CITY OF ROANOKE

Municipal Offices
215 Church Avenue
Roanoke 540-853-2000
www.roanokeva.gov

Chamber of Commerce
212 South Jefferson Street
Roanoke 540-983-0700
www.roanokechamber.org

Serving as the hub of Western Virginia, Roanoke harmonizes contemporary flair and gleaming office towers with yesterday’s ornate architectural elements for a charming yet progressive cityscape. The highly diversified economic base makes Roanoke a regional hub for finance, industry, retail, culture, education, healthcare, and transportation services. Some of the advantages that the metropolitan area provides are found in few American cities, regardless of their size. For example, the groundbreaking $18.7 million Center for Higher Education draws together educational opportunities that involve 16 different educational institutions—most of them on the university level.

Five-time winner of the All-America City Award, the independent city of Roanoke is only one of two metropolitan centers across the nation to garner this level of recognition. Parenting Magazine describes the Roanoke Valley as one of the best places to raise children, and Money magazine praises the city for its livability. The city’s cultural arts center, Center in the Square, has won numerous awards including top economic development project on an international scale. Within Roanoke, the Historic City Market is distinguished as one of America’s Great Public Places, which places the attraction in the company of the French Quarter in New Orleans or New York City’s Central Park.

Services
Expanded by additional resources within the Roanoke Valley, the city is home to several institutions of higher education and exceptional opportunities for a higher education. ECPI Technical College focuses on the skills needed to make an immediate contribution to a number of exciting career fields. Virginia Western Community College provides a comprehensive two-year institution that also participates in the Roanoke Higher Education Center and provides workforce development programs. Hollins University has excelled in private liberal-arts education for women since 1842, attracting students to a beautiful 475-acre campus. The Jefferson College of Health Sciences is a private, professional college that offers master’s degrees in nursing as well as baccalaureate and associate degrees in health care. As a proud affiliate of Carilion Clinic, JCHS is fully integrated with one of the largest health systems in Virginia. The pinnacle of innovation is the Roanoke Higher Education Center, a consortium that provides nearly 200 undergraduate and graduate programs through 16 partner organizations. Participants include Averett University, Bluefield College, Ferrum College, Hampton University, Hollins University, the Jefferson College of Health Sciences, Mary Baldwin College, Old Dominion University, Radford University, Roanoke College, TAP-This Valley Works, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Virginia, Virginia Intermont College, Virginia Tech, and Virginia Western Community College.

Healthcare facilities and services are equally outstanding, anchored by the Carilion Clinic network of hospitals. The Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital campus is also home to the Carilion Medical Center for Children, a cancer care center, a center for healthy aging, advanced imaging, wound care, cardiac care, home health, a breast care center, and many other specialized services. Carilion also manages a Level 1 Trauma Center and premier transport services to meet emergencies with rapid, expert response. Distinguished as a major teaching affiliate for the University of Virginia School of Medicine, the hospital also provides patients with easy access to nearby specialty clinics, family medical centers, and a host of personalized treatment options. Carilion Roanoke Community Hospital takes a family-centered approach to healthcare and serves as the region’s leading referral source for women’s and children’s care. The 24-hour emergency room offers a new, dedicated approach to less severe illness and injuries for streamlined, dedicated response. Skilled professionals who represent every major specialty and many sub-specialties work in groups or as individuals to meet every need close to home.

Lifestyle
Roanoke manages to blend a healthy, active lifestyle based on wonderful local and regional recreational amenities with a vibrant and charming urban setting that is brimming over with unique attractions. Downtown Roanoke hums with vibrant attractions. Center in the Square serves as a regional arts hub, while the Historic City Market is open seven days a week. The Art Museum of Western Virginia houses significant 19th and 20th century works of American art as well as modern and contemporary art, design and decorative arts, photography and new media. The Jefferson Center is a dazzling renovation of a high school that offers a 111,000-square-foot complex of performance spaces and resources. Opera Roanoke, Roanoke Ballet Theatre, and the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra are premier local groups that share the stage with national and international artists at the center. Other highlights in Roanoke include the History Museum of Western Virginia, the Harrison Museum of African-American Culture, the O. Winston Link Museum, and the Science Museum of Western Virginia. For the younger set, Mill Mountain Zoo is a special delight with its breathtaking views of the Roanoke Valley.

Premier recreational sites like the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Natural Bridge, George Washington & Jefferson National Forest, Luray Caverns, and Peaks of Otter are available for four-season outdoor enjoyment. Hiking, mountain biking, bicycle touring, camping, backpacking, cavern exploration, fishing, hunting, horseback riding, boating, swimming, water sports, and nature study are all common pastimes in this beautiful region.  Nearly 70 parks and plazas add breathtaking beauty to the cityscape and scores of sports and recreational facilities. Annual events and festivals give friends and neighbors a chance to celebrate together, although the recreation department draws together residents of all ages and interests to enjoy a kaleidoscope of programs and activities.

Home choices range from the prestigious manors in the city’s long established and exclusive southern section to the medley of historic residences near the downtown district. Many neighborhoods offer homes with distinctive character and architectural diversity on sweeping lots that are meticulously landscaped. Whether you invest in a starter home in a long-established area or an elegant estate property, you will discover that Roanoke stands in a class of its own for warmth and friendliness, low cost of living, and unrivaled quality of amenities.