News

First annual Report on Regional Economic Progress shows mixed results

ROANOKE, Va., (Feb. 3, 2010) – The Roanoke Region’s population and income rose between 2006 and 2008, according to the Roanoke Regional Partnership’s first annual Report on Regional Economic Progress.

The report, which charts 14 indicators – ranging from business openings to boat ownership – was prepared by the research staff of the Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission. It presents new data for the region served by the Roanoke Regional Partnership, which stretches from the Alleghany Highlands to Smith Mountain Lake.

“Tracking economic metrics is part of the program of the Roanoke Regional Partnership’s program of work so we can paint a realistic picture of the region’s economic prosperity and quality of life assets,” said Beth Doughty, executive director.  The indicators will be monitored annually for the next five years.

The report shows a mixed picture of progress in population growth, income, taxable sales, business establishments, retail and restaurants, gross metropolitan product, new vehicle registrations, home sales, and metropolitan economic performance. Also included are quality-of- life indicators such as trail mileage, boats registered, state park attendance, Carvins Cove usage, and employment in arts/entertainment/recreation.

On the positive side, growth rates dramatically improved between 2006 and 2008 from earlier in the decade. Several localities went from losing population each year to positive growth. The region as a whole went from zero growth in the earliest part of this decade to 0.6 percent annualized growth between 2006 and 2008.

Another key indicator is income. Inflation-adjusted incomes have been stagnant in the region over the longer term. More recently (from 2004 to 2006, most current available), data suggests that the region has had faster growth than Virginia. The Metropolitan Statistical Area median adjusted gross income for married couples increased by 7.57 percent from 2004 to 2006, while the state’s increased just 6.11 percent. However, the region remains far off Virginia's income figures.
  
Quality-of-life indicators reinforce the region's new focus on promoting outdoor amenities.  Virginia state park attendance in the region is increasing at a significantly higher rate than in the Commonwealth in general. Usage of Carvins Cove has grown as well. However, employment in the arts, entertainment, and recreation sectors have declined, losing ground against Virginia trends.

The indicators were selected to reflect a general picture of the economy and regional assets.  Doughty says the report may be expanded in future years to reflect more assets and economic indicators.  “The report is a communications tool to help people feel good about their region as well as identify areas that need continued attention. It’s a report card.”

A summary of the results was presented at the Roanoke Regional Partnership’s annual meeting on Feb. 4 at Hotel Roanoke. Doughty also gave a report on the work of the Partnership in 2009. Accomplishments included two new Web sites, www.roanoke.org and www.roanokeoutside.com, mentions in national media such as the Wall Street Journal, and events such as the Radical Reels Film Festival and the upcoming Blue Ridge Marathon on the Parkway.  She noted that business recruitment activity was slow in 2009 as companies pulled back on capital investment. Activity in business recruitment and expansion included the opening of Lite Steel Technologies, expansion at Foot Levelers, expansion of Empire Foods, and the location of Cole&Russell, Architects.

ABOUT THE ROANOKE REGIONAL PARTNERSHIP
The Roanoke Regional Partnership was founded in 1983 as a regional economic development organization for the greater Roanoke area that includes Alleghany, Botetourt, Franklin, and Roanoke counties plus the cities of Roanoke and Salem and the town of Vinton.  Its program of work includes image building, asset development, and business recruitment and has been involved in business locations and expansions that have created more than 13,600 jobs and $1.3 billion in investment in real estate and equipment.  To learn more, please visit www.Roanoke.org.

ROANOKE, Va. (January 26, 2010) – The Roanoke, Virginia Region offers the lowest cost of living of the seven Virginia metro areas included in the Council for Community and Economic Research’s ACCRA Cost of Living Index 2009 Annual Review.

The annual review is an average of data accumulated from the three pricing periods of the previous year. According to the 2009 report, the region has the lowest cost of living index among the metro areas and the second lowest of the nine participating Virginia communities. Overall, the Roanoke, Virginia Region’s cost of living index is 95.3 compared with the national index average of 100.

“This latest survey highlights the Roanoke Region’s continued competitiveness as an affordable place to live and run a business,” said Beth Doughty, executive director of the Roanoke Regional Partnership. “When combined with other recent good economic news – a stabilizing real estate market and falling unemployment rates, it is no wonder we’re starting to be noticed by national publications such as ­The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, and Business Facilities.

The 2009 average is higher than last year’s 92.6, in part of the relative health of the local home prices. Data recently released by both the Roanoke Valley and National Associations of REALTORS® shows the December to December growth in home prices. Locally, prices rose 15.4% from $171,332 to $197,748. Nationally, home prices rose just 3.6%. Housing accounts for 28.99% of the overall cost of living, which is derived from costs in that and five other consumer categories:  groceries, utilities, transportation, health care and miscellaneous goods and services.

