August 5, 2024 • 29 mins
Can an ambitious initiative redefine the heart of Richmond? Join us on "Life Unscripted with Kevin Shook," as Dakota Collins, Director of Community Relations at Earlham College, shares the intricate details of the groundbreaking "Revitalize Richmond" project. This initiative aims to breathe new life into downtown Richmond and strengthen the ties between the college and the community. Dakota walks us through the project's comprehensive planning process and its three main pillars: build, activate, and connect, underscoring the essential role of the Whitewater Gorge Activation Plan.
Discover how the revitalization effort is attracting successful local businesses from nearby cities like Bloomington, Muncie, and Oxford, creating a dynamic mix of eateries, e-commerce, and office spaces. We discuss the recruitment strategy, which involves hiring a specialized firm to identify and lure independently owned businesses with a proven track record. Hear about the ongoing infrastructure projects, such as the bike loop, and the necessity for community support during construction to ensure the long-term success of the downtown area.
In the final chapter, we explore the balanced approach to residential and commercial development, spearheaded by Richmond Neighborhood Restoration. Dakota shares exciting updates on transforming older buildings into modern apartments and retail spaces, and larger projects like the Sixth and Main development. With housing studies confirming the demand for new living spaces, we envision a vibrant future for downtown Richmond. Your patience and community support are key to this transformation, and we eagerly anticipate the remarkable changes the next five years will bring. Stay tuned for more updates on this inspiring journey.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Life Unscripted with Kevin Shipp.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Welcome to Life Unscripted.
This is Dakota Collins.
He is at Earlham College andwhat is your position out there?
Speaker 1 (00:11):
So I'm the Director of Community Relations, and what
does that entail?
It entails a whole bunch ofstuff.
It includes overseeingRevitalize Richmond our recent
funding opportunity that wereceived from the Lilly
Endowment to help revitalizedowntown Richmond.
But it also includes thingslike reconnecting the Richmond
and Earlham communities, gettingour students involved in
(00:33):
different things going ondowntown, bringing the community
back on campus to reallystrengthen that connection again
.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Sweet and doing podcasts, and doing podcasts,
and doing podcasts.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Early in the morning.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
No thanks for coming up here, and one of my big
things having you up here isjust to get some updates, if
there are updates, because I'mkind of like middle of
everything.
I have a lot of differentfriends from all walks of life.
They all have differentperspectives, different opinions
from all walks of life.
They all have differentperspectives, different opinions
.
They see construction, they'remad, yeah you know.
(01:10):
So it's kind of like I told himI'm like, well, I'll get one
guy up there that knows what'sgoing on and can kind of just
share some of the details andsome of the progress you know
we've had.
This is life unscripted, sure.
So I've obviously had all typesof different guests, from the
lieutenant governor to ared-tailed hawk from the Animal
(01:30):
Care Alliance.
That's really cool.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
I don't know if I can live up to either of those.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
It was just neat and it was an honor that all of
these people come in and talk.
So give us kind of an update,tell us what Revitalize Richmond
is, and then obviously the twowords go really well together
and it builds excitement.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
I hope so, because it is really exciting.
So let's see, it was March-ishof last year 2023, that the
Lilly Endowment released thisfunding opportunity, and it was
just for four year colleges anduniversities across Indiana and
they said we want you to workwith your local community to
find projects that would be ofthe benefit for both the college
(02:16):
and the community around it,and we will pitch in $25 million
a ton of money.
The catch was that if youwanted to apply for $25 million,
you had to come up with theother 70% of those project funds
somewhere else.
So, fast forward on that math,that's about $56 million that
you had to come up with to applyfor $25 million.
(02:39):
So we were really interested.
Earlham has been a part of theRichmond community for 176 years
a really long time butsometimes that relationship has
felt strained or we felt distant, or sometimes the college has
just kept to itself over oncampus.
But the college now wants totake a more community oriented
(02:59):
approach and be really involvedwith the community, and this was
a first big swing at bat for us.
This was something that only wecould do to help out the the
community, and this was a firstbig swing at bat for us.
This was something that only wecould do to help out the
Richmond community, and so wewent for it.
We jumped in with both feet.
We brought in a whole bunch ofpeople to figure out what we
should be doing, and when I saya whole bunch of people, a whole
bunch of people from thecommunity, community leaders,
(03:19):
people that had been working onRichmond and downtown
revitalization for a really longtime.
And so we did settle on thatdowntown revitalization because
of how important it is for thesuccess of the broader community
.
We really see if we can have areal positive effect.
If we can create a strongdowntown, it will have ripple
effects throughout the rest ofthe community.
(03:41):
And it's also a great benefitfor the college because so often
our students will come in orpotential students will come in.
They'll look around Richmondand say I don't really want to
live here for four years.
Or if they do come to Earlham,they don't want to then live in
Richmond after they graduate.
(04:01):
And I think that would benefitboth the Richmond and the
Earlham communities.
To have more students coming inand to have more of them living
here after graduation increasepopulation, increase the
workforce.
There's a lot of people buyinghouses.
There are a lot of really greatbenefits for the community, so
that's really why we settled onfocusing on downtown.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
That's exciting, that's real exciting.
So I read through the websitethis morning while I was on the
treadmill and kind of got thegist of things.
Three pillars to this, correctMajor pillars.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Tell me about that.
So we're focusing on build,activate, build and connect, and
they all have their owndifferent components and there
are a lot of projects that existwithin each of those.
But what a lot of people whenthey hear about $25 million
coming to town, or really over100 million coming to town, they
think how can I be a part ofthis?
(04:54):
And I'm so excited that peopleare thrilled about this and want
to be a part of it.
But in grants like this, yousubmit a full budget so you tell
the funder exactly how you'regoing to spend it before they
give you a dime, and so wesubmitted a really detailed
budget built out on those threepillars, so all of the projects
within those are fully or atleast partially funded.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
That's exciting, so activate, activate.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Tell me Activate.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
That's the really fun one You've told me about this
off the show a couple times, andthat's where it starts.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
It is where it starts .
So one of the things we allknow we want an active and
vibrant downtown.
We want to see people on thestreets doing things, and there
are a lot of little pieces tothat.
There are quality of lifepieces, there are business
pieces and they've all got tocome together to build out a
truly strong and vibrantdowntown.
So the first and one of the mostexciting things is that we're
(05:50):
helping to fund part of theWhitewater Gorge Activation Plan
.
Now this is really being done bythe Richmond Parks and
Recreation Department.
