A livable, high-tech community, Midtown will extend Blacksburg’s urban environment to Eheart Street with restaurants, bars, shops, and businesses in a neighborhood designed for long-term residents and pedestrians. Midtown will also preserve some aspects of the old Blacksburg Middle School site: where kids used to meet and cavort, there will still be green and open spaces for children – and their adults – to make friends and play ball.
A Place for Serendipitous Encounters
Technological advances can bring (almost) all that we desire to our front doors: online shopping is efficient, working from home is increasingly common, food and grocery delivery is convenient… drones are even starting to cover our forgotten drugstore purchases.
But something can be missing from this at-our-fingertips lifestyle: other people. Interacting with our fellow humans makes us happier.
No one is claiming that a mixed-use community is going to cure all loneliness, but the Midtown designers undertook this project with a specific aim in mind: providing Blacksburg with a lively, creative environment that encourages happy chance encounters.
At Midtown, you can run into an old friend or colleague during a yoga session at the park, meet your dog’s new best friend on the walking paths, attend a concert or lecture series at the plaza, exchange nods with someone you encountered through work, and generally deepen your roots in the community.
Gathering Spaces
A large plaza will serve as the entryway into the development. It will be fronted by a multi-use building with street-level restaurants, commercial space, and a hotel.
A central event space will be the heart of the community, providing a gathering and celebration area for the town. This will be the setting for outdoor concerts, theater performances, lecture series, and other events yet-to-be-dreamed-up. Surrounded by a ring road, the central space is intentionally designed for seasonal outdoor activities.
A large open space, Midtown Park, will be in the heart of the residential neighborhood. A system of pedestrian green streets and pocket parks will connect the community to Midtown Park.
Civic Spaces
Blacksburg’s Police Department may find a new home at Midtown. A new public parking garage is proposed for a parcel fronting on Clay street. There will be a central community and event space, tree-lined streets with wide sidewalks, multi-use trails, and a new bike line on Eheart Street, as well as a large park where children and adults can run, play Frisbee, and just stretch out.