“There was no one walking,” Allen said. “When I first moved downtown, there was nobody out on Sundays.”

Over the years she has enjoyed watching the downtown area grow, as more people moved into lofts, the Community Market opened and additional businesses were established. Events such as the annual Downtown Loft Tour also helped attract people and this year, the Free Clinic of Central Virginia—which hosts the tour—hopes to bring in even bigger numbers. Last February, over 500 people enjoyed touring 11 lofts in downtown Lynchburg.

“It’s a huge event—it’s really quite amazing,” Allen said, who has been involved with the Loft Tour for three years, serving on the committee and opening her loft to visitors in 2010.

This year’s tour will be held February 25 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with all proceeds going directly to the Free Clinic. As a profitable fundraiser, The Free Clinic of Central Virginia partners with downtown businesses and individuals who are willing to show the lofts above their buildings.

“All of the lofts downtown are unique in their own way,” Allen said. “That’s what makes it so much fun.”

Every year, Robert “Bob” Barlow, Executive Director of the Free Clinic, says they aim to feature new lofts for visitors to tour.

“We try to have eight or 10 new lofts that have not been shown before on the tour that are decorated,” Barlow said, adding that some of the lofts are lived in, and others are decorated as model apartments. “We also usually have one or two repeater lofts, like the Borel Loft, where the loft was so spectacular people want to see it every year.”

This year, Barlow anticipates having at least eight new lofts on the tour. The finalized list of lofts should officially be determined this month, which the Free Clinic believes will be a mix of the right lofts that will interest participants that also offers an adequate touring route.

“You have to find a route that flows,” Barlow said. “If you spread out to too many streets then people can’t walk it easily.”

A shuttle bus will be provided to transport people to each building every 20 minutes, providing an opportunity for those who are unable to walk distances to participate.

“Usually about two-thirds of the lofts are handicap accessible,” Barlow said.

The tour is similar to any home tour, where each participant receives a map, may start at any point and visit as many lofts as desired.

“It’s a nice way for people to come downtown and spend the day,” Allen said.

The fundraiser began in 2004, though the idea began to germinate in 2003. Barlow read about a clinic in Kansas City that hosted a loft tour as a fundraiser. The story piqued his interest, and he wrote them for more information.

“We figured that as a downtown nonprofit, it made a lot of sense for us to partner with the businesses and the rental properties downtown for a fundraiser,” Barlow said. “It brings people downtown and it publicizes that the Free Clinic is downtown.”

While this win-win fundraiser now brings beneficial exposure to downtown businesses and restaurants, in the first year of the tour, only 150 tickets were sold—something Barlow attributes to lack of proper marketing to the public.

“People didn’t know what it was, and my staff and my board said it was not very professional,” Barlow said.

Over the last several years, however, the fundraiser has become more professional and has significantly increased in size.

“The attendance each year has crept up by 50 to 100 people,” Barlow said.

With more than 500 tickets sold last year, Barlow and his team are optimistic that this year’s total will exceed 600.

Since the Free Clinic of Central Virginia opened in 1987, its goal has been to provide top-notch medical, nursing, dental and pharmaceutical services to lower income individuals without insurance. The clinic has nearly 5,000 active folders on file, and treats up to 75 patients a day.

Although the Clinic does receive funding from the Commonwealth of Virginia, United Way, individuals and others, fundraising remains crucial. The Downtown Loft Tour is one of their larger, more profitable fundraisers.

“It’s now a fairly significant fundraiser for us,” Barlow said. “Last year, we raised over $10,000.”

It usually takes between 100 and 150 volunteers to run the event, but finding help is usually not an issue for the Free Clinic—over 500 people volunteer for shifts at the clinic on a regular basis.

For more information about the Central Virginia Free Clinic or the Loft Tour, visit www.fccv.net.    

Tickets will officially be available February 1, 2012 at the following locations:

• The Free Clinic of Central Virginia
• Beeswax Candles
• The Silver Thistle
• Lynchburg Visitors Center
• Lynch’s Landing
• Bedford Visitors Center
• The Good Cherry
• Westminster Canterbury

“This building that will be the new student center was the first building we had on campus,” John E. Klein, president of Randolph College, said.