They've worked with the wholecommunity, they've worked with
some consultants to develop thisplan to activate the Whitewater
Gorge and it includeseverything you can imagine, from
simple parking andaccessibility features to being
(06:14):
able to kayak and canoe down thewater, to zip lining, to
potentially an amphitheater anda boulder park and a new
playground down in the gorge andjust all sorts of stuff, and so
with the completion of thisplan, it will really transform
the gorge into a truedestination.
People are going to come notonly to Richmond, but from
(06:35):
Richmond like citizens are goingto have so much fun down here.
Revitalize Richmond is fundinga portion of that, really
focusing in on improving thewaterway so that people can
kayak and canoe, and partneringwith a third party to do zip
lining, and so I think this isjust so exciting that'd be cool,
(06:56):
because a lot of people taketheir kayaks and leave Richmond.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
they do, and then they go get in the river down in
Brookville, down in Brookvilleor Connor in Ohio.
Yeah, yeah, so we'll be one ofthose destinations so people
from around here will be able tocome and then they go get in
the river down in Brookville,down in Brookville or Conner in
Ohio and stuff, yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
So we'll be one of those destinations, so people
from around here will be able tocome to Richmond.
Instead, we will be able tojust hop right here on the river
and take a ride.
It's going to be fantastic.
Plus, the zip lining is goingto be so much fun.
Yeah, it's just going to beawesome.
And then there are otherfunding opportunities out there
(07:31):
right now that others arepursuing to potentially fund
additional pieces of that gorgeactivation plan.
When you look at the plan intotal, it's probably a 15 or 20
million dollar plan.
That was going to be spreadover years and years because it
takes a while to get thatfunding.
But between Revitalize Richmondand all the work that the Parks
and Recreation Department aredoing and people like the Wayne
County Foundation, thiscommunity is really focusing on
getting that done for thebenefit of everybody so, like, a
(07:53):
lot of people talk about howthis almost sounds too good to
be true and I'm like but this isthe first time we've seen this
much money coming to ourcommunity.
Yeah, so it's going to happen Iget that people are skeptical
right that sometimes things likethis seem too good to be true,
but that's what this communityneeds.
But the commitment's there, thecommitment's there.
(08:13):
We've got 25 million dollars inthe bank right now to be spent
on downtown within the next fiveyears.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
It's happening yeah, and that's not even counting all
the community partners and thematching and all the stuff.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
That's not even counting all the community
partners and the matching andall the stuff that's going on
outside of Revitalize Richmond.
I mean the foundation keepsapplying for funds to bring in
money to help do projects thataren't covered in Revitalize
Richmond, or take those projectsand take them even further.
There's so much happening.
We've got so many incredible,dedicated people.
This is Richmond's time, andI'm perfectly comfortable with
(08:45):
people being skeptical of it IfI wasn't in the center of it, I
would probably be too, but thisis our opportunity, and so just
hold on, stay informed and keepbeing hopeful.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
So is there a timeline on the first pillar, on
activate?
Speaker 1 (09:02):
So each, each pillar and each project sort of
operates on its own timeline andso there are timelines for each
thing, but really overall we'retalking about a five-year
timeline ending in 2028.
So we started this past january.
We have to get everything doneby the end of 2028.
And, by the way, theorgeActivation Plan is only one part
(09:25):
of Activate.
There is even more that goesinto that.
So we know that downtown, inorder to be successful, has to
have cool, vibrant, excitingbusinesses downtown, and we
already have several.
There are really incrediblebusiness owners doing remarkable
things through a lot ofadversity, and I have so much
respect for them.
(09:45):
But in order to help them besuccessful, one of the things we
need to do is bring in more.
So we want to do that in twoways.
One is through empowering morelocal budding entrepreneurs.
If somebody's got a businessidea, we need to be able to
connect them with all theresources, give them all the
help and assistance they need inorder to be successful.
(10:07):
So we're going to hire afull-time business coach,
somebody that's out in thecommunity, going to the farmer's
market, going to networkingevents, talking to different
people and saying maybe it'stime for you to open up a
storefront or have you everconsidered opening up a business
?
And then if they need helpdeveloping their business plan
or putting together a pitch toapply for funding, or if they
(10:30):
need marketing help, this personcan help connect them with
different resources or find thema mentor that's already doing
something similar in thecommunity.
If somebody is looking to openup a restaurant and they're a
really great chef but have noidea how to actually run a
business.
Let's connect them with somebodylike Kathy Hillard, who runs
downtown deli and smileys, toreally help them figure out the
(10:52):
reality of what that's going totake and help them be successful
.
But, as we all know, buddingentrepreneurs present a little
bit of a risk.
A lot of businesses fail withinthe first three years.
So we want something that alsohas a little bit more stability.
It's a little bit sure bet.
So we're going to be hiring anoutside firm.
They're going to lookregionally at local,
(11:16):
independently owned businessesin other cities in Bloomington
and Muncie and Oxford, anywherearound and they're going to go
to those people that havedemonstrated success and say
maybe it's time for you toconsider opening up a second or
third location in a brand newmarket in a brand new market.
(11:38):
Let's look at downtown Richmondtogether to see if that will
fit your needs and reallyrecruit some of those existing
businesses with a good businessmodel, with a track record of
success, to come in and open upa second business here.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Well now when you say locally owned, are you?
Is that kind of likenon-franchise?
Speaker 1 (11:54):
So we'll keep it relatively flexible for the
company to look at these places.
But really what I want are more.
I won't go so far as to say momand pop shops, but we're not
necessarily looking for a bigcorporation.
It's not easy but the path isclear.
To try to get a national chainto come in and it is presented
(12:16):
with its own complications andthere's a lot of work that goes
into that.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
But what we want to see downtown full of are more
independently owned businesseswell, like on any main street in
any city, um you don't, youmight have some franchise right
like insomnia cookies.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Yeah, which would be amazing that's why I don't want
to count it out, because it'spossible, right, like if the
fit's there, we're never goingto say no to something that fits
the vibe, that fits the desire,that fits the need that our
community has.
But that might not necessarilybe the primary focus, right.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
And a lot of those shops in like downtown man you
can go like Rushville is a closethat I always talk highly of um
because they have blossomedthroughout the past eight years,
probably with their downtown umgreensburg they've been doing
well.
Green castle as well, yeah, um,and a lot of those are
non-franchise because they'resmaller, boutique style might do
e-commerce as well, so that'slike super exciting.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
And so that's sort of what that company will also
help us determine what's theappropriate market mix for a
downtown like Richmond.
How many restaurants do we needand what kind of restaurants?
How many e-commerce business?
