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The Roanoke Valley
Plans for the Future
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stories:
• The Roanoke Valley Plans
for the Future
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New Century Region Leads the Technology Charge
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Technology Parks Enhance Local Universities
•
Carilion
Expansion
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Residents
of the Roanoke Valley have always enjoyed a good view
of the mountains, but lately they’ve been enjoying
another view: that of the future. Western Virginia’s
largest metro area is a community on the move. From
new housing options and outdoor dining in an already
vibrant downtown to cutting-edge training initiatives
to an action plan for transforming the region’s
economy, the Valley is moving forward.
Providing
a road map on that journey is the new Regional Economic
Strategy, a product of the Fifth Planning District Regional
Alliance that was a year in the making. The Alliance,
made up of representatives from the public and private
sectors, funds economic development projects in the
region through the state’s Regional Competitiveness
Act. In the course of that activity, says Chair Beth
Doughty, the group became convinced that while the many
development organizations in the area were doing a good
job, they lacked the synergy to achieve even more.
The
result is an action plan built around the concept of
linking the region’s knowledge assets – such
as Virginia Tech – with its urban metro assets,
according to Doughty. The plan has six themes: connectivity,
visibility, innovation & entrepreneurship, knowledge
work force, economic transfer and quality of life amenities.
And, each theme has a strategy, goal and tactics, complete
with suggested participating organizations. Doughty
acknowledges that some of the tactics will be easy to
achieve and short-term; others may take a very long
time. But in the end, she and the alliance hope the
plan will supply the focus and synergy that have been
missing, and “We’ll get more bang from our
buck.”
One
of the region’s strongest assets is downtown Roanoke.
Long a hub for commerce, business and entertainment,
the 65-block area now can add housing and education
to its list of attributes. In fact, David Diaz, Downtown
Roanoke Inc.’s president, believes it is headed
toward becoming a “24-hour downtown.” As proof,
he cites the increase in downtown housing, outdoor dining
and plans to move the weekly Easter Seals concert series
to a downtown park next summer.
For
the better part of a decade, urban pioneers have been
moving downtown into spaces above storefronts and restaurants,
but with the opening of Eight North Jefferson, an 87-unit
apartment building that once housed Norfolk & Western
Railway offices, another 100 residents could be added
in a short period of time. That means, says Diaz, more
people eating at restaurants, using services and adding
to foot traffic. An outdoor dining initiative, begun
this summer, also is likely to bring more people downtown
– and keep them there after work, as will the weekly
concert series which moves from a suburban office park
to downtown’s Elm Park next summer.
Next
door to Eight North Jefferson, in another railroad facility,
is the Roanoke Higher Education Center, where 16 institutions
of learning — everything from a charter high school
(Blue Ridge Technical Academy) to training programs
and bachelor’s and master’s degree level programs
— coexist in a restored art deco headquarters building.
It is from there that local business and education officials
plan to ensure a plentiful supply of employees for the
emerging biotechnology and biomedical fields.
Dr.
Mark Emick, Virginia Western Community College’s
vice president for work force development services/lifelong
learning, has a three-inch high stack of papers on his
desk – feedback from two industry forums where
representatives from the business, medical and development
communities met to provide input into a new training
program. The VWCC Biotechnology/Biomedical Training
& Education Initiative will be unique among such
programs nationwide because it will provide training
for both disciplines in adjoining lab space, says Emick.
Virginia
Western is equipping the biology lab used by the Blue
Ridge Technical Academy (VWCC and the academy both are
tenants in the Higher Ed Center) with state-of-the-art
equipment for the biotechnology portion of the program
and is outfitting an adjacent room for the biomedical
training. Two separate facilities are needed, Emick
explains, because the former is focused more on lab
work, while the latter has a highly skilled manufacturing
component. The new program, portions of which will be
offered as early as January, needs to be both adaptable
and available, he said. “We have to keep it flexible.
It can’t be locked into traditional program constraints.”
With
that in mind, the program is being developed with three
“opportunity tiers:” dual enrollment for high
school junior and seniors, technical training for under-
or unemployed people or those working in the field who
want to enhance their skills and a course of study for
students pursuing an associate’s degree with a
view toward transferring to a four-year institution.
The
Roanoke Valley is a natural location for this program,
Emick says, because it is a regional medical center
and it is becoming a technology center.
Biotechnology
and Information Technology are two of the target industries
the region hopes to attract. The Roanoke Valley Economic
development Partnership also markets the Valley –
a 1,866-square-mile, seven-government region –
to automotive/transportation-related companies and high-end,
value-added manufacturers. The downtown business center
is just 45 minutes from the research capabilities and
global reputation of Virginia Tech, and the area has
long been home to such well-known industry giants as
General Electric and ITT Night Vision, and has attracted
other large projects such as R.R. Donnelley & Sons,
Johnson & Johnson, Maple Leaf Bakery and Trinity
Packaging.
The
past 10 years have seen the start of a growing automotive
cluster. Virginia Tech is a source for both qualified
engineering graduates and cutting-edge research, thanks
to its Center for Transportation Excellence and Smart
Road (a 2.2-mile, state-of-the-art, full-scale research
facility for pavement research and evaluation of intelligent
transportation systems concepts, technologies and products).
Transportation companies that now call the Valley home
include Metalsa Roanoke, Dynax America, Virginia Forge,
Koyo Steering Systems of USA and Altec Industries.
Traditional
and emerging-technology companies are attracted to the
region by the same advantages that have always brought
companies to the Roanoke Valley, including a stable
economy, skilled work force and low costs of living
and doing business. Known as a transportation center
for most of its history, the region has developed a
diverse economic base that includes health care, automotive
components, information technology and biotechnology,
as well as a strong service, retail and financial sectors.
Virginia
Tech also is key to the area’s efforts to not only
attract automotive companies firms but also biotechnology/biomedical
and information technology firms, says Phillip F. Sparks,
executive director of the Roanoke Valley Economic Development
Partnership. Toward that end, he and his counterpart
at the New River Valley Economic Development Alliance,
Philippe Chino, took steps earlier this year to forge
a stronger relationship between the two organizations.
A joint resolution from the two boards of directors
recognizes that the valleys share an economy, an interstate
and Virginia Tech, and pledges the two to cooperative
marketing efforts.
Beyond
the resources of Virginia Tech, the Roanoke Valley offers
19 colleges and universities within a 60-mile radius
– including Hollins University, Radford University,
Roanoke College, Virginia Western Community College
and Ferrum College – six public school systems
and state-of-the-art training facilities as a ready
source for trained and educated workers. Combine those
with the resources of the Roanoke Higher Education Center,
the Education & Training Center at Greenfield –
a cooperative venture among Virginia Western Community
College, Dabney Lancaster Community College and Botetourt
County located in the Botetourt Center a Greenfield
business park – and the Franklin County Workforce
Development Consortium – which includes Ferrum
College, Patrick Henry Community College, Virginia Western
Community College and local service delivery agencies
in a one-stop facility aimed at education and training
for citizens and employers – and training opportunities
are plentiful. The Valley’s six public school systems
offer award-winning features that include magnet schools
and two International Baccalaureate programs.
“With
work underway now on the regional strategy, with a close
working relationship with Virginia Tech, and the fact
that the governments of the Roanoke Valley have been
making a commitment to economic development, the Roanoke
Valley is poised for success,” says Sparks. “People
are taking notice of us. After all, Elton John has even
been here twice.”
Return to Virginia Business -October 2002
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