The original building was constructed in the 1890s and has undergone several renovations since then, including once in the 1930s and, most recently, in the 1980s.

“Since 1983, it has functioned as a student center but we really felt it could be made into a stupendous facility as it’s located right in the center of campus,” Klein said.

The 18-month renovation project began in May 2011 after the school campaigned to raise funding for it and five alumni donated a collection of $6 million. Sadie “Puff” Gravely Hampson ‘41, Byrd and Alice Hilseweck Ball ‘61, Tom and Sally Maier Rowe ’67 and two anonymous alumni make up the group of donors.

“We did not want to borrow money to fund this so we took it upon ourselves to raise the $6 million cost,” Klein said.

The renovation project aims to combine the traditional architecture of the 120-year-old school, with a more contemporary design and functionality that will fit the school’s current and growing needs. The space has served many uses throughout the college’s history, including a chapel and a dining hall.

“On the ceiling are these wonderful beams and arches that support it and those will be kept, but the rest of it has been demolished except for the outside walls,” Klein said.

Lead architect Hal Craddock was well-suited to undertake the project as a son and grandson of former alumni Martha Helen Cleveland Craddock ‘41, and Anna Atkinson Craddock of the class of 1913.

“Craddock went to the nursery school here so he has this incredible connection already and knows our history,” Strategic Communications Manager Brenda Edson said.

The structure’s first floor will be connected to the Main Hall lobby and will feature what Klein calls “Main Street” which will run the length of the student center. Surrounding the “street” will be an area where students can gather on one side, and a newly renovated eating place, known to students as the Skeller, on the other.

Off to the side of the main floor will be an outside deck that will provide the students with a space for eating and gathering outdoors as well.

The second floor will function as a place for entertainment, complete with pool tables and other various activities for the students to engage in. It will also include a glass-enclosed studio where the deejay booth for the student radio station, WWRM, will overlook the gathering space on the first floor below.

“They will be able to look out over the space and deejay parties and dances,” Edson said. “It really just opens the space up while also connecting everything together.”

The second floor will also house the student government and publications office.

The third and final floor of the structure will feature a 90-seat theater and a space for a reception and conference room that will showcase the previously existing vaulted-ceiling beams.

The reception and conference room will be used for board meetings and will be designed to highlight structures from the previously existing chapel, including a stain-glass window and pipes from the chapel’s organ.

Also on the third floor will be a fitness area, featuring a two-story cardio room with large floor-to-ceiling glass windows and a place for yoga, Pilates and dance.

“Its going to have this tremendous view looking over the back of campus and then all the way to the Blue Ridge Mountains,” Klein said.

As the demolition process of construction comes to a close, the building had been gutted with a few existing floor structures still intact and preparations for the new flooring are underway.

“We’re finally at a point where we can begin to rebuild here in the next few weeks, putting in new floor sections,” Bobby Bennett, director of capital projects, said.

For Bennett, the deconstruction has gone as well as expected for a building of its age, and for a project that has been as well-structured as this one.

“One thing I am thankful for is a college president who is intimately involved in so many of the details,” Bennett said. “It is really neat to have [someone] who has that level of concern about how the project is going to materialize. It’s been a positive ordeal.”

Currently just shy of 600 students, Randolph College continues to grow. The new student center is just the first major phase of a larger plan that will connect the various buildings on campus with one another in the hopes of attracting a large number of students to the college.

“Its going to really add some amazing amenities for our students and I think it will also be something that will attract prospective students and their parents as they come to Main Hall and see all of the amazing things in the student center,” Klein said.

The student center renovations are expected to be complete in time for the grand opening scheduled at the start of the 2012 fall semester.

“This is a wonderful way to show that we are starting to grow,” Klein said. “We have not only increased our enrollment, but we’re also working on the physical plan. Our alumni are excited and I think that excitement tends to allow everyone to feel like the college is moving forward.”

