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DOWNTOWN’S SIX DISTRICTS

CHAPTER 5

Catalyst 1: Development at the Baptist Church Site The Baptist Church site, including the church itself, as well as adjacent properties located within the block bounded by Main, Progress, Faculty, and Turner Streets, is an underutilized opportunity site in a critical location in Central Downtown. With the church considering divestment of the property and construction of a new facility in a different location, the site offers great potential to catalyze private investment in Downtown by introducing new mixed-use development and additional commercial space, as well as by meeting part of the demand for downtown housing. Development along Main Street should serve as a transition point in height and scale from the north to south, with up to five stories along Main, consisting of ground floor retail/restaurant space and upper-floor residential. This plan envisions preserving a space that functions as an alley and also as a shared space that accommodates vehicular access, pedestrian and bicycle activity, and service functions. On the east portion of the block, the alley can provide access to structured parking lined with residential units along Progress and Turner Streets. Four floors of structured parking would be sufficient to accommodate the combined commercial and residential uses on the block, and could be linked across the alley with a pedestrian walkway as a convenience to residents of the Main Street building. Care should be taken to ensure the scaling and massing of

development along Main and Progress Streets is varied, avoiding the appearance of a monolithic structure and transitioning to the existing fabric north and east of Progress Street. Well-designed architecture can accommodate efficient modern construction while also complementing the surrounding historic context of existing structures, including the preservation of the Wes Gray House at the northwest corner of Faculty and Progress. Catalyst 2: Central Main and a new “Front Door” The intersection of College Avenue and Main Street is the physical and social heart of Blacksburg. It serves as a gateway to the Virginia Tech campus as well as to businesses in Central Downtown. This extension of College Avenue offers an opportunity to create a signature public plaza and community gathering space at the most prominent location in Downtown Blacksburg. Existing landscaping along Main, together with a plaza-like streetscape north of Wilson, will create a more visible and useable public space: a new “front door” to Blacksburg. After the creation of structured parking in a central location nearby, the few pull-in spaces on College Avenue will no longer be needed. Surface parking behind the buildings will provide business loading zones. Likewise, improvements to the rear alley system will connect Faculty Street to Jackson Street, eliminating the need for a vehicular connection via College Avenue.

Outdoor public space

Mixed-use and infill

121 Downtown Blacksburg Strategic Plan