ABOUT THE ROANOKE REGIONAL PARTNERSHIP

The Roanoke Regional Partnership was founded in 1983 as a regional economic development organization for the greater Roanoke area that includes Alleghany, Botetourt, Franklin, and Roanoke counties plus the cities of Roanoke and Salem and the town of Vinton.  Its program of work includes image building, asset development, and business recruitment and has been involved in business locations and expansions that have created more than 13,600 jobs and $1.3 billion in investment in real estate and equipment.  The Partnership has been conducting the Roanoke MSA cost of living survey since 1992.  To learn more, please visit www.Roanoke.org.

--2010 Business Wire

Today, Indianapolis-based appliance and electronics leader hhgregg HGG announced it is looking to fill approximately 100 positions for two new stores scheduled to open in Roanoke and Colonial Heights, VA this spring. The Roanoke store will be located at 1900 Valley View Blvd. NW and the Colonial Heights store will be located at 820 Southpark Blvd. hhgregg expects to hire about 50 employees for each new store.

Individuals interested in applying for the open positions are encouraged to visit the "Careers" section on hhgregg’s website, http://www.hhgregg-jobs.com/, beginning on 1/25/2010. An online application and assessment must be completed in order to secure an interview with the company.

“As we continue our expansion in Virginia, we are actively seeking talented members of the local community to be part of the hhgregg team,” said Andrew Eaton, regional manager, hhgregg. “There are many exciting opportunities at hhgregg for motivated individuals looking to grow with our company. We encourage those with a friendly attitude and customer service focus to apply.”

Online applications for commissioned sales associates, warehouse staff, customer service merchandisers and manager- in-training positions will be accepted. Sales experience is preferred, but retail experience is not required. hhgregg has a comprehensive training program, which provides more than 200 hours of training for each sales associate. To apply online, please visit http://www.hhgregg-jobs.com/

CORPORATE OVERVIEW

hhgregg HGG is a specialty retailer of consumer electronics, home appliances, mattresses and related services operating under the names hhgregg® and Fine Lines®. hhgregg currently operates 127 stores in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

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Like the old saying goes, “I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news.” The bad news would be the sharp drop in the number of homes sold from November to December – in both the local and national markets, though both are up from December 2008.

The good news is the strength of the Roanoke Region’s December home prices from a year ago compared to the national average. Roanoke home prices rose 15.4% from $171,332 to $197,748, while still remaining an affordable 12.3% below the national average. Nationally, home prices rose 3.6%.

The number of residential units sold in the Roanoke area, according to the Roanoke Valley Association of REALTORS® dropped in December from 333 to 247, but still is up more than 71% from 144 in January (which was the low for the year).

Roanoke’s average price for 2009, $188,855, was 11.5% lower than 2007, again showing more stability than the national average. The 2009 average US home price of $217,300 was more than 18% lower than it was in 2007.

National Association of REALTORS® chief economist Lawrence Yun predicts more swings in the housing market due to the tax credit. “We’ll likely have another surge in the spring as home buyers take advantage of the extended and expanded tax credit,” he said the NAR’s monthly existing home sales news release, adding that “by early summer the overall market should benefit from more balanced inventory, and sales are on track to rise again in 2010.”

From the outside, I could understand why the residents of Roanoke have such a love-hate relationship with the Taubman Museum of Art. With its stainless steel appendages and a bulbous area that juts out over the sidewalk, this 81,000-square-foot steel, glass and patinated zinc structure seems distinctly out of place in a downtown filled with simple industrial-era brick buildings.

But then I went inside. The building, designed by Los Angeles architect and Frank Gehry protege Randall Stout, is a work of art in itself, with a dramatic 4,300-square-foot glass atrium and an illuminated glass staircase to the second-floor galleries. It's the type of ultramodern museum you'd expect to find in New York, not in an old railroad town of 95,000 people.

Before the $66 million museum opened in 2008, Roanoke was probably best known for the enormous star atop Mill Mountain that's illuminated every night (giving Roanoke its nickname, Star City of the South), the Tudor-style luxury Hotel Roanoke (built in 1882) and a few museums celebrating the town's railroad history. But the Taubman Museum has delivered a jolt to this once-sleepy city that most people bypass in favor of better-known destinations, Richmond and Charlottesville.