When describing the former Brookville High School football coach and principal, those who were his students, athletes and colleagues use words like “natural leader” and “motivator.” They talk about his great sense of humor and say he was the glue that held everyone together at Brookville, in good times and bad.

When Whorley died in a December 2008 boating accident, those who loved him banded together, first at his memorial service, where people stood in line until well past midnight to say goodbye, and more recently, in an effort to build something in his honor.

A capital campaign is under way to raise $500,000 for the Jim Whorley Field House. The 5,000-to 6,000-square-foot structure will be built at Brookville High School’s Stinger Stadium, near where the concession stand is currently located. It will include three or four locker rooms, a training room and an equipment room to be used by Brookville’s student athletes.

Currently, the school has just two varsity locker rooms. Visiting teams use the physical education locker rooms and, when sports seasons overlap or if a team goes into post-season play, there is even more of a shortage.

According to his former colleagues and friends, having a field house at Brookville was something Whorley talked about often.

“We had talked about it, Jim and I, on numerous occasions,” John Vasvary, Whorley’s longtime friend and colleague, said, adding that the question was always, “Where are we going to get the money from?”

Vasvary and Whorley coached football and track together at Brookville in the 1970s before both left to pursue other career opportunities. In 1994, when Whorley was named Brookville’s principal, Vasvary returned as athletics director. In the middle, they kept in touch and went to Brookville football games together when Vasvary, who’d moved away, was back in town.

Vasvary, now retired, is heading up fundraising efforts for the field house project.

“Jim and I were together for so long,” he said. “If anything happened at Brookville, it was ‘Jim and John.’ I guess it was almost natural for me to head [fundraising] up because people put the two of us together.”

Bob Bailey also coached football with Whorley and later served as his assistant principal at Brookville. When talking about Whorley, he recalls a man who was instrumental in his decisions to coach football and become a school administrator.

“He had as much influence on me as anyone I know, outside of my family,” Bailey said.

Bailey also remembers someone who set the bar high.

“I don’t know of him ever saying or doing anything that wasn’t well thought out, and he always made the right decision,” he said. “That always impressed me about him, being a principal, that he always made tons of those decisions daily, small and large. There’s always the opportunity to do the wrong thing and he almost never did. He had a quality like that.”

According to current Brookville principal, Bruce Abbott, the goal is to break ground on the field house in the next six to nine months. As of mid-October, he said nearly $300,000 had been raised or pledged for the project. Local businesses have also donated materials or services needed, or offered them at a reduced cost.

The fundraising campaign is also part of a bigger effort that, like the impact Whorley had on Brookville, will live on.

“The original thinking behind this was to create a fund that not only would build a field house but would continue for years to come and provide facilities resources for Brookville High School,” he said. “The first goal is to build a field house. The Jim Whorley Fund will continue long after the field house is completed.”

If Vasvary has it his way, something else will also live on at Brookville: a new tradition.

“I want to have a nice little monument thing, like you’d see in a graveyard, three or four feet high and have a plaque on it with ‘Jim Whorley Field House,’” he said. “I’d like to make it a tradition that [the athletes] slap it on the way onto the field.”

For more information about the Jim Whorley Field House project, or to make a donation, contact John Vasvary at (434) 229-3599 or vasvary@verizon.net.

For WSET, the ABC-affiliate in Lynchburg, fall has also meant the start of two simultaneous transformations. On September 12, the station premiered their 5 p.m. newscast, in addition to an HD-format that has been in the works for the better part of a year. Among all the new, a familiar face—Danner Evans—rejoined the team to anchor the new, hour-long show. Learn how they prepared to launch the newscast in a time slot once dominated by Oprah, and why Evans says she is “honored” by the show’s viewers, in the Technology section.

While fall brings many predictable changes, from the colorful trees to cooler weather, we are still only a month into the season. With so many transitions occurring in the local business world, it’s an exciting time at Lynchburg Business to be covering our area’s companies and their happenings. We hope you enjoy reading about the latest news in the pages that follow and look forward to what changes may still lay on the horizon for our business community.