How many office businesses?
What is the appropriate marketmix for our area?
And then, working with thatbusiness coach, the business
(13:42):
coach will secure some, theretail recruitment piece will
secure some others, so we canreally start building that from
the beginning.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
So is there a time frame on that?
Speaker 1 (13:58):
That's a lot.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
It's a lot I feel like that's a lot of research.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
I am trying to get all of that started very soon.
The path to this moment hasbeen a little challenging, more
than we anticipated.
There was a lot of stuff to doon the back end that we knew was
coming, but we didn't reallyknow quite how challenging it
was going to be.
So anything from setting up thechart of accounts on the back
end to figuring out ourprocesses, to getting agreements
(14:25):
with all of the partners thatwe're going to be funding, to
hiring people, I was in adifferent position at the
college and was supposed to takeon community relations starting
in January, but because ofdifferent things, we had a big
event, we had to find mysuccessor, I didn't get to
transition until May, and so alot of these things have just
changed our timeline a littlebit.
So the best answer that I cangive to that question is ASAP.
(14:49):
Asap.
To be determined when you seeit yeah, I'll let you know when
it's happening.
To be determined when you seeit, yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
I'll let you know when it's happening.
Well, I've talked to somedevelopers and that's talked
about some of the projects thatthey're going to be working on
some of it including some ofthis grant, and it's really
fucking exciting yeah it is.
It's awesome and you know, likethe building we're in right now
, it's not going to see thiswave.
And it needs to, but it's notits time right now.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
It's a really cool building, I know, and.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
I would have to try to recreate this same exact room
elsewhere, but we'll talk abouta new location another day.
But, um, so that's what I liketo um convey.
Um, the message today is likethere's like some really cool
(15:46):
things it's about to happen downdown here.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
And um seeing the phase two the bike loop almost
done.
Um, you know, people were kindof discouraged because, like
last year, I saw a lot ofhiccups with construction and
being torn up and stuff.
But I tell them just like, holdon, because I don't think they
(16:10):
realize what's about to happen.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
I think so too, yeah.
And construction, no matterwhere, no matter when, when,
it's always a drag, it's alwaysterrible.
It's always a challenge forbusiness owners, and so we, as
revitalize richmond, we as thecity, should be doing everything
we can to make that as least,as least challenging as possible
(16:32):
.
But it's always going to be achallenge, it's gonna be there.
But what we need to do as acommunity is embrace the fact
that these business owners needour support, even during
construction.
Even though you might have towalk one extra block instead of
just the half block to get towhere you're going, still go,
still go park in the parkinggarage.
It's perfectly safe, there's agreat place, no matter where
(16:54):
you're going to find a spot andgo patronize these businesses,
because they really need oursupport.
So if you care about downtown,if you care about downtown
businesses and you want to beinvolved, no matter what the
circumstances are downtown withconstruction, make sure you're
going to your favorite places.
Go to the deli, go to Suzy's,go to Ply Creatives.
You need to continue topatronize these businesses.
(17:15):
And so that's what I tell eachand every person when they say
how can I be involved?
How can I help?
Just go downtown.
Go downtown and shop andpatronize places.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
I love it you mentioned the parking garage,
because we'll go to Indianapolisand walk blocks and not even
think about it.
Not even here, do you?
You know, social media beingsocial media.
You hear, you see parkingcomplaints and it's like they
just put new lights oh yeahcameras like this parking garage
is amazing and you don't haveto pay.
You don't have to pay for anyparking downtown, which is just
(17:46):
unheard of anymore.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Even cities, our size like I'll go anywhere to a
similar size city and you've gotto pay for parking, especially
on the street or in a garage.
And, and you look at, a lot ofpeople think the parking garage
is unsafe.
You know it can be a littledingy, sometimes it's a little
dirty.
It's a parking garage, forgoodness sake.
But you look at the police dataand no calls get made from the
(18:08):
parking garage.
There are no crimes happeningin the parking garage.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Kids skateboarding and.
I'm usually one of them on aone wheel sometimes I'm usually
right in the middle of my onewheel at 39 years old it's fun
be careful.
It's fun I know I fell quite afew times, but uh, and it's a, a
lot of photographers use it foryeah, it's a beautiful place a
(18:31):
great spot on top forphotography, so kind of backing
up to the pillars.
Is there a percentage?
Um, like we know some of thiswill be on housing, on
apartments?
Yeah, is there like a certainpercentage versus business, uh,
with the ratio of, like ourcommercial space, or is that
kind of left up to um?
(18:52):
Whoever the developers, you'retalking about percentage of
square footage, apartments, orresidential versus commercial,
versus the activate stuff.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Insofar as square footage or funding Funding,
there is a percentage.
I don't have it on hand, butit's not as though we said we
want to give such and suchpercent to activate and such and
such a percentage to build.
It just worked out that therewas a percentage.
Because the build pieces are somuch more expensive.
So they take up a lot morebudget and no matter where, no
(19:26):
matter how you're going to do it, it's just going to take up
more budget.
So in build we're looking attwo major initiatives.
One is partnering with RichmondNeighborhood Restoration.
They've done several singlefamily houses around town.
They just finished the HillHouse on US 40 and 23rd Street.
It's incredible.
They also just recently did theSecret Ingredient Building just
(19:48):
across the street here and theyput four brand new apartments
upstairs.
And that's what we want them todo on several more buildings
throughout downtown three tofive over five years.
And that's what we want them todo on several more buildings
throughout downtown Three tofive over five years.
Take that same model put innice apartments on the upper
stories and then white box, thefirst floor, so that it's ready
for those brand newentrepreneurs to just move in.
(20:10):
They don't have to bring abuilding up to code, they don't
have to put in new flooring,they just have to paint the
walls and move in whatever theyneed in there, and so that's
going to be a big piece of that.
So we're going to see a lot ofthese older buildings rejuvenize
because of the work thatRichmond Neighborhood
Restoration is going to do.
The other big piece of this isfocusing in on some larger scale
(20:33):
buildings that are iconic indowntown.
Now those buildings haven'tnecessarily been decided yet,
but we're looking at places thatwill have a big impact and can
house a lot of people andworking with private developers
to turn those into apartmentcomplexes.
Now the first floor will stillprobably be retail space.
I don't know what's going to bein there.
(20:54):
The developers will probablywork with the people that are
working and activate thebusiness coach and the
consultant to figure out whothey can bring in there.
But all in all, between both ofthose projects, we're looking to
bring in just under 300apartments to downtown Richmond
and everybody says, well, who'sgoing to live there?
