Affordable Housing for Creative Roanokers → Roanoke Arts Commission

Our mission: Provide affordable live/work and creative spaces in Roanoke.

The Roanoke arts community has rallied over the past 18 months in an exploration of affordable housing for creative Roanokers based on the model of the national nonprofit developer Artspace through Artspace Consulting. While Artspace Consulting is no longer working on the potential project at Riverdale, the project is still being advanced locally. Learn more in the Q & A with Riverdale developer Ed Walker.

UPDATE: A Q & A with Riverdale developer Ed Walker

So, how is the Riverdale project going in general?

It’s going very well – better than we expected generally. It’s still amazingly complex and challenging – we are in the process of methodically removing all obstacles that stand in the way of turning Riverdale into a great neighborhood that exemplifies our community themes: Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Outdoors, Sports, Cycling, Kids & Families, Fabrication Enterprises, Food & Beverage, Medical, and Residential. Riverdale has a phenomenal team of professional managers and maintenance people on site – they are all nice, smart, respectful, and easy to work with. Of course, Riverdale is challenging in all the obvious ways. For example, some tenants were disappointed that Riverdale stopped allowing personal storage, even though there are many places in Roanoke dedicated to storage – about three or four on Franklin Road alone. Riverdale’s destiny is not as cheap, uninhabited, and dangerous adjunct basement or attic space – or a junkyard. Riverdale is for creativity and vitality – not personal storage. I know it’s disappointing to a small number of people, but it will eventually be a tremendous benefit to a very large number of people. It is a change for the better and much safer. We want a neighborhood that is populated with people and buildings that are activated with energy and commerce. Naturally, a small number of people will be very unhappy and disgruntled with the change, as we make progress towards something that will benefit the greater community. If thirty people are mad to lose their storage space but thousands of others ultimately benefit, we are unapologetically OK with that. We view that as a positive change.

What is going on with the 267 unit, new construction apartment building?

That is a phenomenal project led by Joe Thompson and Tommy Spellman – hopefully starting late in ‘25. The architects and engineers are more than halfway through construction drawings. It will be located on the west side of 9th Street opposite of TXTUR. It’s an amazing, market rate building – that will be by far the highest quality apartment building in Roanoke City. It has an elevated pool/deck courtyard that faces Mill Mountain. I can’t wait to see it. The attached rendering content will change some, but it definitely represents the spirit and form of what we hope to see there. Joe and I are partners at Valleydale and on this project. He is leading this one as well, and he can be reached at joe@pcgva.com for further information and comment.

What’s the status of the affordable “housing for the arts” concept?

It’s been interesting and productive. The region desperately needs more high quality affordable housing. It’s a very high priority, and Riverdale hopes to do more than one workforce housing project and to always focus on residents that personify our themes and neighborhood goals. We need more quality housing for everyone – teachers, public workers, medical workers, fire/police/ems, athletes, coaches and many others. We were disappointed that it didn’t work out to proceed further with Artspace, but that’s ok – that happens all the time, every day with complex development processes and consultants. I wish it had worked out with them, but we have not stopped making progress on the arts housing project generally. We will keep moving forward on this important community goal. 2025 will be a year of tremendous progress to advance affordable housing for creatives. We’ve maintained regular meetings with government, lenders, architects and engineers. We have selected a site for the building and are proceeding with subdivision, architectural plans, and preparing necessary documents. Riverdale is committed to explore all of its options about how to get the best project done as quickly as is wise, with the largest number of units possible, the highest level of impact and programming, and with the least amount of financial burden on the City and regional philanthropy.

So what happened? Weren’t they committed?

They sent us a commitment letter in the fall, but in the final stages of due diligence, the opportunity to collaborate with Artspace didn’t fully meet our objectives, as often happens. It’s nobody’s fault – this happens all the time. They are an admirable organization, and we wish them well. I’m glad we went through the process with them – we learned a lot. And I very much wish it had worked out – it would have made my life dramatically easier – but it just didn’t work. So, onward and upward.

How long did they consult at Riverdale?

About fifteen months ago we hired Artspace to conduct some of the pre-development consulting including very favorable feasibility and market studies, and they were worthwhile and are still useful. But, after the final stage of due diligence with Artspace in November and December of ‘24, the Roanoke team decided to explore options other than Artspace to proceed to the next phase. That’s not an unusual set of circumstances or outcome with complex projects and consultants. This is an important project for Riverdale and Roanoke – a big decision – and we need to take our time to make sure we don’t regret our pathway later. We also have to make sure that we spend public and private funds with the highest value in mind. So, I’m more optimistic than ever that we are progressing – and that the project will have the largest number of units possible with the highest levels of quality and programming possible. After we proceed through the various funding milestones, the fastest we could be approved and begin construction would probably be in 2026.

So, what happened with the EDA’s financial support of the Artspace due diligence?

It’s important to have a super strong, properly funded, and engaged EDA – making the critical difference to catalyze transformational projects in the community. They understand the importance of affordable housing, and they are all in. In a way they, along with the City, are our partners in this. I wanted to make sure they didn’t have any financial exposure from the outcome of the final due diligence decision so we made sure to have all of their funds returned to them where it will again be ready and available to help incentivize important projects. It’s up to them to decide what those projects are.

So, they had offered to contribute $150,000 for the final stage of due diligence with Artspace?

They did. But, the project didn’t need it yet. We repaid the EDA, and they got all of their money back with no hassle and no strings attached. I’m sure the affordable housing / arts project will need some partnership in the future, but the EDA can make that decision at that time knowing that we’ve been high quality, good-faith colleagues.

Learn more about the path of Art Space ROA

“ArtspaceROA” was a public-awareness initiative launched in 2023 to aid in the goal of bringing an Artspace project to Roanoke. It has a strong social media presence and growing recognition. We’re working as a community to bring Artspace to Roanoke! Grab the latest updates and get more information below.

The most recent PRESS:

– WVTF, October 21, 2024
– Cardinal News, October 10, 2024
– Virginia Business, October 10, 2024
– WSLS, October 10, 2024
– Roanoke Times, October 9, 2024

In September 2023, Artspace came to Roanoke to conduct a Preliminary Feasibility Visit, the first step on the path to a potential Artspace project. During the course of that visit, they determined that Riverdale was their primary site of interest in Roanoke, and recommended moving to the second step, an Arts Market Study.

Read the Preliminary Feasibility Study.
Read the Market Study.

The Market Study concluded in March of 2024, and the Artspace team presented a Report of Findings at a public gathering in April. Roanoke’s robust participation in the market study survey impressed the Artspace team, and with the data showing demand for a mixed-use, affordable, arts-centric concept at the Riverdale site, recommended moving to the next step on the path to an Artspace project, the Predevelopment phase.

THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE RECENT SURVEY! Survey data will be used to assess demand for new space, and to design new space to suit the unique needs of Roanoke’s creative community and its art-related organizations. The Minneapolis-based Artspace team visited Roanoke again in mid-April. Supporters gathered to hear highlights from the market study at an outdoor event on the Riverdale site. In the report out, the team announced that the results demonstrated that there was a market for about 67 units serving residents at 80% of the area median income and below.