Best,

Prototype Media

“The purpose of the new station is to allow the fire department to keep up with the growing community that we protect. Currently, we do not have space for an aerial truck (tower ladder) to replace our heavy rescue truck … we have added on three different times. We have 12 officers currently sharing one office, and we have no place for members to stay at the station when bad weather moves in,” Monty Coleman, Assistant Chief and lifetime member at the department, said.

Coleman says the new fire station will change that—giving them the room needed to operate on an optimum level.

“The new station will give us the needed space to expand our apparatus to better serve our community,” he said. “It will also let us have a spot for members to staff the station and stay the night. We will also be able to hold classes so we can further our education, on a local and state level. It will give us the much needed space to handle our office duties. We will have a spot to grow for the next 50 years.”

Plans for the project began in January of 2007; however, construction started just recently on August 25 and is scheduled to be complete by January 2012. The new location, next to Thomas Jefferson Elementary School, is just a quarter mile from the current station.

The schematics for the building will include a variety of uses.

“The building is designed with offices, training rooms, a kitchen and meeting room downstairs,” Coleman said. “On the upstairs, we will have male/female bunkrooms, locker rooms and gym, along with a dayroom (TV area and relaxation area), storage for apparatus, and a workshop area along with an equipment cleaning area.”

Coleman-Adams Construction is responsible for the building of the new station. President Clif Coleman says that the building will be a combination of brick, EIFS and metal exterior.

“Currently the steel is up and the bricklayers are working on block work and plumbing is being roughed in and concrete floors should be in about a week from today,” Clif said.

Construction is getting accomplished with the help of many hands.

“Currently, [there are] 32 men on-site but will vary depending on tasks in progress,” Clif said.

The total cost of the new building will be around $2.5 million. However, the department is in dire need of funding to complete the project.

“Funding is key! We are short currently $800,000. We hope to get the word out and raise funds, as this is not just a station for the firefighters but an investment for the citizens as we continue to answer their call for help and protect their investments,” Monty Coleman explained. “We have worked hard to raise money for this new station. We are looking forward to moving in at the end of the year. … This is an exciting time in history for the department.”

If you are interested in donating to the Forest fire station project, please call (434) 525-4044.

And Marjette Upshur would know. As Director of Economic Development for the City of Lynchburg, transportation is crucial for bringing people—and business—to the area. That’s why she’s so excited about the new transportation project coming to Lynchburg, the Odd Fellows Road/U.S. 460 connector.

“This is really going to open up the area around the Lynchburg Industrial Park for businesses to expand, build and bring new business to town,” Upshur said.

For years there has been talk about the need for an interchange at Odd Fellows Road, which currently ends just yards away from 460. A lot of the businesses on Odd Fellows Road are wholesalers, distribution centers and printing companies. Because of this project, these businesses will be able to get right onto the highway.

“This project will afford existing businesses direct access to 460. And when time is money, direct access is certainly an advantage,” Bryan David, Executive Director of Region 2000, said. “When you’re trying to recruit new business investors, they look at infrastructure. This project will only give us a more competitive advantage to attract new business.”

Rob Cary, the Virginia Department of Transportation Administrator for Lynchburg, said at this point, the exact route and the ultimate configuration of the project isn’t known. But in concept, it would cross U.S. 460 and connect near the base of Candler’s Mountain Road. It will be about one mile long and will cost $30.5 million.

“This will open up a lot of area for economic development,” Cary explained. “It’ll alleviate some of that traffic congestion at the intersection of Mayflower Drive and Candler’s Mountain Road. It’ll allow traffic, especially truck traffic, to leave Odd Fellows Road, and be able to go east or west right onto 460.”

Getting the Green Light

This project has been an idea on a list of long-range road plans for quite some time because there wasn’t funding for construction. But that all changed when Governor Bob McDonnell put this project on the state’s six-year improvement program earlier this year. Much to the surprise and delight of local leaders, he announced that this project would, in fact, go forward. Now, the state will be providing $550,000 for the connector, along with federal funds to help cover the cost.

“I really want to applaud and recognize the efforts of all of our legislatures that were involved in helping to get this project considered,” David said.

“Our legislatures did a great job going to bat for us for this,” Upshur echoed.