And we've done two differenthousing studies that have told
(21:16):
us the demand exists at theprice point we're looking at and
that price point across all theprojects will be relatively
broad.
But what a lot of people don'tknow is that 42% of the people
that work in Wayne County don'tlive here.
They commute in from anywhereelse, sometimes close, you know,
(21:36):
sometimes like fromConnersville or Newcastle, but
sometimes from all the way fromDayton or Indianapolis, and so
they're living in much moreexpensive markets right now.
They have the resources to beable to move closer if they had
the housing, and that's whateach housing study has told us.
So I'm really excited about thehousing coming to downtown
(21:57):
Richmond.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Are you able to share what some of those price points
might be on some of these?
Speaker 1 (22:03):
So they haven't all been determined because we're
still in the beginning phases ofsome of them.
The Elder Beerman projectcalled Sixth and Main now is
sort of a part of RevitalizeRichmond in that we're not
necessarily contributing fundingbut it goes to that cost share
that we needed on the other side, and so that price point could
(22:25):
be from $1,100 to $1,700 a month.
But those are really high-endapartments.
They've got a lot of amenitiesthat come with them.
They're what people that areliving in Indianapolis and
Dayton are already getting, andso and there are people paying
for places that expensive intown right now.
Now on the other side we mightsee a little bit different
(22:49):
pricing, maybe a little bitlower.
So it all just depends on thesquare footage and the amenities
provided in the space.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Cool.
So does any of the funding thatyou're involved with go to the
sixth and main project?
Have they secured any lily?
Speaker 1 (23:09):
No, so that project is already completely funded.
We are only counting the moneythat is spent on that project on
the cost share.
So I mentioned that in order toapply for that $25 million, you
had to find $56 million inother funds.
Well, we were very lucky,because this community is
incredible, and we found $83million instead.
(23:30):
But part of that, elder Beerman, that sixth and main project,
counts towards that $83 milliontotal.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Downtown is going to look and feel so, so different
in five years.
I just think that whole freshbreath of optimism and
opportunity down here, yeah, andthat's why I like sitting up
here, because like we're rightin the middle of it and so we
can talk about it.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Yeah, and I think these discussions are important,
yeah, moving forward and well,the more we can tell the
community about the things thatare going on and get them
excited too.
I think that's incrediblyimportant because we want
community buy-in for theprojects that we're doing.
We want it to benefit communitymembers.
(24:19):
People have just got to stickwith us a little bit.
You know we're never going tohave any progress in our
community if we completelybanish any construction.
You know we're going to haveterrible roads, buildings
falling apart, like constructionis just part of living in a
city.
But hopefully we reduce thenegative aspects of it as much
(24:44):
as we can and then we reap allof the rewards after it.
I mean, people talk we'vetalked about parking.
People are complaining abouthow little parking there is
downtown, even though there's adecent amount.
But this construction is goingto actually add parking back in.
I've heard for years well, theyneed to straighten out that
street like it was in the 50s.
The street's gettingstraightened out.
(25:06):
I mean there are so many things.
They're listening.
People are listening, people arelistening and things are
happening and things are goingin the right direction, but
there's no magic wand that canever be waved to make everything
happen without anyinconvenience.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
We just do what we can to mitigate the risk.
Without the orange cones, therewouldn't be progress.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
As frustrating as people tend to get like, you
would be literally drivingthrough ghost town if you didn't
have construction and hittingevery single pothole along the
way.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
And don't get me wrong, I feel it too.
Construction sucks.
I hate coming down here duringconstruction, but you still have
to do it and you have to comedown and you have to live
through the construction.
But yeah, I get that.
It's a drag, it's frustrating,it's annoying.
I don't live downtown, but whenthere's construction going on
near my house it's frustratingtoo.
(25:59):
It's loud and obnoxious and Ican't get out of my driveway
sometimes.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
But it's necessary.
But then I've got thisbeautiful road right outside.
It's part of the infrastructure, or a nice new sidewalk?
Yeah, it's part of theinfrastructure, our nice new
sidewalk, yeah.
So do you see, do you have anestimate of, maybe, how many
people this will bring toRichmond Living, playing,
working in Richmond?
Speaker 1 (26:21):
I don't have an estimate on the number of people
, but one of our goals throughthis grant is to see the stop of
the population decline.
We want to see a turnaround ofour population decline that
really we've been seeing, Ithink, since the seventies, at
least since the nineties thepopulation has been slowly the
(26:42):
population, yeah.
So we want to see that stop andby bringing in living
opportunities, we allow peopleto have the spaces that they
want and therefore they willmove in.
They're already working here,they're already going to be
coming here.
For the Whitewater Gorge, whichis going to be steps away from
some of these apartments, thisis going to become a bigger,
(27:05):
brighter destination for peopleto want to move to, but they
won't if they don't have theappropriate space to move into.
So that's why these apartmentsare so important.
There's going to be lots ofspace downtown.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
That's exciting Because I was thinking, like you
know, orange Theories.
I was thinking those gyms arereally cool Because they're I
mean with Elder Beerman if theystick to that same exact plan,
that includes a gym a bike shop,all kinds of stuff.
That gym will most likely, ifit's like in the cities, be
(27:41):
specific to those residents.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Probably.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
So it would be cool to have like an Orange Theory or
something like that down here.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
But that's why people say who would ever pay that
much for an apartment?
And I have a tendency to agreeI might not necessarily, but
that's why people say, well, whowould ever pay that much for an
apartment?
And I have a tendency to agreeI might not necessarily, but
it's like living in a hotel.
You have your gym, you've gotyour pool, you've got a pet
place, you've got a garbagevalet, like there's so much
there and so that the peoplethat can't afford it and a lot
(28:08):
of them don't necessarily livein town right now, I think will
be very attracted to it.
So the elderbeerman demolitiontimeline is still moving along
as planned.
I think we can plan to orexpect to see that building down
by the end of the year,probably before the holidays,
which is really exciting.
Loop phase two is well underway.
Anybody that comes downtown cansee that for the two blocks
(28:31):
that they've been working onthat concrete has been poured.
They still have a bit more workto do, but that should be done
within the next couple months.
And then they'll move on to dothe next block on Main Street,
which is the 900 block, and then, upon completion of downtown,
they'll move into the DepotDistrict.
But I would say all of thatcould be done also by the
(28:53):
holidays.
You know we'll see all of thatconstruction being done
definitely before the end of theyear.
And then some of those buildprojects beyond the Elder
Beerman project, like theRichmond Neighborhood
Restoration Project, they'regoing to start working on some
buildings, hopefully within thenext couple months too.
