The Blacksburg Partnership has taken it upon itself to reinvigorate downtown Blacksburg while adding additional commercial and recreational sites to the town.
With the help of RKG Associates, The Blacksburg Partnership, in the earlier part of the decade, was successfully able to create a plan for the town that would improve commercial corridors, aid in retail recruitment, and assist with commercial development.
The non-profit organization officially came together in July of 2003 and began a campaign to market the town to outside business that it thought would be a good fit in Blacksburg, a campaign that is still going on today.
"We have identified 200 business that we'd love to have in Blacksburg, and we've gone around the state looking at businesses, that would be a good fit if they decided to re-locate," said Blacksburg Partnership President Diane Akers.
The partnership, in the recent months, has acquired 36 acres of land off the highway where interstate 460 connects Christiansburg and Blacksburg. Fittingly titled the "Interstate Exchange" project, the Blacksburg Partnership facilitated a deal with the Virginia Department of Transportation where the town of Blacksburg would acquire the land at no cost.
The partnership, on the town's behalf, is working to interest commercial developers to develop on eight acres of property, and in return, the money gained would go toward developing parks out of the renaming 28 acres.
There still has yet to be a buyer for the site, though the partnership maintains that it has interested parties. Bill Aden, a board member for the partnership and founding member of Draper Aden Associates in Blacksburg said, "We have an interested party in putting a nice multi-story office building out there."
He added that if that falls through, they would run another campaign to try and get people re-interested in the property.
In the past year, The Blacksburg Partnership has received $200,000 total. $25,000 came from Tech, $25,000 came from the town of Blacksburg, $50,000 came from local businesses, and the other $100,000 came from various projects such as the Gobble Art project, Fork and Cork event, and local interest groups.
The Gobble Art project created 75 Hokie Bird statues through a company called Fiber Stock and sells them to various locations around town. The partnership has sold 70 pieces thus far and generated $190,000 in net profit from the project.
The process was considered such a success that the partnership is in the beginning stages of another Hokie Bird campaign, this time with "mini"' Hokie Birds that would stand between 18 inches and 24 inches off the ground as opposed to the those already around Blacksburg that are 5 feet tall.
The money the organization receives goes toward projects, recruitment, marketing and office costs. The partnership has allocated $20,000 each year to marketing and invested $52,000 into the Interchange Exchange project.
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A significant portion of retail space in downtown Blacksburg sits empty and all these people want to do is build shops elsewhere. The core of the town is falling apart, and there is major work to be done. It is not just about bringing in new businesses, it is about helping the ones that are currently there to improve their space as well. Some of those buildings are in horrible condition, and Blacksburg risks losing some historic venues if they let them fall into disrepair. They are going to lose the Bennett House, now lets not lose another.
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The rent is like $700,000 a year for the old sharkeys location, and it needs major work. Maybe the Town should make owners fix these properties instead of letting them set vacant. Oh wait that would take political will and TC doesn't have that.
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