A muggy morning had little dampening effect on optimism. Optimism that was more measured than giddy, but was optimism nonetheless.

"It's a beginning," said Brian Wishneff, a member of Roanoke City Council and an economic development consultant who once worked with Carilion Health System to lay groundwork for the Riverside Centre for Research and Technology.

"It's like round one in a 15-round heavyweight fight," Wishneff said. "Everybody in the country and everybody in the world is trying to do the same thing."

On cleared ground that once housed a tire and auto repair business on South Jefferson Street, and remains for now within earshot of flour-grinding at Mennel Milling, construction will begin this summer on CBI's new building.

More than one participant Tuesday said there's nothing like bricks and mortar to demonstrate the commitment of the city, the technology community, Carilion Health System and the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority to fostering a cluster of biomedical companies in the city. And the region.

"I've always said that until we have a building coming out of the ground people won't think this is real," said Darlene Burcham, Roanoke's city manager.

"You can only sell a concept for so long," Wishneff said.

At the lectern, Dr. Ed Murphy, president and chief executive officer for Carilion Health System, asserted that the construction of CBI's building in the Riverside Centre represents a step forward for the region and not just the city. Murphy cited other business parks and university settings where high-tech companies might also find a home in the Roanoke and New River valleys.

After the groundbreaking, Murphy, who has long advocated regional cooperation for economic development, said he was convinced such cooperation is key to the region's economic transformation.

"In my personal opinion, there's no Plan B," Murphy said.

Burcham said Tuesday was important also because the groundbreaking followed five years of concentrated work to redevelop an underutilized part of the city. She said the city has appropriated $19 million to help accomplish this redevelopment, which Burcham suggested provides a model for future projects in the city.

Because the city of Roanoke, like many others, is landlocked, with little available open land for development, "we are going to have to continuously redevelop," she said.

"This entire area was purchased through a negotiation process and we didn't have to use condemnation," she said.

Christie Wills, a member of the board for the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority, said the authority's executive director, John Baker, and Dann Campbell, its director of community development, worked hard to negotiate fairly with businesses slated for relocation from the South Jefferson Redevelopment Area.

"There's no reason why the success that has happened here can't be duplicated in other places in the city," Wills said.

Like Wishneff and Phil Sparks, executive director of the Roanoke Valley Economic Development Partnership, Burcham acknowledged that many other cities long for a piece of the business that can be sliced from the biomedical pie.

But Burcham said she believed Roanoke has other assets that can lure companies or entrepreneurs who crave the valley's quality of life, cultural amenities, diversity of cultures, access to recreation and relative proximity to a major research university in Virginia Tech.

"I believe we are going to fare very well for the size community we are," she said. "I think we're going to be ready when they come."