LYNCHBURG (WSLS10) - Major changes are underway in Lynchburg, more than a decade after a promise to invest $1 million every year in the downtown area. Now, over halfway through that 20-year commitment-- there's a new feel, from renovated buildings to new stores and living spaces.
The area between Fifth and Seventh Streets continue to see updates-- like the Academy Arts Center. Fundraising to bring the theater back to life has been in the works for more than two decades. Now it's becoming a reality, as the center is set to open by the end of 2018. Pair that with the grand opening of the Holiday Inn on Main Street and the Virginian Hotel-- which is scheduled to open by the end of this year, and city leaders believe this area of town will soon be a destination for meetings or business conferences.
"Lynchburg is a very old city that started here on the river," says Marjette Upshur, the Director of Economic Development. "When you have [redevelopments] like that, I think we have anchors at both ends of downtown now."
City Manager, Bonnie Svreck, hopes having anchor businesses, like hotels and restaurants, will continue to bring more and more businesses into downtown to fill the vacancies.
"Filling vacant storefronts is really really important in a downtown," says Svreck. "When I came here 17 years ago, leaving work at 6 or 7 or 8 at night, the streets were dead. It was almost scary walking to my car. Now, downtown is alive and bustling and on it's way to really becoming busy. I think that's very exciting for our community."
With more to do in Lynchburg, we're seeing an increase of people deciding to stay in the Hill City after college, specifically in the downtown area. Svreck says she's really seen that growth over the past few years.
"Because of the quality of life and the kind of community we are, a growing community, more and more students want to stay after they graduate. They want to get married and start their families here," she explains.
It's not just the students from Liberty University that are staying-- a recent study found that more people are moving into Central Virginia to work. That's a change that's evident every time a new living space in downtown opens up.
"Three of the residential projects that have opened in the last year or so have been 80-percent rented on the day they open the door," says Upshur.
Now that many of the anchor businesses are in place, we can expect even more developments-- like the potential for a grocery store or laundry mat for people who are living in the downtown area.