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Managing market building a good fit for her [The Roanoke Times, Va.]
(Roanoke Times (Roanoke, VA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Feb. 12--Sara Guerry grew up in Roanoke and learned the ins and outs of event planning while volunteering with EventZone.
After graduating from Virginia Tech with a degree in public relations, she moved to Charlotte, N.C., where she worked in alumni relations for Johnson and Wales University.
She recently moved back to Roanoke, where she was named director of the Roanoke City Market Building. Guerry, 28, said the job -- which includes working with restaurant owners, booking events for the third-floor Charter Hall and marketing the building and its businesses -- was a good fit with her prior volunteer and job experience.
It's also been challenging, she said. The market building closed in 2010 for a top-to-bottom renovation. It reopened Labor Day weekend to some criticism because only two food vendors were ready for business. Since then, eight food vendors have opened, and some have voiced complaints about the building's new, extended dinner hours.
Guerry recently talked about why she took the job, and what her biggest challenges are.
Why were you interested in managing the market building?
I was looking to move back to Roanoke from Charlotte, and after hearing about the opportunity, I did some research about he renovations and I kind of reflected on how I remember the building being. I was really exited about the new direction and the new life of the building, and this opportunity to be a part of it was something I couldn't pass up.
What did you expect your biggest challenges to be, and now that you're on the job, what are they?
My biggest concern coming in was working with nine different [vendors] to meet their needs and ensure the success of the building as a whole. That is something that my background in event planning hadn't necessarily lent itself to, and that I was excited to learn more about.
I knew coming in that the restaurants were locally owned and operated, and in many cases this was the only space they had. So, their success was vital to the building, but my support would help garner that success, and that was something I wanted to make sure I did really well.
Now that I'm in the building, working with the restaurants is something that I take very seriously. The challenge I did not expect was handling all the events that are booking in Charter Hall. I have experience in handling a lot of events at once, but I'm almost bowled over by the interest in renting the space, and the diversity of events that are seeking out the venue. It's a nice problem to have.
How have you come to see your role as the market building manager?
It's easy to kind of get lost in the melee or the motions of getting everything done. It's important for me to kind of step back and take a full look at the picture.
In broad terms, I'm working on the marketing for the building as a whole, the rental of Charter Hall and the programming of some of our own events to increase the activity that we're seeing already growing in downtown. That's something we think we can be a part of as well.
I work really closely with everybody at Hall Associates to manage the budget, the day-to-day operations of the building. It's a 90-year-old building that's just been renovated and retrofitted, so there are things that need to be addressed every day.
The market building has been open for nearly five months. Where has the renovated building been a success?
Overall, we're thrilled with the renovation of the building. We've got all of the kitchens leased, and we've got most of the exterior spaces leased. We're really seeing the space come alive, and that's really exciting.
Are there any areas that you think need to be improved?
We're walking into this as, like I said, it's a 90-year-old building, and so every day she tells us something is wrong and we go in and fix it. But for the most part I think all of the moving parts are coming together really nicely.
What about the building's new hours, including nights and weekends?
These are the hours that were set. They were well noted in the leases, and they were intended to be both lunch and dinner options downtown.
I think it's just going to take some time for Roanoke to get that together, to get that into their minds, that they can come to the market building for dinner. That's not something they've ever had the opportunity to do.
We think when the weather warms up and we start really ramping up our marketing, that this will be something that just becomes ingrained in Roanoke culture -- that this building is here, and it's open almost all the time.
What are the plans for the empty vendor stalls in the center of the building?
It's an ongoing conversation. We're working our hardest to find the right fit for that space. Its intention and its reality are a bit different.
There was a lot of criticism when the building opened that not all the vendors would be up and running. Do you think that's hurt the reopening, or has the continual opening of restaurants drawn people back?
I think it's actually helped to keep the excitement going. Every time a new restaurant opens, for the next week and a half, we're busy, and the traffic tends to stay that way.
It's really afforded Roanokers to see the evolution of the building, to watch it grow. This is a building that is a great source of interest to our community, and to be able to see it go from newly renovated historic building to an active and bustling center downtown is something unique.
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(c)2012 The Roanoke Times (Roanoke, Va.)
Visit The Roanoke Times (Roanoke, Va.) at www.roanoke.com
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