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 “north of $40 million” mixed-use project, proposed at the site of a shuttered foundry, received the endorsement of the City of Roanoke Planning Commission on Monday.

Voting unanimously, commissioners recommended that the Roanoke City Council approve developer Gregory Kaknes’ request to rezone about 9 acres from heavy and light industrial use to an “urban center district” designation, which allows retail, office, residential and light industrial uses in a “concentrated pedestrian-friendly area.” Walker’s Riverdale project received five votes to recommend the rezoning, with member Adetoye Oshoniyi recusing himself.

Walker forged an agreement with the city in 2023, in which the EDA loaned Walker $10 million for Riverdale, which will include historic rehab and new construction and is expected to offer residences, offices, retailers and eateries. If the project’s developers invest at least $50 million in the project through 2040, the city’s loan will be forgiven under the agreement.

In February 2024, Roanoke City Council approved a rezoning of six parcels from light industrial to downtown zoning for Riverdale, but in August 2024, the city council OKed the creation of an urban center district as part of a zoning reboot, leading to Monday’s votes.

A newcomer to Virginia, Kaknes moved from York Harbor, Maine, to the Star City because his granddaughter lives here, he told the commissioners Monday.

“I got to Roanoke, and I was immediately surprised at how much it reminded me of New England,” said Kaknes, who sold his Massachusetts landscape supply company about six years ago and retired.

What’s more, Kaknes said he was impressed by how Roanoke “was reinventing itself, away from the old industrial heritage” into an outdoors mecca. He noticed the former Walker Machine and Foundry while on regular walks on the Roanoke River Greenway, which offers more than 10 miles of paved trail within the city limits.

The foundry closed in 2019 after about a century of operations, and Kaknes said he and his company — dubbed The Foundry Realty — would build a mixed-use development offering residences and a restaurant built in the original machine shop, as well as pickleball courts, shuffleboard, cornhole, bicycling and access to the Roanoke River.

According to the developer’s application, he would maintain the majority of the existing structures on the land, using the buildings “for historic context so these buildings can tell the story of the history of the site.”

Kaknes said he expects the project’s first phase — including retail and entertainment, but not residential use — would cost about $6 million. He added that the property under discussion Monday is adjacent to 10 parcels across Bridge Street that he hopes to use to build single and duplex housing units in the future.

Commission member Kevin Berry praised Kaknes’ effort to create a neighborhood where residents can walk to a restaurant and other amenities. “It reduces the amount of traffic you have to deal with [and] reduces the amount of parking issues.”

Riverdale is expected to be redeveloped over decades. According to materials presented Monday,  the first phase of redevelopment will include a 260-unit apartment complex, an 85-unit adaptive reuse project and other uses.

In October 2024, ArtSpace, a Minnesota-based ​​nonprofit real estate developer for the arts, announced it had officially selected Riverdale as the site of its first project in Virginia. The organization plans to build between 60 and 80 affordable apartments and studio spaces on the site.