing something up. So it’s kind of serendipitous that we’re in this environment today because we have some areas we have not developed,” she said.