The Taubman's collection of American art had once been housed in a former warehouse nearby, sharing the building with the Science Museum of Western Virginia and the History Museum of Western Virginia. Then Peggy Macdowell Thomas, the last living heir of American realist painter Thomas Eakins and a Roanoke resident, bequeathed his portraits, personal effects and archival documents to the museum. The warehouse "wasn't appropriate for a museum with a collection of this caliber," said spokeswoman Kimberly Templeton, so the museum raised funds for the new building. Former ambassador to Romania Nicholas Taubman and his wife, Eugenia, donated more than $15 million to the effort, and the city pitched in $4 million plus the land.

I took in "Sordid and Sacred," a Rembrandt exhibit running until Feb. 7 that consists of 35 etchings, many postcard-size, of beggars, drawn between 1629 and 1654. I grabbed one of the magnifying glasses on hand to study the etchings and was amazed by the details on the faces, the clothing, the boots.

In a connecting gallery, North Carolina artist Mike Houston and West Virginia's Martin Mazorra are displaying their modern take on Rembrandt's etchings until Feb. 14. The highlight of "Jumpstart and Holler!" is a tent city, 17 camping tents printed and stitched with images of beggars. The two exhibitions complement each other, the old and the new -- quite apropos given that the museum itself represents a new twist in an old city.

Works by 19th- and early 20th-century American artists such as John Singer Sargent, Winslow Homer, Maria Oakley Dewing and John H. Twachtman are housed in two adjoining American art galleries. The works by Eakins and his wife, Susan Macdowell Eakins, are dominated by portraits of family members.

After checking into the historic Hotel Roanoke, I sent a tweet asking for restaurant recommendations and, to my surprise, got quite a few. For a city this small, the dining options seemed plentiful as did the number of active tweeters. I chose Metro, which had an eclectic mix of American fare, such as sliders, as well as dim sum and sushi. Striking up a conversation with some locals, I asked what I should do the next day. Their replies: Catch an indie flick at the charming old Grandin Theatre, visit the historic farmers market (the oldest continuously operating open air market in Virginia), listen to music at the Kirk Avenue Music Hall, eat at Zorba's Cafe in the City Market and hike to the top of the mountain.

I liked that last idea. Despite the frigid temperatures, I was determined to get to that giant star. The next morning, I bundled up and started up the Mill Mountain Star Trail with Heidi Ketler, a local freelance writer and friend of a colleague. Unfortunately, we didn't get far: The path was too icy. Thwarted, we headed back to the newly revitalized downtown.

We hit the farmers market, which is usually bustling with vendors selling organic meats, produce, artisanal cheeses, baked goods and more. But only Al Hubbard, a "squash cake specialist," had decided to brave the cold that morning. He let us sample his cakes, which he calls "Healthy Stuff."

Fortified, we drove back to the mountain and right up to "the world's largest man-made star," as the plaque beneath it declared. The 88.5-foot-tall neon star, built in 1949 by the Roanoke Merchants Association to kick off the Christmas shopping season, was such a hit that it's now illuminated year-round. And up close, it's quite impressive. But in the end, I decided that an even bigger star is Roanoke itself.

By Nancy Trejos
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 22, 2010

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The Roanoke Region’s economy is showing signs of stabilizing and improving. Home prices are up from a year ago and so are wages. Unemployment rates are down from the highs this summer, as is foreclosure activity.

The average home price, according to the Roanoke Valley Association of REALTORS®, ended the year higher than January and much higher than December 2008. This December’s $197,748 was 3.7 percent higher than January and 15.4% higher than a year ago.

On the flip side, foreclosure filings reported by RealtyTrac have stabilized over the past few months. The number of filings dropped dramatically (33.6%) from October to November after rising for four months. November’s 93 filings remained fairly stable in December at 95. The region has stayed well below the national average.

Unemployment also has leveled out. The rate began falling in July from June’s high of 7.8 percent. The November rate of 7.1 is just a tick up from 7.0 in October. Wages in the region for the second quarter of 2009 (most recent available) are higher than they were a year before ($705 versus $$692) and up from the previous quarter. Virginia, on the other hand,  saw wages drop from $920 in the first quarter to $899.

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The "2010 Best of the Outdoors" was named by Blue Ridge Outdoors magazine January 2010 issue. Blue Ridge Outdoors magazine is the largest outdoor sports magazine in the Southeast, stretching from Maryland to Georgia. The Roanoke, Virginia Region stood prominent among the Blue Ridge Outdoors's "2010 Best of the Outdoors" taking home four "best of" awards.

