Photos by Eric Brady | The Roanoke Times

People celebrate the dedication of the Claude Moore Education Complex in its banquet room Wednesday. The Roanoke Higher Education Center and the Dumas Center for Artistic & Cultural Development have contributed to the neighborhood's revival.

The Claude Moore Education Complex encompasses structures that were once a barber shop, record store, nightclub and studio.

The Claude Moore Education Complex in downtown Roanoke, dedicated Wednesday before a crowd of 100, is a stone's throw away from a vacant lot that figures in the continuing revitalization of historic Gainsboro.

The neighborhood is coming back with the completion of the Roanoke Higher Education Center, Dumas Center for Artistic & Cultural Development, Eight Jefferson Place apartments and a parking garage.

The new Moore Center now offers cuisine classes and a venue with a stage for large public or private events.

So what should go at Gainsboro Road Northwest and Wells Avenue Northwest, where a former half-acre residential area has long been cleared of homes and is used for parking cars?

"It would be a nice park, to me," said Elizabeth Hairston, who grew up in the neighborhood and attended the Moore Center dedication.

But officials with the Roanoke Neighborhood Development Corp. are thinking bigger than a spot to throw a picnic or Frisbee. They want to create a neighborhood asset on par with the Moore center and the rest of the lineup.

"It's about what you can do to help others," said Charles Price, chairman of the RNDC.

The Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority, which owns most of the lot, has agreed by resolution to donate the land to the RNDC "for development of a proposed office building and retail facility," said Glenda Edwards, agency director.

It is waiting for the RNDC to come forth with a concrete plan.

At one time, it looked as though a new regional office of the Social Security Administration might occupy a piece of the site. But that structure is being built on Jefferson Street.

Price said Wednesday that the corporation is open to talking with potential developers and investors about the site. Issues of funding, feasibility and community support will have to be weighed, he said, adding that RNDC is scheduled to give a report to authority commissioners in September.

"The area is obviously ripe for more development," said Roanoke Vice Mayor David Trinkle.

Less clear is what the right project is for the corner site, he said.

"Because of the devastating history of this area, it's very political," Trinkle said.

Most of the Gainsboro neighborhood was lost more than 30 years ago when the housing authority used the federal urban renewal program to demolish 1,600 homes, 200 businesses and 24 churches.

The list of stakeholders who will try to influence what kind of structure or use occupies the corner lot is long and appears to include neighborhood groups, cultural, civic and social organizations such as Total Action Against Poverty and the Harrison Museum, the higher education center, the city and Hotel Roanoke.

The RNDC can perhaps learn from the Claude Moore complex, which occupies land donated by the redevelopment authority and is an extension of the higher education center.

The project enjoys its success, in part, because of the way designers at SmithLewis Architecture and the builder Martin Bros. Construction captured the structure's "fantastic history" -- as a barber shop, record store, nightclub and film studio -- while creating highly usable education and entertainment space, said Robert Jenkins, whose Hampton Roads Ventures provided an investment to defray $5.3 million in project costs.

Not only can visitors view the beginnings of an exhibit of historic photos, but down the hall students of a chef's school are also learning to cook restaurant-style.

The culinary arts program, which is completing its first year and used the Claude Moore complex for its laboratory in recent months, has been "megasuccessful," said Robert Sandel, president of Virginia Western Community College.

Some 120 students are enrolled and the program is set up so that those most interested in restaurant management can transfer to the hospitality program of Virginia Tech as juniors.

Also, the building is among the Roanoke Valley's first green construction projects because of energy and water conservation features that have earned it kudos.