ROANOKE, Va. – The heart of the Star City is continuing to grow.
In Downtown Roanoke’s recent annual report, they said more and more people are choosing to live downtown.
“We’ve had exponential growth over the past 10+ years and that continues,” Jaime Clark, Vice President of Marketing and Communications with Downtown Roanoke Inc. said. “We have some large projects that should be completed in the next probably 18 months, so expect you know more to come online.”
Clark said each year the number of residential units in downtown Roanoke goes up. Currently, there’s almost 1,800 units downtown, which is up 485% since 2008.
She said there’s a variety of reasons people are so attracted to the area.
“There’s always a ton of stuff going on downtown,” Clark said. “A lot of young professionals, and really all ages, enjoy being kind of in the thick of things, being able to step outside their door and have access to great restaurants, shopping and, you know, a number of events.”
There’s nine major projects in the works for downtown valued at $199 million. Business-related, like the Randolph Street project, health-related, like the Carilion Clinic Cancer Center, and housing-related, like the Press Building apartments.
“It adds to the vibrancy, foot traffic downtown, so it’s always nice to see larger projects come on board and really kind of shift that, create more demand,” Clark said. “That’s always something we’re really excited to see.”
To read the full report, click here.