Residents in downtown Roanoke may soon have some new businesses to help keep them living healthy, according to The Roanoke Times.

Four business partners have purchased the building at 16 W. Church Ave. and plan to create a food and retail hub called StayWell Marketplace. The plans include a grocery store, pharmacy, health-focused food court and a fitness center.

The plans are timely as the downtown's residential population is growing at a fast rate. Adding services and businesses to cater to the needs of the residents will continue to make the downtown area more marketable to new residents and help to increase property values of downtown living spaces.

"Plans are in the works to fulfill a need for the residents of downtown Roanoke, a neighborhood that's sprouting at a fast rate.

Four business partners purchased a 37,000-square-foot building at 16 W. Church Ave. last month, with plans to open a grocery store, pharmacy, health-focused food court and a fitness center.

As of now, these plans exist only on paper. No businesses have signed on as operators.

The purchase and subsequent plans come on the heels of the summertime openings of two new apartment dwellings in the city's downtown, the 108-unit Cotton Mill Lofts and the 25-unit Lawson Building East. As of March, there were more than 375 apartments and condominiums throughout downtown.

John Garland, president of Spectrum Design, and three other people who also work for the architecture and engineering firm, paid $425,000 for the Church Avenue building that currently houses the Downtown Sports Club. When the structure was built in 1951, S&W Cafeteria was its first tenant. The cafeteria closed sometime in the 1980s, Garland said.

He's seeking photographs from the building's cafeteria days so that he can preserve its architectural features. This historic rehab work is necessary for the owners to be eligible for tax credits to help fund the project.

The timetable for interior and exterior rehab work is unclear, Garland said. Some of it will involve pulling up carpet and vinyl tile to reveal the structure's original terrazzo floors.

Garland and his partners want to create a food and retail hub, named the StayWell Marketplace, to cater to downtown's condo and apartment dwellers."

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