Stephanie Klein-Davis | The Roanoke Times

Adel "Zorba" Eltawansy (center, looking up) runs a Greek food stall in the Roanoke City Market Building. A number of food vendors from the city market attended the public meeting at the Science Museum of Western Virginia's Hopkins Planetarium to discuss the market's future.

James Rosar, a bicycle mechanic and board member of the nonprofit venture Sharebike in the Roanoke City Market Building, tells a public hearing Thursday night that the building would make a good business incubator.

Bill Carder, executive director of Downtown Roanoke Inc., holds up a proposed plan created two years ago. "It's a great plan," he said. "Roanoke's on the cusp of something great. I don't believe it's a coat of paint."

David "Chico" Estrada, of Chico's Big Lick Pizza in the market building, said the building is in "a shambles," and lamented the vendors' one-year leases.

Consensus trumped contention on at least two points.

One was this: If and when a decision is made to renovate and otherwise remake the rundown, mice-infested Roanoke City Market Building, save the food court vendors.

The other was this: The building desperately needs help.

City officials held a meeting Thursday night to solicit public input about how the city-owned market building should look and function in the months, years and decades ahead. About 150 people attended. In the crowd were many owners of food court businesses.

Speaker after speaker said something akin to an observation by John Garland, who said the vendors are what makes the market building great. Nobody wants to see the vendors leave, he said.

"I'm encouraged tonight because I keep hearing the same thing from everybody," Garland said.

Of course, considering the vendors' presence, people who stood and spoke at the front of the Hopkins Planetarium in Center in the Square might have been reluctant to argue for their expulsion from the nearby market building.

Ed Hall, a commercial real estate broker downtown, and downtown restaurateur Sands Woody suggested, however, that fretting about food vendors should not overwhelm discussion about other uses for the building.

Hall said neither a real estate agent nor 10 vendors should rule the world. Woody said, "It's called a market building, not a food court building."

No one detailed how vendors' businesses might survive if they are displaced, as is likely, during major renovations of the circa-1922 structure.

After the meeting, Bill Carder, executive director of Downtown Roanoke Inc., said options might include staged construction during renovations, finding a temporary home for vendors in a nearby building or moving them to the second floor during first floor renovations. He said a last resort would be compensating business owners directly for lost revenues if they are forced to shut down completely for a time.

Mice references were inevitable, considering recent health department inspections of the market building and reports of rodent infestation and food contamination. The city has closed the building for cleanup and repairs. Officials have refused to speculate about when it might reopen.

Although mice droppings weigh very little, it seems they just might have tipped the scale far enough to stimulate action.

Out of crisis comes opportunity, said Bob Fetzer.

"The market [building] is broken and now we have an opportunity to fix it," said Ben McCreary.

Doug Waters said the building's deterioration communicates a lack of pride.

"The market and the vendors inside it deserve better," he said.

The Coalition for the Roanoke City Market, responding to a request for proposals issued by the city, submitted this summer a plan to redevelop, market and manage the City Market Building.

It was the sole response to the RFP.

On Sept. 2, members of city council, even though most had not read the full proposal, rejected the coalition's plan and asked for issuance of a second RFP.

City officials expressed several concerns about the coalition's plan, especially about footing the full bill for the building's extensive renovations -- work the coalition estimated would require about $7 million. At the time, Carder replied that the use of historic and new market tax credits could reimburse part of the city's investment.

City Manager Darlene Burcham said Wednesday that the city will not issue another RFP until after the public meeting and consultation with council members regarding its content.

David "Chico" Estrada, owner of Chico's Big Lick Pizza, said Thursday that "it's no secret the building is in a shambles" -- neglected both by the city and by vendors.

But Estrada said vendors have been reluctant to invest in their businesses because the city has offered leases of only one year.

Meanwhile, Hall told the crowd that opposition to change could have thwarted some key redevelopment successes downtown, including Center in the Square, the Jefferson Center, Hotel Roanoke, the Roanoke Higher Education Center and more.

But after the meeting, Brian Townsend, assistant city manager for community development, noted that none of those buildings was occupied when redevelopment efforts launched. The market building presents unique challenges, he said.

As people filed out, Louis Wilson, co-owner of Burger in the Square, said he and his wife, Anita, were moved by the support of people who attended Thursday's meeting.

"I'm very emotional over what people had to say," Wilson said.