Upshur points out that a lot of the roads in Lynchburg are in pretty good shape.

“That’s good for us, but we often get overlooked for funding for transportation projects,” she said.

Now that this project has gotten the green light, work can begin. Cary said the plan is for the connector to be under construction in the next three years. But don’t expect to see bulldozers on-site anytime soon. Because the project has federal funding, the Metropolitan Planning Organization of Central Virginia has to approve the expenditure of the federal funds, Cary explained. There are many requirements and guidelines that must be followed, including surveying the site and getting a base plan for what’s out there.

“You and I can stand on the side of the road and think it looks great and the connector should go here, but until we really get in there and survey the land, we’re not sure what we’re working with,” Cary said.

There’s environmental work that has to be done to make sure there are no endangered plants or animals or even historical sites in the area. Once that step is complete, the design work can begin to decide exactly where the connector will go and what the configuration will look like. There is also the rite of way acquisition process that has to be taken into account. And, because Cary said they will utilize public involvement, they’ll get input and feedback from citizens, local leaders and business owners on what they’d like to see and what future demands might be.

“It’s a big project. But we want people to know they’ll have opportunities all along the way to see plans, comment on the plans and give any final input on the design of this before any decision is made,” Cary said.

He also said this project has bigger implications that need to be considered, such as how this interchange will connect with existing roads.

Cary said this project will be a design-build, which will help move things along quickly. Traditionally, they would design the project, put it out to contractors to bid, and then a contractor would begin building. With a design-build, VDOT will design 30 percent of the plans, and then put those plans out to consortiums of designers and contractors to bid on finishing the design and building it.

“This allows design work to be done while the contractors are working simultaneously,” Cary said. “Because of the magnitude of this project and the money involved, it’s a good candidate for design-build.”

Driving in the Dollars

“This project has a high economic return,” David said. “I’m excited about the opportunities this will have for the whole region. I think it’s just going to help with overall economic development and growth.”

“This is just going to help us on so many levels economically,” Upshur said. “The construction part will bring jobs. It will bring new businesses to town and allow existing ones to expand. This connectivity is just better for everyone.”

After three and a half years of discussion and planning, construction is underway for the creation of a new pedestrian tunnel underneath the set of railroad tracks that currently separates Liberty’s campus and Wards Road. Construction has also just begun on a new pedestrian bridge that will cross over Wards Road, allowing students to safely walk over to Wal-Mart and other shopping centers located nearby.

Lee Beaumont, Liberty’s director of Auxiliary Services, says the bridge is the best solution to providing students with a safe crossway.

“Jerry [Falwell, Jr.] wanted something where you’re not going to stop traffic and you’re not going to have people hitting the buttons to change the lights because Wards Road is so heavily filled with traffic,” Beaumont said.

Construction on both the bridge and tunnel began in June and is expected to continue until its estimated completion at the end of September. The tunnel will begin behind Liberty’s Vines Center and come out from underneath the train tracks near Panera Bread on Wards Road. From there, students can then access the new bridge, which will cross over from Panera Bread and land them directly in front of Wal-Mart on the other side of Wards Road.

Charles Spence, Liberty’s director of Planning and Construction, says one of the challenges with beginning construction this late in the year is getting it completed as students returned to campus earlier this month, during the middle of the project’s construction.

“It’s much more of a challenge to do it this late in the year with the heat and the population of kids returning the first of August,” Spence said.

But both Beaumont and Spence agree that the completion of the new pathways will provide a number of benefits, not only to students, but to the public vendors in the nearby local community as well.

“If I owned a business, I would consider it very, very positive,” Beaumont said of the construction of the pedestrian tunnel. “And if I were any one of those guys—the Vitamin Shop and Panera—where the tunnel comes out, I would be very excited.”

Last year, Liberty began opening up their food services to public vendors through an off-campus solutions program. Over the past year, $1.2 million was spent throughout the community through Liberty’s off-campus solutions program, according to Beaumont.

This year, Beaumont says Liberty plans to double the amount of money provided to students through the program, opening up anywhere between $2.8 and $3 million of the Liberty community’s dollars to public vendors on and around Wards Road.

