Photos by Justin Cook | The Roanoke Times

The area behind Collegiate Square, where the proposed parking garage could be built, contains several homes.

Collegiate Square is adjacent to the 4-acre lot that could be developed into retail spaces and parking for Virginia Tech.

BLACKSBURG -- Blacksburg developer Bob Pack and the Virginia Tech Foundation are negotiating a deal that could lead to a large parking garage and mixed-use retail and residential development on the edge of campus.

Pack is leading a partnership of developers who own land in the 4-acre parcel, just beyond the north edge of campus. That's where Tech is planning to build a 67,000-square-foot arts center that will include a 1,300-seat performing arts auditorium.

With 500 to 600 spaces, the parking garage would serve the arts center, university and downtown.

The land is on the edge of downtown Blacksburg and adjacent to Collegiate Square, another retail development owned by Pack. The proposed site includes a handful of rental homes and a parking lot that serves Collegiate Square. It is broken up among five ownership groups.

Pack is trying to consolidate the groups into one partnership before making a deal with the foundation.

The owners have the option of selling land to Pack or putting their land up for a stake in the partnership. Pack, Blacksburg Mayor Ron Rordam, Town Manager Marc Verniel and foundation Chief Operating Officer Ray Smoot announced Thursday that a deal for the property is being discussed.

If an agreement is reached, the parking lot and homes would likely be replaced by multiple buildings with retail on the first floor, as required by town zoning law, and possibly offices for the university and graduate student housing above, Smoot said.

He is optimistic a deal can be made sometime this winter and Pack said he would like to see work on the site begin in June.

The foundation is talking to Pack about leasing the land for 25 years. At the end of the lease, ownership would be passed to the foundation. Smoot said the foundation's major interest in leasing the land is building the parking garage, which would be located on the section of the property closest to campus.

"This really offers the only hope of addressing, at reasonable cost, the parking for the arts center," he said.

The parking garage would make up for the loss of about 375 parking spaces that will be eliminated for construction of the arts center, a $50 million project involving new construction and renovations to Schultz Hall. The university announced plans to raise private money to finance the project in 2006.

The arts center is part of a larger arts initiative at Tech that includes the construction of a black box theater next to Henderson Hall, near the corner of College Avenue and Main Street. Henderson will become home to the School of Performing Arts & Cinema after undergoing renovations.

The town does not have a direct role in negotiations and the land is already zoned for the proposed uses.

But Rordam supports the project as another step in a process that he hopes will make Blacksburg the arts center of Southwest Virginia with a more pedestrian-friendly and vibrant downtown.

"We'll look back 10 years from now and downtown Blacksburg will be a totally different place," he said.

Rordam said he's not worried about another retail development drawing businesses or customers away from the core downtown area.

"What you need to accomplish in the downtown is you need to have that mass of people, you need to have that foot traffic," he said. "I see that as much more of a benefit."

The foundation is also in discussions with Pack about buying Collegiate Square.

Tech leases about half of the space in the retail development near the corner of Prices Fork Road and North Main Street.

If the foundation were to buy the land it could insulate the university from future rent increases, Smoot said. Collegiate Square could generate positive money to help offset construction costs for the new development. Once the new development is up, it would help fund activities and performances at the arts center.

If a deal is made and the land is developed in what Smoot called "Collegiate Square II," the foundation would lease the retail space back to Pack, who would then take on the risk -- and reward -- of finding businesses interested in renting. The foundation would lease the parking garage and office space to the university on a "make no money, lose no money" basis, Smoot said.

The foundation would need to work with the town on utility and access needs for the development and, on Thursday, the town manager sounded eager to help. "We're interested in the arts initiative," Verniel said. "We want to help facilitate the other pieces."