Local · Trusted · Free
The Morning Impact — your neighborhood's most important stories, delivered every morning.
Roanoke City Council approved the construction of an office building and discussed apartment development on Oak Street at the Jan. 13 meeting.
What happened?
Council approved a site plan to develop offices on a 0.74-acre parcel located at 905 N. Oak St.
The building will be one story, 3,550 square feet and hold 24 people, according to city documents.
The landscaping will consist of Bermuda grass sod and a variety of shrubs and ornamental grasses. There will be no trees removed, and one new Shoal Creek Vitex tree will be added.
The existing commercial building on the site will remain, per city documents.
More details
A special use permit for the construction of a new Magnolia apartment complex was tabled unanimously at the Jan. 13 council meeting.
If this apartment complex is approved, it will be Magnolia’s third apartment complex in downtown Roanoke, with one apartment building located at 601 N. Oak St. and the second located at 108 US 377.
The new apartment building would be located at 604 N. Oak St. and include three floors with 32 upper-floor multifamily units and 12 first-floor live-work units fronting Oak Street, per city documents. The plan shows that the square footage for live work units ranges from 540 square feet to 1,005 square feet. The upper floor multifamily units would range from 540 square feet to 1,327 square feet.
The live-work units would have an open space design to allow for maximum flexibility for potential commercial space, according to city documents. The multifamily units on the upper floors would be strictly for residential use.
What they’re saying
Mayor Scooter Gierisch, council member David Brundage and council member Bryan Moyers spoke in opposition to the apartment complex.
“I want to express my concerns over the seemingly rapid move to add multifamily apartments to Roanoke, specifically to the Oak Street district,” Moyers said. “It is in my opinion that the few remaining areas yet to be developed [should] be developed in a very delicate fashion. I believe there’s a place for some additional multifamily toward the south end of town, but overpopulating the north end of Oak Street will only cause congestion to an already underdeveloped infrastructure.”
Moyers suggested council workshop these development ideas and create a new strategic plan for Oak Street.
“We’re getting ready to rebrand our downtown, and I don’t want to see apartments across the street from each other and have an entryway that says ‘beautiful downtown Oak Street’ and just be stacked with apartments,” Gierisch said.
Looking ahead
City officials are in the process of updating the downtown code, which will help form a plan for what will be developed on the remaining lots along Oak Street, City Manager Cody Petree said. The workshop to discuss this plan will occur next month.