“If you look at total tax revenue, sales tax revenue for the majority of the city comes from this immediate area—the Liberty and Wards Road area,” Beaumont said. “But what [the pedestrian bridge] does is it gives the kids a safe way to get across and do their shopping. They don’t have to dodge traffic.”

The pedestrian bridge will be made up of a covered section on each side of Wards Road with an elevator, stairs and handicap ramps allowing it to be fully accessible to students, as well as the general public. The walkway, which will stand about 18 feet above Wards Road, will be about eight feet wide, allowing for comfortable two-way traffic.

Spence says Liberty will be keeping up with minor maintenance on the bridge but the city, which funded the majority of project for an estimated $1.35 million, will keep up with the major maintenance. Spence estimates the entire pedestrian bridge project will fall just under $1.5 million.

“It’s a big benefit,” Beaumont said of the bridge. “You now give [students] a safe conduit to hit all the businesses in town which increases their sales which of course helps jobs which creates tax revenue.”

As for the pedestrian tunnel, Liberty has funded an estimated $2.2 million on the project. Although the public will be able to access the pedestrian bridge, the pedestrian tunnel is currently planned to be accessible primarily to the Liberty community using access badges.

“Everything we do is to make life better here,” Beaumont said, “so that’s the thing you can guarantee.”

Shortly after September 11, 2001, local photographer Steve Coates and Emmett Lifsey, a principal at CJMW Architecture, were talking about a series of photos Coates had taken of New York City before and after the terrorist attack.

Thinking Coates’ work deserved an exhibition and having some extra space on the first floor of the 1920s bank building that CJMW had occupied since opening its Lynchburg office in 1999, Lifsey suggested the firm host an art opening.

“We did a little wine and cheese thing and had some people in,” he said. “Amazingly, it just grew from that. We did it … every month for five years. They were all local artists, watercolors to sculpture to photography. It was a nice thing early on to give a lot of local artists a lot of exposure. It sort of helped add to the continued vibrancy of downtown, I think.”

Eventually, the extra space was swallowed up by desks, bookcases and more employees, but by that time, Riverviews Artspace and other venues were hosting First Fridays events.

“It sort of blossomed and took on a new life and we feel good about that,” Lifsey said.

Over the years, CJMW―which also has offices in Winston-Salem and Asheville, North Carolina, and Lexington, South Carolina―has been involved in many projects aimed at revitalizing Lynchburg’s historic downtown area, perhaps the most striking of which is the Old Court House Museum.

Sitting atop Clay Street and visible from as far away as the Madison Heights side of the John Lynch Bridge, the 1855 structure was badly in need of work. A wind storm damaged the cupola in 1992 and 10 years later, the ceiling in one of the courtrooms collapsed.

Also, the front portico was sliding down the hill, the foundation and cornice needed repairs and the heating, cooling and electrical systems needed upgrading. There were also things done in a 1970s restoration that, looking back, could have been done differently, said Tom Ledford, the Lynchburg Museum System’s administrator from 1976 to 2005.

“So, we began the search for an architectural firm that had the experience to take on a project of this size,” Ledford said. “We knew of Emmett Lifsey’s work at the Danville railroad station project. Every architect we interviewed took credit for that project―they were, in fact, all involved―but Emmett was the one that the people in Danville thought was responsible for that success. We interviewed him and selected his company to take on the restoration.”

One thing that was important to Ledford, and the administrators of the historic tax credit programs the City of Lynchburg would be tapping to fund the project, was maintaining the building’s historic integrity.

On that line, one challenge for the architects was installing―and hiding―the building’s new sprinkler system. Lifsey, who worked years ago with renowned Tidewater preservationist John Paul Hanbury, was up to the task.

For the most part, the sprinkler system is housed between floor and ceiling joists with sprinkler heads popping out at regular intervals.

“Emmett and his crew designed a pretty ingenious way to conceal most of it,” Ledford said. “It’s hard to do in a historic building like that. I think that segment of the project was extremely successful.”

