Appalachian Electric Power will welcome around 200 of its workers from the transmission building to its downtown building at the corner of First Street and Franklin Road sometime next year.
Many are already employed at an office in the Catawba area but around 100 may be newer hires and AEP is already staffing those positions. They will all need a place to park and now AEP has broken ground on a 4-deck, 260 space parking facility that will go up where a ground AEP lot now is.
Meanwhile the office building is also undergoing extensive renovations to accommodate those 200 new employees. Once they arrive existing employees will be shuffled around to other floors to make way.
John Shepelwich, a spokesman for Appalachian Power, says the remodeling “has been going on for “close to six months,” at this point and should be finished “early in 2019 when we get those 200 new employees to the building.” Some actually have already moved downtown to another office building ahead of the remodeling.
The new parking deck “is relatively one of the new [construction projects] in Roanoke and we’re pleased with that,” says Shepelwich, also noting that 20 electric vehicle charging spaces will be included among the 260 overall capacity.
Meanwhile nearby downtown Roanoke businesses should appreciate the influx of AEP workers at lunch time – including Martin’s, Paul’s Restaurant and the new Salad Factory right next store.
Gene Marrano
