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Riverdale

Firefighers work to put out a fire at a brick industrial building.
Apr 9, 2025

Fire causes $4.25M in damages to custom van biz

A three-alarm fire at Roanoke‘s Riverdale campus on Saturday started accidentally from an electrical cause, Roanoke Fire-EMS Chief David Hoback said Wednesday. Damages from the fire that reduced Noke Van Co., a custom camper van business, to rubble are estimated at $4.25 million. “Once you have a structural collapse and a roof collapse, sometimes we […]

A concept plan.
Jan 31, 2025

Riverdale project moves forward in Roanoke

Work on the $50 million-plus Riverdale mixed-use redevelopment planned for more than 126 acres on the sprawling former campus of American Viscose, a rayon plant that closed in the late 1950s, is moving right along. Developer Ed Walker shared a lengthy written update on the project Jan. 24 that included a rendering of a 267-unit […]

Aerial view of industrial site.
Jan 13, 2025

Riverdale, Roanoke foundry projects progress with zoning votes

Two ambitious Roanoke mixed-use readaptation projects are one step closer to rezoning under the city’s new “urban center” designation, which aims to create more pedestrian-friendly development. Developer Ed Walker’s Riverdale, a 126-acre multiuse project proposed on the site of Roanoke’s former American Viscose rayon plant, and another Roanoke-area developer’s &[...]

An industrial building and pavement.
Oct 18, 2024

Roanoke EDA delivers on Artspace funding

Artspace, a Minnesota-based ​​nonprofit that develops affordable housing for artists and creative spaces, plans to build a mixed-use affordable housing project for artists and their families in Roanoke, at the massive Riverdale redevelopment project planned for the Southeast quadrant of the city. “This will be their first Virginia project,” Duke Baldridge, vice-chair of the Roanoke [&helli[...]

May 30, 2024

Artspace plans Roanoke artist housing community

Roanoke developer Ed Walker first tried to lure Artspace, a Minnesota-based ​​nonprofit real estate developer for the arts, to Roanoke for an early 2000s redevelopment project, but Artspace essentially ghosted him. “It’s very, very, very, very difficult to get Artspace’s attention and to get them interested in a community,” Walker says. “It’s like trying to […]

A crowd gathered under a tent.
Apr 25, 2024

Artist housing developer considers Roanoke for first Va. project

Roanoke developer Ed Walker first tried to lure Artspace, a Minnesota-based ​​nonprofit real estate developer for the arts, to Roanoke in the early 2000s when he was transforming a former 1925 cotton textile mill into downtown living spaces. Artspace essentially ghosted him back then. “It’s very, very, very, very difficult to get Artspace’s attention and […]

The former American Viscose campus in Roanoke is being redeveloped into a mixed-use neighborhood. Photo by Don Petersen
May 30, 2023

Riverdale project could be ‘transformative’

Partnering with the city of Roanoke, developer Ed Walker started redevelopment of 100 acres encompassing the sprawling, former campus of American Viscose, a rayon plant that closed in 1958.  “This is a chance we have as a community to really do something transformative,” Roanoke Economic Development Director Marc Nelson says. Located in the city’s southeast […]

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