They're starting to secure somethings, get some plans ready.
(29:14):
So everybody is working so hardon the back end, but there's so
much planning that still has tobe done and permits to be
gotten and funding to be securedand all these different things.
But everything's moving, eventhough people aren't necessarily
seeing it all happen rightbefore their eyes.
But I think we can anticipateseeing a few more physical
things happen before the end ofthis year.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
That's super exciting .
I love it.
I love it.
Well, thanks for coming up here.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Yeah, this has been a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
And let's do it another couple months or
something.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Yeah, that sounds awesome.
I'm excited, appreciate it.
Thanks.
Life Inscripted with KevinShipp.
Life Unscripted with Kevin Shipp.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Welcome to Life Unscripted.
This is Dakota Collins.
He is at Earlham College andwhat is your position out there?
Speaker 1 (00:11):
So I'm the Director of Community Relations, and what
does that entail?
It entails a whole bunch ofstuff.
It includes overseeingRevitalize Richmond our recent
funding opportunity that wereceived from the Lilly
Endowment to help revitalizedowntown Richmond.
But it also includes thingslike reconnecting the Richmond
and Earlham communities, gettingour students involved in
(00:33):
different things going ondowntown, bringing the community
back on campus to reallystrengthen that connection again
.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Sweet and doing podcasts, and doing podcasts,
and doing podcasts.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Early in the morning.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
No thanks for coming up here, and one of my big
things having you up here isjust to get some updates, if
there are updates, because I'mkind of like middle of
everything.
I have a lot of differentfriends from all walks of life.
They all have differentperspectives, different opinions
from all walks of life.
They all have differentperspectives, different opinions
.
They see construction, they'remad, yeah you know.
(01:10):
So it's kind of like I told himI'm like, well, I'll get one
guy up there that knows what'sgoing on and can kind of just
share some of the details andsome of the progress you know
we've had.
This is life unscripted, sure.
So I've obviously had all typesof different guests, from the
lieutenant governor to ared-tailed hawk from the Animal
(01:30):
Care Alliance.
That's really cool.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
I don't know if I can live up to either of those.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
It was just neat and it was an honor that all of
these people come in and talk.
So give us kind of an update,tell us what Revitalize Richmond
is, and then obviously the twowords go really well together
and it builds excitement.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
I hope so, because it is really exciting.
So let's see, it was March-ishof last year 2023, that the
Lilly Endowment released thisfunding opportunity, and it was
just for four year colleges anduniversities across Indiana and
they said we want you to workwith your local community to
find projects that would be ofthe benefit for both the college
(02:16):
and the community around it,and we will pitch in $25 million
a ton of money.
The catch was that if youwanted to apply for $25 million,
you had to come up with theother 70% of those project funds
somewhere else.
So, fast forward on that math,that's about $56 million that
you had to come up with to applyfor $25 million.
(02:39):
So we were really interested.
Earlham has been a part of theRichmond community for 176 years
a really long time butsometimes that relationship has
felt strained or we felt distant, or sometimes the college has
just kept to itself over oncampus.
But the college now wants totake a more community oriented
(02:59):
approach and be really involvedwith the community, and this was
a first big swing at bat for us.
This was something that only wecould do to help out the the
community, and this was a firstbig swing at bat for us.
This was something that only wecould do to help out the
Richmond community, and so wewent for it.
We jumped in with both feet.
We brought in a whole bunch ofpeople to figure out what we
should be doing, and when I saya whole bunch of people, a whole
bunch of people from thecommunity, community leaders,
(03:19):
people that had been working onRichmond and downtown
revitalization for a really longtime.
And so we did settle on thatdowntown revitalization because
of how important it is for thesuccess of the broader community
.
We really see if we can have areal positive effect.
If we can create a strongdowntown, it will have ripple
effects throughout the rest ofthe community.
(03:41):
And it's also a great benefitfor the college because so often
our students will come in orpotential students will come in.
They'll look around Richmondand say I don't really want to
live here for four years.
Or if they do come to Earlham,they don't want to then live in
Richmond after they graduate.
(04:01):
And I think that would benefitboth the Richmond and the
Earlham communities.
To have more students coming inand to have more of them living
here after graduation increasepopulation, increase the
workforce.
There's a lot of people buyinghouses.
There are a lot of really greatbenefits for the community, so
that's really why we settled onfocusing on downtown.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
That's exciting, that's real exciting.
So I read through the websitethis morning while I was on the
treadmill and kind of got thegist of things.
Three pillars to this, correctMajor pillars.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Tell me about that.
So we're focusing on build,activate, build and connect, and
they all have their owndifferent components and there
are a lot of projects that existwithin each of those.
But what a lot of people whenthey hear about $25 million
coming to town, or really over100 million coming to town, they
think how can I be a part ofthis?
(04:54):
And I'm so excited that peopleare thrilled about this and want
to be a part of it.
But in grants like this, yousubmit a full budget so you tell
the funder exactly how you'regoing to spend it before they
give you a dime, and so wesubmitted a really detailed
budget built out on those threepillars, so all of the projects
within those are fully or atleast partially funded.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
That's exciting, so activate, activate.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Tell me Activate.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
That's the really fun one You've told me about this
off the show a couple times, andthat's where it starts.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
It is where it starts .
So one of the things we allknow we want an active and
vibrant downtown.
We want to see people on thestreets doing things, and there
are a lot of little pieces tothat.
There are quality of lifepieces, there are business
pieces and they've all got tocome together to build out a
truly strong and vibrantdowntown.
So the first and one of the mostexciting things is that we're
(05:50):
helping to fund part of theWhitewater Gorge Activation Plan
.
Now this is really being done bythe Richmond Parks and
Recreation Department.
They've worked with the wholecommunity, they've worked with
some consultants to develop thisplan to activate the Whitewater
Gorge and it includeseverything you can imagine, from
simple parking andaccessibility features to being
(06:14):
able to kayak and canoe down thewater, to zip lining, to
potentially an amphitheater anda boulder park and a new
playground down in the gorge andjust all sorts of stuff, and so
with the completion of thisplan, it will really transform
the gorge into a truedestination.
People are going to come notonly to Richmond, but from
(06:35):
Richmond like citizens are goingto have so much fun down here.
Revitalize Richmond is fundinga portion of that, really
focusing in on improving thewaterway so that people can
kayak and canoe, and partneringwith a third party to do zip
lining, and so I think this isjust so exciting that'd be cool,
(06:56):
because a lot of people taketheir kayaks and leave Richmond.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
they do, and then they go get in the river down in
Brookville, down in Brookvilleor Connor in Ohio.
