After four years of negotiations, bargaining with banks for financing, slow-moving government agencies and dragged out environmental testing, Roanoke’s Valley AFC soccer club finally closed the deal to buy the site for a planned $7 million soccer complex.
The nonprofit completed the purchase of the 30-acre site along the Roanoke River and 13th Street Southeast on Wednesday, and officials expect to get to work immediately developing a few fields for quick use. The club, which has about 3,000 youth and adult players, hopes ultimately to have 16 fields on the site. The cost of the land was $510,000.
Any number of new athletic fields are welcome in Roanoke, where consultants have told city parks and recreation officials that they need more than 20 additional fields to meet the community’s needs.
