The deal’s off: Long-delayed Peabody hotel no longer coming to Roanoke
After nearly six years of anticipation and interminable delays, the Peabody project has been scrapped by the city of Roanoke.
First announced in 2017 and approved by the Roanoke City Council in 2019, the upscale hotel and convention center was to have 266 rooms, 25,000 square feet of meeting space, a 12,000-square-foot ballroom, a steakhouse, multiple bars and a bevy of other amenities. Roanoke was set to contribute up to $30 million toward construction.
The hotel would have been situated next to Roanoke’s city hall. Now, Roanoke leaders are looking at other options for the empty lot at the corner of Oak Street and Peabody Way — a street name that’s sure to soon change.
Siale Langi, Roanoke’s economic development manager, expressed regret over the deal falling through. He said the COVID pandemic originally contributed to construction delays, then it was funding issues on the part of the hotel’s developer. The delays were simply too numerous, and the City Council didn’t want to keep extending the deadline for the property’s completion, said Langi.
Langi sounded optimistic about finding another hotel/convention center to fill the void left by the Peabody. He also said the city was considering building a parking structure on the site, a much-needed addition to a downtown area that has exploded in growth in recent years.
As of Feb. 5, the Roanoke property was still featured prominently on the Peabody Hotels and Resorts website. The company’s flagship hotel, the luxurious Peabody Memphis, is a historic landmark that opened in 1869. According to the brand’s website, future Peabody resorts are planned for Las Vegas and California. Peabody sold its other properties in Orlando, Florida, and Little Rock, Arkansas, in 2013.
Messages left with the Peabody in Memphis were not immediately returned.