Another local restoration job that CJMW is involved in is the Academy of Fine Arts, built in 1905 as the Academy of Music Theatre. CJMW has already worked with the Academy to renovate gallery spaces and to rebuild the theater’s fly tower. When fundraising permits, they will move forward on plans to restore the historic theater, which once hosted Will Rodgers, Ethel Barrymore and others.

Lifsey called the Academy a “wonderful anchor tenant” for downtown, citing performances and classes already offered by the facility.

“With the addition of the restored theater, it would just compliment all of the other things that are already in place and really become not just an anchor tenant for downtown but truly for the entire region, the Region 2000, if you will,” he said, adding that larger, traveling shows would draw patrons from outside the area.

CJMW, which has been in business for more than 40 years, does more than architectural design for historic preservation projects. Much more, in fact. They also offer engineering, interior and sustainable design, digital imaging and Building Information Modeling services to clients in the healthcare, education, religion, hospitality, senior living, cultural and sustainable, or “green,” fields.

Even though it’s just one of the areas CJMW specializes in, it’s evident that Lifsey has a special place in his heart for historic preservation. Calling it a “lifelong love,” the 54-year-old architect talked about one of his newest projects: the Allied Arts Building on Church Street.

He paused for a moment to decide whether or not it was too soon to talk about, but then plunged ahead, saying that he’s been working with the owner to assess the maintenance and renovation needs of the art deco skyscraper.

“Allied Arts is just one of the grand dames of downtown,” he said. “Hopefully, over time, that will be addressed. There’s going to be some fun work on that building over the next couple of years.”

“It’s practically finished,” Bob Bailey, CAER Executive Director, said. “We did receive our certification of occupancy—our temporary certificate on May 19^th. So we are in the process of dotting ‘i’s’ and crossing ‘t’s’. Essentially, with that certificate, that means it is certified to use immediately.”

The 30,505 square foot building at the New London site, just off U.S. 460, is a state-of-the-art structure, complete with AREVA’s mock nuclear power plant control room and a soaring tower where the Babcock & Wilcox Company (B&W) will install a prototype of its new modular nuclear power reactor, called mPower.

“[B&W’s] schedule has that test loop being commissioned in early September. They’re essentially on the site now, and will be running the program by then. They are working on installation now,” Bailey said.

The result of a $5 million grant from the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission, Bailey says the addition of B&W’s integrated system test facility into CAER’s space now comprises 10 to 15 percent of the facility—space not accounted for in the original blueprints.

“Probably the biggest issue [during construction] was the fact that we redesigned the building to incorporate B&W’s mPower after we had broken ground. So, we were redesigning as we went along … that was a challenge!” Bailey said.

But, it was a welcome challenge as Bailey knows B&W’s presence will only amplify CAER’s  objective of bringing research, technology and nuclear development to the forefront in this area.

“The predominant strategy in economic development today, across the country, is in creating what are called ‘innovation ecosystems’ and that is creating an environment and a culture where new knowledge, new technology, new innovation can not only be created, but can be followed all the way through the commercialization process into the marketplace. And one of the key engines for an innovation ecosystem is a place that supports that kind of work,” Bailey said. “Most regions have a research university. Since we don’t have a research university, this is our strategy for developing that environment. And that’s why it’s so important. Without something like this, we are stuck at square one.”

This fall, CAER will offer a Project Management Professional Certification Course on-site. Lab space will also be made available to students of the center’s university partners, as well as labs to help develop wireless technologies. Future classes, symposiums and professional development initiatives are also in the works. While those initiatives are complimentary to CAER’s goals, Bailey says they are “secondary to the primary mission of the facility, which is research and product development.”

“We have developed these [university] partnerships around research and we are trying to leverage these same partnerships to drive technical symposiums and technical seminars around areas of interests. We are working with UVA on a corrosion seminar in the fall, working with George Mason on project management for engineers, Virginia Tech and thermal fluids—those types of things,” he explained.

Ultimately, Bailey says the success of CAER will be determined by what is produced there, and how that creation stimulates the local economy.

