Revitalization Coming to Pulaski’s Main Street

A retail and residential renaissance is underway on West Main Street in Pulaski, thanks to support from VHDA and other sources of funding.

For the past three years, VHDA has been working toward this goal in partnership with West Main Development, LLC. We provided a REACH Virginia Targeted Initiatives Grant to finance their due-diligence work that was needed to select several downtown properties for renovation. VHDA’s REACH Virginia grant program is funded by our own net revenues, and is one of our most important resources for funding our programs and supporting communities poised to make a comeback, like Pulaski.

Construction for the Pulaski main street project will be financed by one of VHDA’s longtime financing partners, Virginia Community Capital. After construction is complete, VHDA will provide permanent lending.

West Main Development plans to repurpose four buildings along West Main Street: 

• The former Farmer Building at Nos. 85 and 89 West Main is a single structure with adjacent ground-floor storefronts, which will be refurbished to welcome new businesses. No. 87 is the address for the building’s second floor, which will have two large two-bedroom apartments.
  

• Across the street is No. 94 West Main. Its ground-level storefront will house a virtual reality arcade. The arcade is expected to attract students interested in VR development from nearby Radford University, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, and New River and Wytheville Community Colleges, and to become a tourist destination for video game aficionados seeking an immersive experience. The building will also have two residential apartments on the second floor.
  

• The buildings at 29 and 69 West Main are also slated for renovations. Once all four buildings are finished, over 15,000 square feet of property will have been reclaimed for new uses.

Because the project is receiving both state and federal historic tax credits, the buildings’ original character must be preserved. Apartments will feature the old hardwood floors, casework and interior doors. All storefront exteriors will be restored to their original detail.

The Town of Pulaski and local citizens have also been working with the Department of Housing and Community Development and the New River Valley Regional Commission, among others, to make their dream of restoring the area’s vibrancy a reality.

Revitalizations like this attract new entrepreneurs and established businesses who want to get in on the action as residents and visitors begin returning to the town’s core. One building at a time, they will make West Main Street once again the place to be in Pulaski.

The West Main Development project is tentatively on track for completion in early 2019.