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INTRODUCTION & SUMMARY

CHAPTER i

business community, as employers find it difficult to attract and retain employees as they struggle to afford the town’s living costs. At the same time, the development of new, more dense, more affordable housing for non-students has been stymied by restrictive land use policies put in place to prevent all housing in town from becoming undergraduate student housing. With Virginia Tech expected to add nearly 5,000 more students over the next decade, these pressures will only intensify. Nowhere are these challenges experienced more acutely than in Downtown Blacksburg. Centered around Main Street, the town’s primary

north-south corridor, and bordering Virginia Tech’s campus, Downtown contains many important community gathering places. These include Market Square Park, College Avenue, and Henderson Lawn. It is also home to many local restaurants and retail businesses that reflect the town’s unique identity. Yet, the relatively low density and intensity of Downtown development, the lack of housing appropriate for non-students, and limited multi -modal access points have made the neighborhood a driving destination, leading to traffic and parking struggles for many. Development Strategies was hired by the Town of Blacksburg to study these challenges

I NTRODUCT I ON & SUMMARY

Located in the shadow of the Allegheny Mountains, Blacksburg is defined by its geography. It is remote from major regional cities and surrounded by mountains on three sides, which has nurtured its small-town, close- knit character. It is also defined by its local institution—Virginia Tech, the state’s third- largest university and the largest employer in the region. With nearly 30,000 students and 8,000 faculty and staff members, Virginia Tech is the town’s primary economic driver, bringing in levels of talent and intellect unusual for a community of Blacksburg’s size. Over the past several decades, as Virginia Tech’s student enrollment has steadily increased, Blacksburg has felt the pressures of its geographical limitations. The 2015 Downtown Blacksburg Housing Market Strategy found that even with the construction of purpose-built, off- campus housing for students, student housing supply has not kept up with demand, and students have spread out to live in all parts of town, including in single-family homes. The resulting increase in housing values has driven much of the non-student population to the outskirts of town and to the neighboring communities of Christiansburg and Radford. It has also discouraged the growth of a local Blacksburg has the opportunity to cultivate its Downtown as a dynamic, active, and accessible neighborhood. Doing so will require a shift in its development paradigm, enabling the town to celebrate its rich past while also nurturing its bright future.

CINCINNATI

BALTIMORE

WASHINGTON, D.C.

100 MILES

CHARLESTON

LEXINGTON

RICHMOND

BLACKSBURG

5 Downtown Blacksburg Strategic Plan

NORFOLK

KNOXVILLE

GREENSBORO

RALEIGH

ASHEVILLE

CHARLOTTE