Developers’ plans for dozens of upscale condos and apartments on the west side of downtown Roanoke are good news for the city’s economic future, but they worry Wayne Meadows, who owns the Samaritan Inn — a soup kitchen and Christian mission located near many of the forthcoming residences.

"They’re not going to want us here anymore. Our people don’t dress well. Some don’t smell too good," said Meadows, who has run the nonprofit Christian-oriented service for two decades. "When we came here no one expected luxury condos were going to be part of this area," said Meadows of what has long been a blighted neighborhood marked by vacant manufacturing buildings and empty warehouses.