Yeah, yeah, so we'll be one ofthose destinations so people
from around here will be able tocome and then they go get in
the river down in Brookville,down in Brookville or Conner in
Ohio and stuff, yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
So we'll be one of those destinations, so people
from around here will be able tocome to Richmond.
Instead, we will be able tojust hop right here on the river
and take a ride.
It's going to be fantastic.
Plus, the zip lining is goingto be so much fun.
Yeah, it's just going to beawesome.
And then there are otherfunding opportunities out there
(07:31):
right now that others arepursuing to potentially fund
additional pieces of that gorgeactivation plan.
When you look at the plan intotal, it's probably a 15 or 20
million dollar plan.
That was going to be spreadover years and years because it
takes a while to get thatfunding.
But between Revitalize Richmondand all the work that the Parks
and Recreation Department aredoing and people like the Wayne
County Foundation, thiscommunity is really focusing on
getting that done for thebenefit of everybody so, like, a
(07:53):
lot of people talk about howthis almost sounds too good to
be true and I'm like but this isthe first time we've seen this
much money coming to ourcommunity.
Yeah, so it's going to happen Iget that people are skeptical
right that sometimes things likethis seem too good to be true,
but that's what this communityneeds.
But the commitment's there, thecommitment's there.
(08:13):
We've got 25 million dollars inthe bank right now to be spent
on downtown within the next fiveyears.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
It's happening yeah, and that's not even counting all
the community partners and thematching and all the stuff.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
That's not even counting all the community
partners and the matching andall the stuff that's going on
outside of Revitalize Richmond.
I mean the foundation keepsapplying for funds to bring in
money to help do projects thataren't covered in Revitalize
Richmond, or take those projectsand take them even further.
There's so much happening.
We've got so many incredible,dedicated people.
This is Richmond's time, andI'm perfectly comfortable with
(08:45):
people being skeptical of it IfI wasn't in the center of it, I
would probably be too, but thisis our opportunity, and so just
hold on, stay informed and keepbeing hopeful.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
So is there a timeline on the first pillar, on
activate?
Speaker 1 (09:02):
So each, each pillar and each project sort of
operates on its own timeline andso there are timelines for each
thing, but really overall we'retalking about a five-year
timeline ending in 2028.
So we started this past january.
We have to get everything doneby the end of 2028.
And, by the way, theorgeActivation Plan is only one part
(09:25):
of Activate.
There is even more that goesinto that.
So we know that downtown, inorder to be successful, has to
have cool, vibrant, excitingbusinesses downtown, and we
already have several.
There are really incrediblebusiness owners doing remarkable
things through a lot ofadversity, and I have so much
respect for them.
(09:45):
But in order to help them besuccessful, one of the things we
need to do is bring in more.
So we want to do that in twoways.
One is through empowering morelocal budding entrepreneurs.
If somebody's got a businessidea, we need to be able to
connect them with all theresources, give them all the
help and assistance they need inorder to be successful.
(10:07):
So we're going to hire afull-time business coach,
somebody that's out in thecommunity, going to the farmer's
market, going to networkingevents, talking to different
people and saying maybe it'stime for you to open up a
storefront or have you everconsidered opening up a business
?
And then if they need helpdeveloping their business plan
or putting together a pitch toapply for funding, or if they
(10:30):
need marketing help, this personcan help connect them with
different resources or find thema mentor that's already doing
something similar in thecommunity.
If somebody is looking to openup a restaurant and they're a
really great chef but have noidea how to actually run a
business.
Let's connect them with somebodylike Kathy Hillard, who runs
downtown deli and smileys, toreally help them figure out the
(10:52):
reality of what that's going totake and help them be successful
.
But, as we all know, buddingentrepreneurs present a little
bit of a risk.
A lot of businesses fail withinthe first three years.
So we want something that alsohas a little bit more stability.
It's a little bit sure bet.
So we're going to be hiring anoutside firm.
They're going to lookregionally at local,
(11:16):
independently owned businessesin other cities in Bloomington
and Muncie and Oxford, anywherearound and they're going to go
to those people that havedemonstrated success and say
maybe it's time for you toconsider opening up a second or
third location in a brand newmarket in a brand new market.
(11:38):
Let's look at downtown Richmondtogether to see if that will
fit your needs and reallyrecruit some of those existing
businesses with a good businessmodel, with a track record of
success, to come in and open upa second business here.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Well now when you say locally owned, are you?
Is that kind of likenon-franchise?
Speaker 1 (11:54):
So we'll keep it relatively flexible for the
company to look at these places.
But really what I want are more.
I won't go so far as to say momand pop shops, but we're not
necessarily looking for a bigcorporation.
It's not easy but the path isclear.
To try to get a national chainto come in and it is presented
(12:16):
with its own complications andthere's a lot of work that goes
into that.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
But what we want to see downtown full of are more
independently owned businesseswell, like on any main street in
any city, um you don't, youmight have some franchise right
like insomnia cookies.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Yeah, which would be amazing that's why I don't want
to count it out, because it'spossible, right, like if the
fit's there, we're never goingto say no to something that fits
the vibe, that fits the desire,that fits the need that our
community has.
But that might not necessarilybe the primary focus, right.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
And a lot of those shops in like downtown man you
can go like Rushville is a closethat I always talk highly of um
because they have blossomedthroughout the past eight years,
probably with their downtown umgreensburg they've been doing
well.
Green castle as well, yeah, um,and a lot of those are
non-franchise because they'resmaller, boutique style might do
e-commerce as well, so that'slike super exciting.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
And so that's sort of what that company will also
help us determine what's theappropriate market mix for a
downtown like Richmond.
How many restaurants do we needand what kind of restaurants?
How many e-commerce business?
How many office businesses?
What is the appropriate marketmix for our area?
And then, working with thatbusiness coach, the business
(13:42):
coach will secure some, theretail recruitment piece will
secure some others, so we canreally start building that from
the beginning.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
So is there a time frame on that?
Speaker 1 (13:58):
That's a lot.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
It's a lot I feel like that's a lot of research.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
I am trying to get all of that started very soon.
The path to this moment hasbeen a little challenging, more
than we anticipated.
There was a lot of stuff to doon the back end that we knew was
coming, but we didn't reallyknow quite how challenging it
was going to be.
