On August 7, 2009, the Town of Blacksburg celebrated the grand re-opening of the Blacksburg Motor Company building. The building, built in 1924, has been an integral part of the Town’s history, and in 2007 the Town purchased the building with the goal of incorporating it into a “Town Government campus”.
Situated on the corner of Main and Clay Street, the building serves as a welcome to the downtown area, and demonstrates the commitment Blacksburg has to maintaining its’ unique character. Built with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) characteristics in mind, the process of renovation was made more difficult by the existence of five buried tanks on the property, most of which were leaking and in very poor shape – two of the tanks, including one directly under the building, still remain on the property.
While much has been written in the debate over whether the Town should have purchased and renovated the property, what’s not in question is how nice it is to see the Blacksburg Motor Company still in use. See more of the building and its renovation on Flickr, or in the video below: