Photos by Stephanie Klein-Davis | The Roanoke Times

Mack Carper (left) and George Meade take down tables Friday at the Hotel Roanoke's largest ballroom. The Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center plans to add 15,000 square feet of meeting, office and storage space to meet growing demand.

The facility, built in 1882, is managed and operated as a Hilton Doubletree Hotel. The 331 guest rooms often sell out on Fridays and Saturdays.

The Hotel Roanoke has had to put up temporary structures in its garden court to fit conference groups, a hotel commission member said.

There could be more room at a historical Roanoke inn in a few years.

The Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center, the city's flagship hotel, quietly is making plans to add guest rooms, meeting space and a spa -- all additions that call for a major expansion at this upscale lodging property.

The owners of the property are soliciting requests for proposals from architecture and engineering firms to create a design for massive alterations.

The proposed changes call for 125 new guest rooms (for a total of 456), a 6,000- to 8,000-square-foot spa/wellness clinic and 15,000 square feet of meeting, office and storage space, according to request for proposal documents. Proposals are due to the Hotel Roanoke Conference Center Commission by Sept. 15.

Still, it is unclear where all of this expansion activity would take place at the hotel built in 1882 that is managed and operated as a Hilton Doubletree Hotel.

Hotel executives have some ideas, though they're leaving the details to the firm chosen to handle the alterations. And they do not yet know the estimated cost of such a project.

"We think it makes some sense to add onto the existing structure and take advantage of the existing infrastructure that is here," said Gary Walton, general manager of the Hotel Roanoke.

Potential additions could even move into the hotel's parking area, he said. The RFP also calls for the creation of 150 more parking spaces along with replacing those that could be lost with the expansion.

No timetable for completion has been set, though Walton said he expected work to be finished by 2010 at the earliest.

It's no secret that there is heavy demand for hotel rooms and conference space in Roanoke's downtown.

The commission, which owns the conference center, and the Virginia Tech Foundation, whose subsidiary corporations own the hotel, completed a market study this year to evaluate how many guest rooms could be added and how large the conference area could be expanded.

The hotel's 331 rooms often sell out on Fridays and Saturdays. Midweek, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, they fill up with conference and business travelers, Walton said. The peak season is April through June and September through November.

And it's not unusual for conferencegoers to shuttle to the Hotel Roanoke from other area hotels because of lack of guest rooms there.

During the holidays, the hotel had to put up a temporary multipurpose structure in its garden court to fit some conference groups, said Debbie Moses, executive director of the commission.

Adding rooms and meeting space would allow the hotel to accept more business, "such as larger conferences that travel around the state," Walton said.

More conference room space, which could increase to 73,500 square feet, is welcome news for local business executives such as Joyce Waugh, interim president of the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce. Finding available conference space at the Hotel Roanoke can be "a challenge," she said.

It's the right time for the Hotel Roanoke to get larger, said Brian Townsend, assistant city manager for Roanoke.

"We feel that in order to maintain and improve the facilities positioned within the state and region, you just can't keep marking time," he said. "You have to keep looking at where your opportunities are."

Expansion plans at the Hotel Roanoke, however, come as economic challenges have slowed the travel industry. High gasoline prices are stunting discretionary spending, and hotels in the Roanoke area are among those feeling the impact.

Occupancy at Roanoke Valley hotels dropped 2.5 percent in May this year, compared with May 2007, according to the latest figures from the Roanoke Valley Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Dave Kjolhede, executive director for the bureau, said last month that June figures could be even lower because people are cutting back on travel. He was not available for comment on Tuesday about the Hotel Roanoke's plans.

Still, the shape of the economy likely will not deter the hotel's growth plans.

"What's happening today in the market doesn't necessarily mean that it will be that way in the future," Walton said, explaining that the hotel industry is cyclical and expansion plans are years away.