Roanoke County’s recently-adopted plan to create a small virtual city in the Tanglewood Mall area got a significant boost today with the announcement by Carilion Clinic that it has leased a 150,000-square-foot space in mall where it will consolidate its children’s services. The $3 million renovation is part of a $1 billion capital projects investment, announced in May, that Carilion plans for the near future.
The Carilion Children’s facility will occupy an anchor space that had been home to J.C. Penney and Miller Motte Technical College until 2018 when Penney’s closed its Roanoke stores.
Dr. Kimberly Dunsmore, chairwoman of pediatrics at Carilion, says, “We will consolidate pediatric and children’s services, more than a dozen specialists” in the renovated facility. “Tanglewood is one of the best places [in the Valley] for this because it has a central location and a lot of parking. This is a one-stop shop for children’s care.”
The space will undergo “extensive renovation beginning in the winter,” says Dunsmore. The project is expected to open in 18-24 months.
John Abernathy, president of Blackwater Resources, which owns Tanglewood, says that when his group bought Tanglewood three years ago “we determined to move away from retail toward mixed use” of the facility.
County Economic Development Director Jill Loope says the placement of the facility “is compatible with the intent and the spirit” of the plan recently adopted by the County Board of Supervisors.
“It will create density and density drives retail. We saw this coming in general. Big box retail is a thing of the past and repositioning big boxes is in perfect alignment with the community’s long-term goal. You will see a cadence of announcements of this type over the next year or so.”
Carilion CEO/President Nancy Agee says, “After years of adding more and more specialized pediatric services for our community, we’re excited to have a new home for these services. This development will make access easier for our patients and their families.”
About the Writer:
Dan Smith is an award-winning Roanoke-based writer/author/photographer and a member of the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame (Class of 2010). His blog, fromtheeditr.com, is widely read and he has authored seven books, including the novel CLOG! He is founding editor of a Roanoke-based business magazine and a former Virginia Small Business Journalist of the Year (2005).
