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Haley Toyota's move to Roanoke Civic Center area gets planning commission nod

The city council will now consider the plan to sell 17 acres just north of Orange Avenue.

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David Ress | 981-3253

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Haley Toyota’s plan to buy the city land where Roanoke officials once wanted to build a stadium won a green light Tuesday from the planning commission.

The commission’s recommendation now goes to the city council for a final say. The city’s plan to sell the land is subject to a rezoning, which the commission formally recommended.

Haley wants to relocate from its current site on Franklin Road Southwest to 17 acres on Courtland Road Northeast, one block north of Orange Avenue and one block west of Williamson Road.

“The only reason we’re going is we’ve got 4 1⁄ 2 acres now and we’re going to have 17 acres,” said Haley general manager Chuck Baker. “We’ve just outgrown where we were.”

The dealership leases its current site at 2711 Franklin Road S.W. Should it eventually move to the Courtland Road site, Haley may keep some service operations on Franklin Road until the lease runs out, Baker said.

The dealership plans to regrade the Courtland Road site, to increase visibility of its central portion, where the dealership and service area will be located. The site has enough space for a second dealership, but Haley has no immediate plans for that.

Roanoke is selling the land for $1.04 million. The city has spent more than $2 million cleaning up hazardous waste unearthed in the late 1990s on what was its Public Works Service Center property.

In 2001, the city council proposed building a new stadium and amphitheater at the site, but killed the idea in 2004, as opponents argued that the old Victory Stadium should be renovated instead.

The stadium was demolished in 2006, however, and replaced by facilities at the city’s two high schools.

The sale involves 15.68 acres at 1530 Courtland Road N.E. and 1.5 acres of the 6.4 acres of city land just to the north.

The properties are assessed at $1.7 million. The city is selling them for less to take into account the extensive site evaluation and site work required to convert the site for use as a full-service automobile sales and repair facility.

Saturday, September 14, 2013