Cardinal News: Then & Now takes a look back at the stories we brought you over the last 12 months. Through the end of the year, we’re sharing updates on some of the people and issues that made news in 2025. This installment: an update on a project to convert a 200-year-old house to a coffee shop in Roanoke.
Renovations continue on a 200-year-old house that a couple in Roanoke plan to turn into a coffee shop that they’ll call Fishburn Perk. But progress slowed this year after the couple’s other business, Noke Van Co., burned down in a fire in April.
Keri VanBlaricom, owner of the coffee shop with her husband, Justin VanBlaricom, said in early December that the project is about 45% done, where she was looking to be about 80% done by this point in the year. Most of that progress has been on the exterior of the building, like completing the front porch, she said. She said she hopes the project will be complete by the end of 2026.
But she’s excited to get into the logistics of the coffee shop. She’s sketched with chalk on the floor where the barista counter will go, and what the layout of the main room will look like, and has photos saved on her phone of the types of seating she wants in each room. She’s starting to plan out a menu, including various coffees, pastries and potentially paninis, and what kinds of drinks she’s planning to offer.
The couple’s other business, Noke Van Co., sells customized camper vans. In April, a fire destroyed the company’s warehouse in the Riverdale development, and all the property within it. The couple lost millions of dollars, and their focus shifted to getting what they’ve been calling “Noke Van Co. 2.0” off the ground. Noke Van Co. is now operating out of a different warehouse at Riverdale Southeast.
“Just that being our livelihood and our life and where I was working full-time, it totally wiped out every ounce of us,” VanBlaricom said.
The couple bought the house in Fishburn Park for $10 from Roanoke in 2022, with the condition that they substantially fix it up within a year. They received an extension until March 2026 on that work last fall. VanBlaricom said they will go before the city council in January to request another extension because of the fire.
The property had been vacant since 2000. Mike Pulice, architectural historian with the state Department of Historic Resources, estimated that the structure dates back to around 1820. It was hand-built using logs and timber frames, which now requires a contractor who’s an expert in working with antebellum homes.
The last people to live in the home were the caretaker of Fishburn Park and his family, who took over the property in 1948.
The VanBlaricoms agreed to invest at least $150,000 into the building — but Keri VanBlaricom estimates spending closer to $500,000 by the time the work is complete.
The former president of the Grandin Court neighborhood association, who opposed the VanBlaricoms’ contract with the city and their plans for the house, sued the couple. That suit was dismissed twice, but an appeal has been filed to the state. Keri VanBlaricom said she is not sure when the case might be heard again.
Building something new while grieving a loss
The April fire halted progress on the coffee shop for about six months. VanBlaricom said the fire was the biggest loss her family has ever experienced.
“It was really like our livelihood just left instantly,” she said. She said not only were her family’s financials impacted, but also their emotional capacity to keep going was low.
“But that was where our focus had to be,” she said.
On social media, they’ve posted videos about the work they’ve been doing to restart their business, and about how the company’s employees have come together to make it happen.
“But in our home,” Keri VanBlaricom said, “it’s been talking about loss, talking about surviving hard things.”
The couple has three children and a fourth young adult living with them at home. VanBlaricom said making sure her kids were doing well in high school and college and having “what they needed for sports” and “mothering” during this time became her focus. She felt “trying to be strong” for everyone was her role for a long time.
“And then my husband’s role, Justin’s role, was really doing the same for the company, because we see very much of our employees as family,” she said. “And so I felt like he was doing that same thing in both places as much as he possibly could.”
Keri VanBlaricom said she returned to working on the coffee shop in October. At this point, the exterior work is completed, as are the foundation pillars. Four windows were replaced in-kind, meaning they were replaced with windows that were almost identical in design, and the rest were able to be repaired.
She’s been working with a consultant to create financial projections and submit information to lending officers and banks to obtain about $300,000 in financing for the rest of the project. One interested private investor had backed out due to the amount of time it took to get a contract, VanBlaricom said.
An owner at Gladheart Wine and Brews, a wine, beer and coffee shop on Brambleton Avenue, has helped her plan out the layout of the shop and the coffee counter.
She said she was surprised to learn that baristas actually prefer a small, cozy workspace, where everything is within arm’s reach — “Which is good for me, because I have a pretty small space,” Keri VanBlaricom said.