Frequently asked questions

Originally an industrial hub that opened its doors in 1917, Riverdale spans 125 acres of prime land. Riverdale is a once-in-a-century, timely, high-quality, transformational project. It is a “dream come true” public/private redevelopment opportunity in one of the best locations in the city. It has a great history, and is possibly the largest collection of unrehabilitated historic buildings in the city.

Located in Roanoke, Virginia, along the Roanoke River, the Roanoke River Greenway and at the base of Mill Mountain. Riverdale is part of the Southeast neighborhood of the city with close proximity to the main Carilion Hospital campus, the Virginia Tech School of Medicine and downtown.

Currently we are cleaning up decades of disused items. We’ve hired engineers, planners, project managers and architects. We have been working to assess the existing condition of systems and structures and we have begun a year-long master planning process to get input from the neighborhood, tenants and other stakeholders. Our mission is to set the stage for the next 100 years, so it has to be done to the highest standards. We are working towards a combination of new construction and historic rehabilitation - lots of uses emphasizing health, fitness, recreation, education, enterprise, arts and culture, manufacturing, fabrication, housing, food and beverage.

As it did with downtown, Wasena and Grandin, it will take 10+ years to get Riverdale fully actualized. We ask ourselves, - “What if we did nothing? What if we didn't strain to figure out a way to acquire it; what if we just took our chances on who the next owner might be and what their plans are? That site, those buildings and that neighborhood are too special and important to take that risk.” That was definitely true in downtown, in Wasena and in Grandin, and it is true here. 

Obviously it's a challenging site to work with:  thousands of tons of debris, a hard industrial history, and entirely in the floodplain. But figuring out those puzzles and wrestling with the challenges is part of the fun. It’s a fantastic place and worth the investment. In some ways it's worn out after 105 years, and in other ways - like TXTUR, Southwest Virginia Ballet, etc - it’s never been more vibrant.  The site needs a lot of attention and investment, and for its utilities to be updated for the next 100 years, we look forward to being the stewards for that process.  

The project would not happen without the foresight, creativity, investment and partnership of the City of Roanoke. Because of Riverdale’s existing conditions, the site isn’t bankable. The rise in interest rates and other macroeconomic headwinds created huge additional challenges. So, without the City’s partnership it wouldn’t have worked.

City management and Council quickly understood the opportunity and had the vision to see the possibilities, and the same with the EDA. So everyone has pulled together quickly to get this figured out and ready to roll beginning with the property purchase closing in April of 2023.

It’s a $60 million public/private partnership using local investment that’s focused on more than just the bottom line. The project will dramatically benefit the community. The City of Roanoke is investing $10 million, and private investors will assure that another $50 million or more is invested. According to Chmura Analytics, even the first part of the development plan will create hundreds of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars of economic impact. Ideally there will be many follow-on agreements and projects. It will be interesting to see what the true impact is ten years from now - just like we couldn't have imagined how well Wasena would ultimately do, or Grandin for that matter. Many of the most high-functioning and performance-oriented municipalities regularly pursue public/private partnerships for projects that otherwise would be impossible.