News
From the Director's Desk
DOWNTOWN REVITALIZATION UPDATE
FEBRUARY 19th
Many activities have been going on since the new year! Some highlights include continued tweaking of a pocket-sized map of the downtown that will serve as a directory for visitors, including tourists and soldiers. Talks have been ongoing regarding the maintenance of the town. Contact has been made with Joseph Irby II about his vacancy since Mahaney Nationwide has relocated their office. Two meetings have taken place with the major "car guys" in the area as a preliminary session for organizing a cruise-in/fly-in event. The kick off would highlight the opening of the "Classic Grille" by local entrepreneur, Louis DeNitto in the former location of Larry's Chevrolet at the corner of Main and Tavern. Having received communication and proposed plans for the Town Square, questions and discussions have ensued as we work the plan closer to the point where it can come off the drawing board and be made into a reality. So despite the snow, we have been quite busy continuing our mission of "providing leadership in developing and promoting Downtown Blackstone as an inviting place to visit and shop, a productive place to work, and a profitable place to invest".
FEBRUARY 1st
As we near the end of the Grant administration, we sit on the horizon of a year in which DBi can focus squarely on pursuing its Main Street initiatives. We still have a few items on our plate to wrap up but we will be shifting our attention to the needs of businesses downtown as well as the challenge of bringing people downtown to experience what it has to offer and just to enjoy the new environment that has been created and is still evolving. We will aggressively court businesses to fill the vacancies we have with an emphasis on the ones that will complement the existing merchants. In short, now that the physical revitalization has happened, we will now focus on making the economic revitalization happen. This is an on-going incrementally accomplished mission. Even though half the town has been upgraded, the streetscape project is yet to be done and the grant for it is delayed due to budget cuts so there will be more construction phases to come but in the meantime, we will take advantage of this window of opportunity to do the work of Main Street.
January 29th
The contractor's meeting was held at the DBi office. All pending construction items were reviewed and a progress report was given. Temperatures have delayed both the completion of the CDBG project as well as the construction of the street , Dinwiddie Avenue west, next to the Bon Secours Medical Center.
JANUARY 27th
On Wednesday and Thursday, January 27th & 28th, I was out of town at the annual Main Street managers' retreat which took place in Radford, Virginia. The focus of the training this year was on mission based financial planning and budgeting as well as mission based fund-raising.
January 19th
I have had my head down working feverishly to make the cutoff for submitting reams of paperwork to Virginia Main Street as required at the end of the year and I have completed that task at last! I have also had several committee meetings and DBi is off and running. Our work continues despite the CDBG project swiftly coming to a close. There still is the issue of developing a final design for the "Town Square" (formerly called "the hole") among many others that warrant our attention.
If you haven't been downtown in a while, be sure to notice the new awnings that have been put up!
THE VERY LATEST HAPPENINGS
Notable accomplishments in 2009
1. We played a major role in increasing the level of participation in the CDBG project ultimately achieving a total private investment of 1.6 million dollars into the Downtown District of Blackstone!
2. DBi helped recruit Town & Country Cleaners to Blackstone after Cavalier Cleaners left and a local property owner helped by recruiting a tenant, Just Sew Embroidery, formerly Mary Lou's of Farmville, and renovating a space for them in an existing building.
3. DBi partnered with the Rotary Club to pick up litter, paint faded curbing and plant shrubs for beautification of the Historic District.
4. The Design committee helped a local business resolve an awning problem they couldn't on their own, in similar fashion to "12 on your side".
5. We oversaw and approved every detail of the Facade Program and loaned out $100,000 to local businesses under the CDBG Loan pool, 100% of the available proceeds! This created jobs and enabled local businesses to purchase equipment for start up or expansion.
6. DBi designed an attractive Recruiting packet for businesses looking to locate here in Blackstone.
7. We are developing a visitor map to show the location of downtown businesses and parking. We are also creating a detailed "Google" map that can be added to our website for the same purpose.
8. We produce and distribute colorful newsletters that detail our activities in hard copy and electronic form.
9. DBi has increased our presence on the Virginia.com tourism website from 2 to 17 listings!
10. If your business has a website, we have added an icon beside the name of your business on the business directory page of the DBi website. Clicking on the icon opens a links to the website of the your business.
11. DBi has added Blackstone to the National Park Service website of Main Street Communities which literally puts the town on the map as a tourist destination!
12. DBi has partnered with the Chamber and local merchants to organize the Grand Illumination, Holiday Open House, and the annual Blackstone Christmas Parade.
Blackstone has a full service dry cleaners now. Have you taken them any business? Check them out at 116 E. Broad which is next door to the J.C. Penney Catalog Store.
The procedure for signs and property improvements (Design Guidelines)
Below is something new that I recently added to the site that might interest you. This is a link to many pictures of what Blackstone looked like back from the early 1900s up through the early 80s. It is interesting to see some of the buildings that are still here and some of those that have been lost or altered over time. If you are up for a little nostalgia click the thumbnail and take a trip to the past.
Old Photos of Historic Blackstone
CLICK FOR PHOTO GALLERY OF FACADES COMPLETED (Mission Accomplished)!!!!
These include the H.L. Jackson Building, the Allman properties at 105 and 107 W. Broad Street, Blackstone Emporium, the Blackstone Antiques Mall, and Candy Early's new building at 106 N. Main which some feel is the most attractive finished building up to this point.
NOW UNDER CONSTRUCTION (click thumbnail for photos showing the progress of work)
116-118 W. Broad St. 113 E. Broad St. 103 W. Broad St. 115-117 S. Main St.
113-115 North Main Street 119 S. Main St. 110 S. Main St. 100 S. Main St.
WHAT NEW BUSINESS WILL MOST LIKELY SUCCEED IN DOWNTOWN BLACKSTONE?
I get asked this a lot and it is a very good question. The research done by the marketing firm of Arnett Muldrow seeks to answer that very question in the following summary:
The D.B.I. Newsletter, Downtown Happenings is published quarterly, and distributed throughout the district. Copies are also available at the D.B.I. office and for download below. If you would like to contribute to this publication, please contact the D.B.I. office or D.B.I. Press Secretary Lucia Malon.
Lucia Malon, Benchmark Community Bank
434-676-2666 x1114
Downtown Happenings March '08 Edition
Downtown Happenings November '08 Edition (pdf 640kb)
Downtown Happenings March '09 Edition (pdf 818kb)
Downtown Happenings Summer '09 Edition (pdf 1,406kb)
