VINTON, Va. (WFXR) — Vinton’s redevelopment projects are underway and aim to help the town move with changing times.
“We want to keep that small town feel while having big town opportunities,” said Vinton’s Economic Development Specialist Marshall Stanley. That means finding a use for every building, increasing foot traffic, and bringing in more opportunities for eating and shopping.
Stanley says along with building a more vibrant downtown, they’re also hoping to appeal to a growing young demographic. He says Vinton has “more residential units than ever, but the household size is smaller.”
Dogwood Restaurant is doing some redevelopment of its own, hoping it can keep its traditional style, while also welcoming the new younger residents to the bar they’re building next door. They say it’s in keeping with all the rejuvenation efforts they’re seeing in the area.
“To me, it seems like they’re trying to take downtown Vinton and make it somewhere people can go out and feel safe and have a good time, more of a family-friendly, nightlife type aspect,” said Manager Tyler Westerhold.
The town is also updating infrastructure to keep up with development, like adding shared-use paths on Walnut Avenue. All that work comes with what Stanley calls growing pains.
“As we have more opportunities and more small business investments we have to make sure our transportation allows for it,” he said.
For now, that means road closures and reroutes as they make those improvements, but he says that’s a necessary pain to make room for Vinton’s future.