So anything from setting up thechart of accounts on the back
end to figuring out ourprocesses, to getting agreements
(14:25):
with all of the partners thatwe're going to be funding, to
hiring people, I was in adifferent position at the
college and was supposed to takeon community relations starting
in January, but because ofdifferent things, we had a big
event, we had to find mysuccessor, I didn't get to
transition until May, and so alot of these things have just
changed our timeline a littlebit.
So the best answer that I cangive to that question is ASAP.
(14:49):
Asap.
To be determined when you seeit yeah, I'll let you know when
it's happening.
To be determined when you seeit, yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
I'll let you know when it's happening.
Well, I've talked to somedevelopers and that's talked
about some of the projects thatthey're going to be working on
some of it including some ofthis grant, and it's really
fucking exciting yeah it is.
It's awesome and you know, likethe building we're in right now
, it's not going to see thiswave.
And it needs to, but it's notits time right now.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
It's a really cool building, I know, and.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
I would have to try to recreate this same exact room
elsewhere, but we'll talk abouta new location another day.
But, um, so that's what I liketo um convey.
Um, the message today is likethere's like some really cool
(15:46):
things it's about to happen downdown here.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
And um seeing the phase two the bike loop almost
done.
Um, you know, people were kindof discouraged because, like
last year, I saw a lot ofhiccups with construction and
being torn up and stuff.
But I tell them just like, holdon, because I don't think they
(16:10):
realize what's about to happen.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
I think so too, yeah.
And construction, no matterwhere, no matter when, when,
it's always a drag, it's alwaysterrible.
It's always a challenge forbusiness owners, and so we, as
revitalize richmond, we as thecity, should be doing everything
we can to make that as least,as least challenging as possible
(16:32):
.
But it's always going to be achallenge, it's gonna be there.
But what we need to do as acommunity is embrace the fact
that these business owners needour support, even during
construction.
Even though you might have towalk one extra block instead of
just the half block to get towhere you're going, still go,
still go park in the parkinggarage.
It's perfectly safe, there's agreat place, no matter where
(16:54):
you're going to find a spot andgo patronize these businesses,
because they really need oursupport.
So if you care about downtown,if you care about downtown
businesses and you want to beinvolved, no matter what the
circumstances are downtown withconstruction, make sure you're
going to your favorite places.
Go to the deli, go to Suzy's,go to Ply Creatives.
You need to continue topatronize these businesses.
(17:15):
And so that's what I tell eachand every person when they say
how can I be involved?
How can I help?
Just go downtown.
Go downtown and shop andpatronize places.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
I love it you mentioned the parking garage,
because we'll go to Indianapolisand walk blocks and not even
think about it.
Not even here, do you?
You know, social media beingsocial media.
You hear, you see parkingcomplaints and it's like they
just put new lights oh yeahcameras like this parking garage
is amazing and you don't haveto pay.
You don't have to pay for anyparking downtown, which is just
(17:46):
unheard of anymore.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Even cities, our size like I'll go anywhere to a
similar size city and you've gotto pay for parking, especially
on the street or in a garage.
And, and you look at, a lot ofpeople think the parking garage
is unsafe.
You know it can be a littledingy, sometimes it's a little
dirty.
It's a parking garage, forgoodness sake.
But you look at the police dataand no calls get made from the
(18:08):
parking garage.
There are no crimes happeningin the parking garage.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Kids skateboarding and.
I'm usually one of them on aone wheel sometimes I'm usually
right in the middle of my onewheel at 39 years old it's fun
be careful.
It's fun I know I fell quite afew times, but uh, and it's a, a
lot of photographers use it foryeah, it's a beautiful place a
(18:31):
great spot on top forphotography, so kind of backing
up to the pillars.
Is there a percentage?
Um, like we know some of thiswill be on housing, on
apartments?
Yeah, is there like a certainpercentage versus business, uh,
with the ratio of, like ourcommercial space, or is that
kind of left up to um?
(18:52):
Whoever the developers, you'retalking about percentage of
square footage, apartments, orresidential versus commercial,
versus the activate stuff.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Insofar as square footage or funding Funding,
there is a percentage.
I don't have it on hand, butit's not as though we said we
want to give such and suchpercent to activate and such and
such a percentage to build.
It just worked out that therewas a percentage.
Because the build pieces are somuch more expensive.
So they take up a lot morebudget and no matter where, no
(19:26):
matter how you're going to do it, it's just going to take up
more budget.
So in build we're looking attwo major initiatives.
One is partnering with RichmondNeighborhood Restoration.
They've done several singlefamily houses around town.
They just finished the HillHouse on US 40 and 23rd Street.
It's incredible.
They also just recently did theSecret Ingredient Building just
(19:48):
across the street here and theyput four brand new apartments
upstairs.
And that's what we want them todo on several more buildings
throughout downtown three tofive over five years.
And that's what we want them todo on several more buildings
throughout downtown Three tofive over five years.
Take that same model put innice apartments on the upper
stories and then white box, thefirst floor, so that it's ready
for those brand newentrepreneurs to just move in.
(20:10):
They don't have to bring abuilding up to code, they don't
have to put in new flooring,they just have to paint the
walls and move in whatever theyneed in there, and so that's
going to be a big piece of that.
So we're going to see a lot ofthese older buildings rejuvenize
because of the work thatRichmond Neighborhood
Restoration is going to do.
The other big piece of this isfocusing in on some larger scale
(20:33):
buildings that are iconic indowntown.
Now those buildings haven'tnecessarily been decided yet,
but we're looking at places thatwill have a big impact and can
house a lot of people andworking with private developers
to turn those into apartmentcomplexes.
Now the first floor will stillprobably be retail space.
I don't know what's going to bein there.
(20:54):
The developers will probablywork with the people that are
working and activate thebusiness coach and the
consultant to figure out whothey can bring in there.
But all in all, between both ofthose projects, we're looking to
bring in just under 300apartments to downtown Richmond
and everybody says, well, who'sgoing to live there?
And we've done two differenthousing studies that have told
(21:16):
us the demand exists at theprice point we're looking at and
that price point across all theprojects will be relatively
broad.
But what a lot of people don'tknow is that 42% of the people
that work in Wayne County don'tlive here.
They commute in from anywhereelse, sometimes close, you know,
(21:36):
sometimes like fromConnersville or Newcastle, but
sometimes from all the way fromDayton or Indianapolis, and so
they're living in much moreexpensive markets right now.
They have the resources to beable to move closer if they had
the housing, and that's whateach housing study has told us.
So I'm really excited about thehousing coming to downtown
(21:57):
Richmond.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Are you able to share what some of those price points
might be on some of these?