“The idea is that jobs are created by innovation; someone coming up with a product that can increase a company’s marketplace,” he said. “If you just drive costs down, all you are really doing is driving your profits down, so its innovation and development of new products that drives economic growth.”

For now, a joint grand opening of CAER with B&W is being tentatively planned for August. In the meantime, Bailey says the finishing touches are being completed; readying the center to welcome what he believes will be a new era in Region 2000’s history.

“We are excited to get it open. It has been a long process,” he said. “Here we are, finally at the finish line. We are really excited to get the construction phase behind us and get the utilization phase underway.”

For more information about CAER, visit www.region2000.org/the-caer.html.

No doubt, there are years of neglect and unhealthy upkeep, but recent improvements and plans have brought hope of recovery. So, what’s next for 5th Street?

Following The Master Plan
With Phase One of the 5th Street master plan complete—reflected in the much safer round-about and general streetscape improvements, such as benches and trash cans—the city now moves to Phase Two. Phase Two is more about the replacement of key sewer lines but while the construction of the infrastructure is occurring, the street projects make sense to follow parallel.
According to 5th Street Master Plan (available at lynchburgva.gov), Phase Two will involve more streetscape improvements from Madison to Church Streets, including new sidewalks, benches, trash cans and trees.

A large portion of streetscape improvement funding comes from the Transportation Enhancement Grant Program administered by VDOT which, in turn, is funded by the federal Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient Transportation Equity Act, or SAFETEA. In addition to the city’s Capital Improvements Program, the other important source of support is the Virginia Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program, which funded the development of this plan, along with the purchase of street furniture for 5th Street.

The purpose of all of these improvements is to better the community by making 5^th Street more attractive and accessible, which will hopefully lead to more development. Phase Two is planned to begin this month and with take about 20 months to complete.

Development
Just like in downtown Arlington, Alexandria, and Richmond before it, 5th Street is in a promising position for developers with the potential to become a hip, gentrified local version of SoHo or Carytown. The property values are affordable and mostly undeveloped. So, why have few made the leap?

Several reasons, including local stigmas of 5th Street, still abound and the wave of downtown revitalization may just now be making it up the corridor. Fortunately, those stigmas are changing with time and clean-up and there is hope of a possible 5th Street Historic nomination, which will aid developers in renovations.

What Goes Where?
Recently, the Lynchburg City Housing Authority transferred two properties in the 700 block (702 & 708) to Lynchburg Neighborhood Development Foundation (LNDF) for $1. Both buildings were set for demolition due to their decayed state, but LNDF (an organization that is making an effort to develop the surrounding block) believes they can be secured and repurposed.
The contract requires LNDF to stabilize the buildings by June 30 and complete the rehabilitation in two years.

The president of LNDF, Laura Dupuy, organized a recent “design charette,” meant to solicit feedback from the community and open the conversations for the best design and usage of the 700 block. Dupuy has been a leader in revitalizing several key areas along 5th Street. The most recent and notable of which is the revitalization of the old Pyramid Motors building, which now is home to the Centra Johnson Health Center.

Dupuy says her hope is to see “success made by community.” LNDF is working with the Fifth Street Community Development Corporation to ensure the development is in line with the 5th Street Master Plan.

“LNDF has a record of getting things done and creating quality development along the 5th Street Corridor,” Scott Smith, a Fifth Street CDC Board Members said.

Smith, who lives along the same corridor, is a part of that community—a community that has been asking for several things, namingly, a grocery store, restaurants and a pharmacy. The challenge is making those things come to be in a previously depressed area.

Jason Ivy from Charlottesville saw that opportunity and rehabbed 700 5th Street on his own. Ivy is now opening the new DOLLAR MAXX store this month.

“The store will offer basic, everyday needs at an affordable price,” said Ivy, noting that this is something that the community of 5th Street has been wanting. “Small steps are paving the way. There is a tremendous amount of potential and I believe the time has come.”

Over the next two years, residents can expect to see lots of construction signs, dumpsters and even delays along 5th Street. But for many, it’s a welcome trade-off … simply part of the surgery in hopes of creating a healthier city, one block at a time.