You came back?! Wow, I lost that bet - but glad you're here!
A quick post tonight, but wanted to point you to a quick video of Friday’s grand re-opening of the Blacksburg Motor Company building (aka Doc Roberts) here in Blacksburg.
More to come on this, but it’s nice to see a building like this restored to glory.
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I am on the fence about the Blacksburg Motor Co. I agree that it is nice to see the building restored and surrounding area improved. but the cost was prohibitive (>$5 million). especially given the fact that will not generate revenue (used as office space for local govt). and the environmental problems with the underground tanks may not be over yet.
I know hindsight is 20/20, but that’s a lot of money. I feel like it might have been put to better use.
You’re not the only one, behindtherabbit, who feels that way. That’s one of the things I hope to get into later as I have more time – the good (90% of the construction waste was recycled, for instance, or the geothermal system), as well as the bad. Nothing’s ever seemingly universally applauded and so I understand that there’s always going to be someone who’s not going to support the building, but I do commend the Town for preventing it from being developed off to the highest bidder, as well as their pursuit of tax credits ($1.5 million in tax credits, if I recall). How they deal with the public relations hit from here on out will be another thing.
Being new to town, my family and I had wondered what the building was being renovated for. We kept thinking… there’s not enough lot there for cars…
Learning that it will be municipal made me sigh just a bit. In the town I went to college in, they renovated an older building that looked much the same and used it for a nice office building, leasing space to small businesses that needed offices and providing a common reception, secretary and office equipment areas for those small businesses that couldn’t afford their own. It was and remains full to this day (more than 20 years ago!).
However, I really appreciate the city not allowing the space to be anything less than what it has become. We’ll be very proud of it as the years progress.
Jeff, welcome to Town! Yes, parking there might be scant – maybe we should all start driving scooters? I understand you have some experience in that area!
Honestly, I’ve wondered if the building’s best use wasn’t for municipal use … I mean, who else would have the pockets deep enough to make the project work, otherwise (and it could be argued that a local government shouldn’t have pockets that deep either, I understand)? But with tax credits and the like, at least SOME of the burden is alleviated.
It’s an interesting project, for one, because Blacksburg has subscribed to this Cool City initiative, but I don’t know how well we could say we’re following through on that. This is a real, brick and mortar example of putting our money where our mouth is and showcasing what can be done with LEED principles – geothermal, rain water collection and reuse, etc. Did it cost a lot of money to do? Yes. Was it the right thing to do? Yes. And in the end I think that’s most important. Maybe the why/how/when wasn’t communicated to citizens as well as it should’ve been, but in the end I think we’ll appreciate having this as the cornerstone to responsible in-fill.
I hope.
just want to clarify my original complaint. I love that the local govt did something with the site, and it is fantastic that they decided to follow LEED despite the extra financial burden.
what disappoints me is the end use. now it’s just another municipal office building. why not a showcase for green building tech? a 16 Blocks visitors center? I like Jeff’s idea of a small biz incubator. I’d even entertain the idea of some specialized commercial development – in keeping with CCI and/or a “small-town downtown” atmosphere. lots of end-uses that seem to me to be more appropriate for such a building in such a location.
Blacksburg is one of the few forewarding thinking areas of western Va. Having lived out of the area for nearly 20 years, it is refreshing to see a restoration project like this being completed in the area! Good job!
Not disagreeing with you at all, Ken – it’s nice to see Blacksburg take this initiative. Since you didn’t mention it, let me ask … does the price tag bother you at all?
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