Speaker 1 (22:03):
So they haven't all been determined because we're
still in the beginning phases ofsome of them.
The Elder Beerman projectcalled Sixth and Main now is
sort of a part of RevitalizeRichmond in that we're not
necessarily contributing fundingbut it goes to that cost share
that we needed on the other side, and so that price point could
(22:25):
be from $1,100 to $1,700 a month.
But those are really high-endapartments.
They've got a lot of amenitiesthat come with them.
They're what people that areliving in Indianapolis and
Dayton are already getting, andso and there are people paying
for places that expensive intown right now.
Now on the other side we mightsee a little bit different
(22:49):
pricing, maybe a little bitlower.
So it all just depends on thesquare footage and the amenities
provided in the space.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Cool.
So does any of the funding thatyou're involved with go to the
sixth and main project?
Have they secured any lily?
Speaker 1 (23:09):
No, so that project is already completely funded.
We are only counting the moneythat is spent on that project on
the cost share.
So I mentioned that in order toapply for that $25 million, you
had to find $56 million inother funds.
Well, we were very lucky,because this community is
incredible, and we found $83million instead.
(23:30):
But part of that, elder Beerman, that sixth and main project,
counts towards that $83 milliontotal.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Downtown is going to look and feel so, so different
in five years.
I just think that whole freshbreath of optimism and
opportunity down here, yeah, andthat's why I like sitting up
here, because like we're rightin the middle of it and so we
can talk about it.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Yeah, and I think these discussions are important,
yeah, moving forward and well,the more we can tell the
community about the things thatare going on and get them
excited too.
I think that's incrediblyimportant because we want
community buy-in for theprojects that we're doing.
We want it to benefit communitymembers.
(24:19):
People have just got to stickwith us a little bit.
You know we're never going tohave any progress in our
community if we completelybanish any construction.
You know we're going to haveterrible roads, buildings
falling apart, like constructionis just part of living in a
city.
But hopefully we reduce thenegative aspects of it as much
(24:44):
as we can and then we reap allof the rewards after it.
I mean, people talk we'vetalked about parking.
People are complaining abouthow little parking there is
downtown, even though there's adecent amount.
But this construction is goingto actually add parking back in.
I've heard for years well, theyneed to straighten out that
street like it was in the 50s.
The street's gettingstraightened out.
(25:06):
I mean there are so many things.
They're listening.
People are listening, people arelistening and things are
happening and things are goingin the right direction, but
there's no magic wand that canever be waved to make everything
happen without anyinconvenience.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
We just do what we can to mitigate the risk.
Without the orange cones, therewouldn't be progress.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
As frustrating as people tend to get like, you
would be literally drivingthrough ghost town if you didn't
have construction and hittingevery single pothole along the
way.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
And don't get me wrong, I feel it too.
Construction sucks.
I hate coming down here duringconstruction, but you still have
to do it and you have to comedown and you have to live
through the construction.
But yeah, I get that.
It's a drag, it's frustrating,it's annoying.
I don't live downtown, but whenthere's construction going on
near my house it's frustratingtoo.
(25:59):
It's loud and obnoxious and Ican't get out of my driveway
sometimes.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
But it's necessary.
But then I've got thisbeautiful road right outside.
It's part of the infrastructure, or a nice new sidewalk?
Yeah, it's part of theinfrastructure, our nice new
sidewalk, yeah.
So do you see, do you have anestimate of, maybe, how many
people this will bring toRichmond Living, playing,
working in Richmond?
Speaker 1 (26:21):
I don't have an estimate on the number of people
, but one of our goals throughthis grant is to see the stop of
the population decline.
We want to see a turnaround ofour population decline that
really we've been seeing, Ithink, since the seventies, at
least since the nineties thepopulation has been slowly the
(26:42):
population, yeah.
So we want to see that stop andby bringing in living
opportunities, we allow peopleto have the spaces that they
want and therefore they willmove in.
They're already working here,they're already going to be
coming here.
For the Whitewater Gorge, whichis going to be steps away from
some of these apartments, thisis going to become a bigger,
(27:05):
brighter destination for peopleto want to move to, but they
won't if they don't have theappropriate space to move into.
So that's why these apartmentsare so important.
There's going to be lots ofspace downtown.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
That's exciting Because I was thinking, like you
know, orange Theories.
I was thinking those gyms arereally cool Because they're I
mean with Elder Beerman if theystick to that same exact plan,
that includes a gym a bike shop,all kinds of stuff.
That gym will most likely, ifit's like in the cities, be
(27:41):
specific to those residents.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Probably.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
So it would be cool to have like an Orange Theory or
something like that down here.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
But that's why people say who would ever pay that
much for an apartment?
And I have a tendency to agreeI might not necessarily, but
that's why people say, well, whowould ever pay that much for an
apartment?
And I have a tendency to agreeI might not necessarily, but
it's like living in a hotel.
You have your gym, you've gotyour pool, you've got a pet
place, you've got a garbagevalet, like there's so much
there and so that the peoplethat can't afford it and a lot
(28:08):
of them don't necessarily livein town right now, I think will
be very attracted to it.
So the elderbeerman demolitiontimeline is still moving along
as planned.
I think we can plan to orexpect to see that building down
by the end of the year,probably before the holidays,
which is really exciting.
Loop phase two is well underway.
Anybody that comes downtown cansee that for the two blocks
(28:31):
that they've been working onthat concrete has been poured.
They still have a bit more workto do, but that should be done
within the next couple months.
And then they'll move on to dothe next block on Main Street,
which is the 900 block, and then, upon completion of downtown,
they'll move into the DepotDistrict.
But I would say all of thatcould be done also by the
(28:53):
holidays.
You know we'll see all of thatconstruction being done
definitely before the end of theyear.
And then some of those buildprojects beyond the Elder
Beerman project, like theRichmond Neighborhood
Restoration Project, they'regoing to start working on some
buildings, hopefully within thenext couple months too.
They're starting to secure somethings, get some plans ready.
(29:14):
So everybody is working so hardon the back end, but there's so
much planning that still has tobe done and permits to be
gotten and funding to be securedand all these different things.
But everything's moving, eventhough people aren't necessarily
seeing it all happen rightbefore their eyes.
But I think we can anticipateseeing a few more physical
things happen before the end ofthis year.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
That's super exciting .
I love it.
I love it.
Well, thanks for coming up here.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Yeah, this has been a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
And let's do it another couple months or
something.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Yeah, that sounds awesome.
I'm excited, appreciate it.
Thanks.
Life Inscripted with KevinShipp.
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