Debi Denney, special events coordinator for Bristol, Virginia, places her note with an idea for a vacant downtown building.
David McGee
BRISTOL, Va. — A rainbow array of lavender, pink, green, blue and orange sticky notes were carefully pressed against glass Wednesday night at five vacant downtown buildings.
Written on each was a wish, a dream, a vision for what might one day operate there: ice cream shop, deli, musical instruments store, restaurant, diner, apartments, grocery store — even an FBI office and a Tiki bar.
The hourlong visioning exercise gave about 30 people a voice in a new effort to address empty spaces in the Twin City’s downtown.
Bristol is one of ten Virginia communities to receive a grant funded by the Appalachian Regional Commission for a comprehensive effort to revitalize downtown areas across Virginia Main Street communities.
The goal is to identify development opportunities, analyze market conditions and attract investment by creating a data-driven redevelopment strategy.
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Place + Main Advisors of East Lansing, Mich., has been contracted as the consultant for all ten communities, which include Marion, St. Paul and Wytheville in far Southwest Virginia. Others are Buena Vista, Covington, Galax, Martinsville and Pulaski. The consultants are scheduled to visit Tazewell in September.
The local effort is being overseen by Believe in Bristol, in partnership with Virginia Main Street and Friends of Southwest Virginia.
“When we learned we were getting this opportunity, we had Place + Main come in and directly ask us for some white elephants within our downtown district. It was music to our ears,” BIB Executive Director Maggie Elliott said.
“We know these properties we’re looking at, specifically this time, are also a representation of other vacant properties we have within our downtown district — not just on the Virginia side but also on the Tennessee side,” she said. “We do see similar square footage and layout that might present a challenge for property owners … It gives us a better understanding of what the market can actually support.
“People want more restaurants. Can they actually support more restaurants? This is educational research backing to make sure we’re still doing what we need to do for the locals,” Elliott said.
The tour included two stops on Piedmont Avenue — the 20,000-square-foot former post office where a culinary school and, more recently, a comedy club, operated and two single-story storefronts of 2,500 and 2,000 square feet respectively, near Blackbird Bakery.
Other stops included the former Quaker Steak and Lube site at 629 State, which is over 18,000 square feet and has been on the market for 1.5 years plus the Dent K. Burke office building at 513 State, which is 19,000 square feet.
The last stop was the 1,500 square-foot ground floor space at 174 Moore St., across from the Birthplace of Country Music Museum.
Joe Borgstrom, principal of Place + Main Advisors, said they asked for the “most difficult” buildings to fill.
“They certainly gave us a couple that are challenges. Some are pretty straightforward, but some are going to be challenges,” Borgstrom said.
The analysis and recommendations are expected in four to six weeks, he said.
“We want an idea from the community about what kind of things they want to see. A lot of times you’ll have a market analysis done and it’s all these big numbers and talk about big chains. We’re not worried about big chains. What can actually work in the spaces,” he said.
“We’ll do a retail market analysis but what really helps us is we try to connect to the vacant spaces so getting the community’s input on that is super important…We still learn from the community all of the time, that’s why we do this. We want to get people involved and excited about these things because they’ll have ideas that we don’t,” Borgstrom said.
The tour bypassed two prominent, recently closed restaurant spaces, both of which are back on the market.
“We’d be remiss not to acknowledge those closures — and those closures are important to us as we continue to recruit — and looking at the reasons. Were those reasons the same across the board? Absolutely not. That’s important for us,” Bishop said.
“We also know food and beverage businesses, right now, are that high risk. It’s very difficult to keep that food and beverage piece afloat,” she said. “We’re making sure we are supporting those businesses appropriately and taking all of those notes into consideration.”
Twitter: @DMcGeeBHC
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