At-Large Articles for the regional print and digital business magazine in 2025.
Bank Building Renovation
The Exchange—The Promissory—¡Suerte!
A most recognizable, iconic, historic bank headquartered in
downtown Roanoke gets a most ambitious makeover ever
By Hart Fowler
The Exchange gives new life to a century old downtown bank
building and aims to make Roanoke a draw for performers and
concertgoers that thrive in large standing room only venues.
There’s something holy about repurposing an epic-sized temple of capitalism built in the roaring-twenties-Gatsby-era, during the peak of Roanoke’s railroad boom, into a modern-day concert venue/boutique hotel/restaurant called The Promissory.
The National Exchange Bank building had been vacant for nearly a decade when Lucas Thornton bought the building for $10,000,000 four years ago. He brought in John McBroom and Across the Way Productions (FloydFest), and local restaurateur and musician JP Powell (Lucky, Fortunato). They reimagined the 55,000 square feet of open space and mezzanine as a place to be dedicated to as many as 1,200 show-goers. All while keeping the integrity of the elegant and historic architecture and decoration intact, and housing Suerte!, a Spanish-inspired restaurant and wine bar and the 27-room Promissory boutique hotel.
“The building has beautiful vaults that will become green rooms or speakeasy-style hangouts. There’s an old banker’s office off the mezzanine we want to turn into a swanky, hidden bar—somewhere people can slip away and then rejoin the show,” said Sam Calhoun, COO of Across the Way Productions, the same company that curates and operates FloydFest and now The Exchange Music Hall.
THREE NAMES IN ONE [sidebar by Tom Landon]
The Promissory
This is the boutique hotel. It’s also the primary name of the whole venue/complex.
The Exchange
AKA The Exchange Music Hall. A concert hall with elegant and stately décor, designed with musical acts in mind; social and dynamic. (Both “promissory” and “exchange” are brands that play off financial terms and the original and iconic First National Exchange Bank building in downtown Roanoke.)
Suerte!
This is the restaurant, Spanish-themed with expected culinary-related cuisine. The word translates to “luck” (which could also play into financial terms, but more likely a ‘sister’ to nearby Lucky restaurant). Will the signage include an inverted exclamation point in front of the name? We’ll see.
—
The Exchange is a vision of gilded, Greek columned classical grandeur, with granite and marble, originally intended to promote faith in the business of savings and loans. “All of us believe this could be something huge for Roanoke, which is emerging as a live-music city,” said Calhoun. He knows the live music business primarily due to his experience (now as a co-owner) with FloydFest.
“We’ve been talent-buying for 25 years. We know the missing pieces in Roanoke’s music scene, and The Exchange is truly going to fill a niche we’ve needed for years — if not decades,” Calhoun said. “We’ve had bands pass us by simply because we didn’t have the right venue, and now The Exchange is going to be that missing piece that brings a different level of talent to Roanoke.”
Jefferson Center seats 925, but like most theaters it is not suited for shows where an audience wants to move, sway, order at the bar, or stand in the back.
“We are primarily a standing-room-only venue. The mezzanine will have cocktail or bistro tables for people who want seating, but the main floor is standing room. It creates a completely different energy than theater seating,” Calhoun said. More like a FloydFest concert where lots of folks stand and groove.
Excellent sound quality is essential to the success of any performance, both for the audience and the performers. Developer Lucas Thorton said sound design was a focus from the start. “It’s a beautiful space but it has a lot of plaster and glass. Figuring out how to control the sound—bringing the highs down, keeping the lows from getting buried—has been a big effort. If it doesn’t sound great, no one cares how pretty it is.”
Thornton, a downtown developer of living/retail spaces like The Bower, added: “Especially in Roanoke, where we want to attract touring acts—we might get them on a Tuesday or Wednesday between Nashville and D.C. or Charlotte and D.C. We’ll get them because we have a beautiful hall that also sounds really great.”
THE PLAYERS
(Not all of them, by a long shot; but here are some of the principal people involved)
Lucas Thornton – overall building; developer
Sam Calhoun – overall point man for the music venue (along with John McBroom, Jessica Taylor)
JP Powell – overall point man for the restaurant
To Be Named – general manager for the hotel
Calhoun said the details are being finalized on a multiyear agreement with Across the Way for booking the “lobby space,” and praised the initial synergy between The Exchange, Promissory Hotel, and Suerte! restaurant. After the New Year’s Eve opening, the building will be closed for a couple of months while the restaurant opens. A re-grand opening will include a consistent concert calendar.
“While we’ll have major touring shows, we’ll also feature regional and local bands. We want synergy with downtown. For example, Parkway Brewing is opening at The Bower. Why not coordinate—have their outdoor band play early, then host a later show inside The Exchange? Plenty of opportunities for collaboration.”
Thornton is not booking the bands, but music inspired him to build the venue. “Going to concerts was a big part of my youth, my first ones were around age 14 or 15. Back then Roanoke got a surprising number of major bands. I think about a space like ours. The architecture has a sense of drama, and a performance hall just felt right. I don’t know yet how some of those heavier rock bands will sound in our hall, but I’m eager to find out,” Thornton said.
Grace Potter played FloydFest in 2010 and 2015 and will play the inaugural New Year’s Eve event with Holy Roller from Richmond opening the show.
“…primarily a standing-room-only venue… creates a completely different energy than theater seating” — Sam Calhoun