Best Urban Park

1. CARVINS COVE RESERVE, Roanoke, Va. (Check out here)
2. James River Park, Richmond, Va.
3. Crowders Mountain, Charlotte, N.C.
4. Chattahoochee National Recreation Area, Atlanta, Ga.
5. Great Falls Park, Washington, D.C.
6. Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield, Marietta, Ga.

Favorite Section of the Appalachian Trail

1. DRAGON'S TOOTH- Catawba,Va (Check out here)
2. Mount Rogers/Grayson Highlands
3. Roan Mountain
4. Great Smoky Mountains National Park
5. Shenandoah National Park
6. McAfee Knob

Best Outdoor Festival

1. FLOYD FEST, Floyd, Va.
2. Mountain Sports Fest, Asheville, N.C.
3. Trail Days, Damascus, Va.
4. Woolly Worm Festival, Banner Elk, N.C.
5. GauleyFest, Summersville, N.C.
6. Bonnaroo, Manchester, Tenn.

Favorite Section of the Blue Ridge Parkway

1. PEAKS OF OTTER- Bedford, Va (milepost 86)
2. Graveyard field, mp 418, N.C.
3. Humpback Rocks, mp 6, Va.
4. Linn Cove Viaduct, mp 304, N.C.
5. Waterrock Knob, mp 451, N.C.
6. Rocky Knob, mp 169, Va

ROANOKE, Va. (January 14, 2010) – The Roanoke Regional Partnership today launched RoanokeOutside.com – the most comprehensive and interactive resource to learn about and explore the Roanoke, Virginia region's outdoors.
The new site (www.RoanokeOutside.com) -- the first of its kind dedicated to the Roanoke, Virginia region -- was developed with hundreds of suggestions from area residents who shared their favorite hiking and biking trails, fishing holes, camping spots, kid activities, gear shops, as well as features they wanted to see on the site. Others employed GPS-equipped phones to map out trails and wrote descriptions of outdoor activities.


RoanokeOutside.com covers the greater Roanoke, Virginia area that stretches from Douthat State Park to Smith Mountain Lake between the James River and New River. The site includes an event calendar, suggested itineraries, list of guides, gear rentals, maps, photos, videos, message boards, blogs, gear reviews, cabin rentals, classifieds, and other features to help make getting outside easy, educational and sustainable.

"With the help of outdoor enthusiasts from throughout our region, we have dedicated more than a year to develop the leading source of information about all things outside to properly leverage the Roanoke, Virginia region's greatest asset – the outdoors," said Beth Doughty, executive director of the Roanoke Regional Partnership. "Making the outdoors an important part of our region's narrative and economy starts with a dynamic Web site that catalogues our natural resources and makes it easier for people all over the world to learn about and enjoy what we have to offer."

It was made possible thanks to a $25,000 grant from the Virginia Tourism Corporation's Virginia Is for Lovers Marketing Leverage Program.

Much like RoanokeOutside.com was developed with the help of the region's residents, the site will continue to be a conduit of connectivity using interactive blogs, discussion groups and social media outreach using Twitter and Facebook.

"The Roanoke, Virginia region is one of the best spots anywhere for outdoor recreation, and RoanokeOutside.com tells that story in a way we've never been able to do before," said Pete Eshelman, director of outdoor branding for the Roanoke Regional Partnership. "It provides an interactive platform to continue to share tips and connect with people passionate about the outdoors or those simply wanting to take the first steps toward getting outside for fun and exercise."

Businesses, colleges urged to link to RoanokeOutside.com

To help spread the word about the site and increase global exposure, the Roanoke Regional Partnership is asking businesses, colleges and other organizations in the region to add a link to www.RoanokeOutside.com from their home pages.

"Our new site is an ideal way to show young professionals that the Roanoke, Virginia region is an ideal place to start and build their careers," Eshelman says. "Having a comprehensive site like ours makes it easy for young professionals to research the region as a place they want to live."

RoanokeOutside.com also is a great way for employers to showcase the region's assets to employees, potential recruits and other web visitors. "A link to RoanokeOutside.com shows that a company, college or other organization cares about the outdoors and its impact on economic development in the region," Eshelman says.


ABOUT THE ROANOKE REGIONAL PARTNERSHIP
The Roanoke Regional Partnership was founded in 1983 as a regional economic development organization for the greater Roanoke area that includes Alleghany, Botetourt, Franklin, and Roanoke counties plus the cities of Roanoke and Salem and the town of Vinton. Its program of work includes image building, asset development, and business recruitment. The Partnership has been involved in business locations and expansions that have created more than 13,600 jobs and $1.3 billion in investment in real estate and equipment. To learn more, please visit www.Roanoke.org.