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Who
knew revitalization could be such fun? 2006 was a year of celebration
for Downtown Lynchburg. We were honored to be selected as one of
only four communities in the country to receive the prestigious
Great American Main Street Award™ for 2006. In announcing the winners,
Lynchburg was recognized for broad-based community support of revitalization
efforts, a strong commitment to historic preservation, ability to
raise adequate funds for accomplishing improvements, and cooperative
efforts to recruit new businesses. Lynch's Landing also celebrated
its 10 th Anniversary as the leader for Lynchburg 's downtown revitalization.
The
award triggered a flurry of visits from elected officials, the media
and investors. Governor Timothy Kaine and Lt. Governor Bill Bolling
toured downtown to celebrate the progress. Media coverage included
local news stories, national coverage in several magazines, and
even international coverage when Japan 's Nikkei Marketing Journal
featured downtown Lynchburg on the front page.
Investment
and construction continued at a brisk pace in 2006 with the James
River Conference Center , Bluffwalk Center , Craddock-Terry Hotel,
and City Lofts. Private investment for the year was $23,164,000.
Another $13 million will be invested in early 2007 to complete these
projects. The City of Lynchburg continued to show its support for
revitalization by updating the riverfront portion of our Downtown
& Riverfront Masterplan and beginning the $1.4 million Depot
Plaza improvement project to enhance Riverfront Festival Park .
Our historic preservation commitment came through for a severely
deteriorated riverfront warehouse which was saved from collapse
and renovated for office space. 2006 saw 10 new housing units added,
14 net new businesses open, and a net increase of 50 new employees,
including a significant milestone when BWXT, one of the world's
most premier nuclear companies, relocated their corporate headquarters
to downtown Lynchburg .
The
broad support for downtown revitalization continues as evidenced
by the 1,500 volunteers who turn out annually for Lynch's Landing
activities and have donated more than 55,000 service hours since
2001. The Main Street program partners include 107 corporations
and organizations that reflect the community's diversity. Together
with downtown merchants, these organizations cooperatively marketed
the district and hosted 30 special events. The community embraced
a new event in 2006 called Rockin' Into Spring that featured 20
one-of-a-kind painted rocking chairs displayed on the sidewalk during
April to attract retail shoppers to downtown. Since 2001, it is
estimated that the 493,000 event attendees have spent more than
$24 million in Lynchburg .
City
Manager, Kimball Payne, commented that “Winning the Great American
Main Street Award™ is an affirmation that downtown Lynchburg 's
revitalization efforts are on the right track.” |
