ROANOKE, Va. – Roanoke City Councilman Phazon Nash held the final Entertainment District Focus Group meeting on Wednesday.
At the meeting, city leaders discussed the future of the Berglund Center and some crucial repairs that need to be made before anything moves forward.
“I wanted to be very realistic and honest about the current status and issues we were dealing with,” Nash said. ”I wasn’t trying to play up any narratives or try to manufacture anyone’s opinions or perspectives on what we should do. I just wanted to know what people wanted us to do.”
Some of those issues brought up included the maintenance problems the Berglund Center is facing.
Repairs need to be made on a wide range of issues, including the boilers, heating units and parking lot.
The total bill - according to Berglund Center General Manager Robyn Schon Smith - ends up being just over 30 million dollars.
“It’s going to take planning, and it’s going to take resources. At this point, we don’t know what those resources look like,” Smith said. “We do know that the city of Roanoke doesn’t have 30 million dollars to stroke a check so that we can address all of it.”
These issues could result in losing potential acts for the Berglund Center or even a lost season of Rail Yard Dawgs hockey.
These are the types of issues that Nash and city leaders want to avoid.
“We want to make sure we’re addressing those factors because if you don’t have a safe building, you can’t really do much after that,” Nash said. “It doesn’t matter who you book or who is coming. If it’s not safe, we don’t want to operate out of that environment.”
Nash admits that while maintenance needs to be done and should be the focus, he and his fellow city leaders want to weigh all of their options before going forward with a plan.
While the casino is the only group that approached the city about the entertainment district, he welcomes anybody to come and have a conversation.