COMMUNITY VIEWPOINT
Downtown Fairmont: Let’s Continue the Momentum

Back in 1994, Brooks McCabe, a Charleston-based developer with a strong track record of downtown redevelopment projects in that city, and his partner, Rudy Henley, recruited me to open McCabe-Henley’s first satellite office.

These two real estate mavericks, neither with an aversion to risk, chose downtown Fairmont as the location for this expansion of what had previously been a mostly Charleston portfolio of projects.

However, Brooks and Rudy, so often ahead of the pack, believed in Fairmont’s future as the heart of the I79 Technology Corridor. Both had gained valuable insight from their respective experiences as “downtown redeveloper/ preservationist” and “development dealmaker.”

Jointly, their diversity of experience ranged from revitalizing Charleston’s historic Village District to the financing and development of the Alan B. Mollohan Innovation Center in the local tech park. Brooks’ own friends from Fairmont cautioned him about this risky move, and Rudy certainly could attest to the difficulty in securing conventional financing for a group of mostly start-up tech companies with short-term government contracts. Still, they saw the potential in Fairmont that had previously been largely ignored by much of its own, and inspired by the efforts of Congressman Alan B. Mollohan to bring economic diversification to the region (and the associated federal investment of resources), the two partners jumped in head first.

More than a dozen years later, the downtown Fairmont landscape has changed dramatically, and the “white elephant” that could best be characterized as urban blight — the former G.C. Murphy Co. Building now known as Veterans’ Square — is an asset of which the community can be proud.

Merging such divergent interests as a local veterans’ group who desired a fitting memorial, a city government that wanted to eliminate this blighted block, and at least one “preservationist” who actually fought tearing down the adjacent and dilapidated structures that now comprise a major portion of Veterans’ Plaza, Brooks used his planning and development expertise to redevelop this challenging structure as a commercial retail/office complex with on-site parking and community space with a much-deserved memorial to our local veterans.

Taking the project from the necessary demolition and excavated site, which I recall describing as “Fairmont’s own Warsaw ghetto,” to the completed Veterans’ Square complex, took years of planning, persistence and commitment by a variety of parties, not to mention creative financing and unwavering support from all of the participants.

While newcomers or visitors to Fairmont may see an impressive downtown space on the 300 block of Adams Street, those of us involved see a catalyst, a conversion, that at least superficially appears to be a great success.

Yet, nearly a dozen years after its completion and dedication, Veterans’ Square still presents a challenge to its owner in attaining full lease-up status.

Meanwhile, other buildings in Fairmont, many admittedly less daunting, have been successfully renovated and occupied. Several businesses, some mainstays, others new to the scene, continue to find the downtown a good fit and enjoy modest, if not lucrative, success.

Local government has refocused on improving the downtown, ranging from the City of Fairmont’s urban renewal plan to the Marion County Commission’s admirable work to preserve and restore such important historic structures as the Jacobs Building, courthouse and county jail.

Other developers, both private and nonprofit, have experienced firsthand the demand for downtown housing. By all accounts, the downtown looks better these days than it may have since Fairmont’s golden era.

So, in 2007, is downtown Fairmont’s revitalization a success? Some would say “yes” resoundingly; others say “not yet”; still others haven’t bothered to come downtown in years because of outdated perceptions. What are the obstacles and where are the opportunities?

If you were to ask Brooks McCabe, he might tell you that being first is not always the most rewarding position. Consider that we might be the victims of our own success in the technology corridor but also consider that the downtown can only continue to improve as a location with the completion of the Gateway Connector and the connectivity that it will ultimately provide between the I-79 Technology Park and Fairmont’s central business district.

Downtown Fairmont, like many other main street communities, provides a competitive advantage for the following reasons:

• Infrastructure is already in place;
• An available inventory of buildings that is appropriate for adaptive reuse and redevelopment;
• Existence of retail, restaurants and services;
• Proximity to existing neighborhoods;
• Its defining character and “sense of place” create an attractive location to live, work and play.

Being downtown is a choice, and like most choices, one size does not fit all. For Fairmont — and Marion County, for that matter — to prosper and continue this renaissance, we need more choices of space in which to live, work and play.

Downtown Fairmont, punctuated by the river(s) and an eye-catching landmark in its restored historic bridge, offers a much more dramatic and aesthetically remarkable setting than our sister cities in the corridor. A walking or driving tour of historic sites — while heartbreaking to those of us who recall how many we’ve lost — proves we still have plenty of visual and heritage attractions as well as a sense of arrival. (Have you driven down the path of the connector from State Street to see the downtown with its prominent courthouse dome or observed the Robert H. Mollohan/Million Dollar Bridge lit up at night lately?) What we need are more Brooks McCabes and Rudy Henleys, more risk-takers, more committed and civic-minded folks who make up their minds to “grow where planted” and make a personal investment. What we have been gifted, through an impressive amount of federal investment, is a great start. Now it’s up to us to change the image of Fairmont to the most forward city in the corridor, rather than being the region’s “red-headed stepcousin.”

We will convince more business and economic prospects we are worth their investment when we believe it ourselves ... .when we can create more spaces downtown to live, work and play ... and when we can characterize our community as one that values its heritage, its landmarks and its own viability by creating sustainable environments through reuse of our existing structures.

At a recent meeting of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a fellow (former) Trust advisor and senior fellow of the Urban Land Institute, provided a unique presentation. Ed’s slide show of non-descript strip malls and commercial spaces, prompted the audience to identify their various U.S. locations, including midwestern cities, southern cities and northern cities. Then, in contrast, he showed photographs of aging historic sites in Europe, each with a distinctive look and character.

The audience suddenly realized the American sites could have been anywhere, but the European sites could be easily identified for their cities, easily recognizable as “places.” Ed’s point was that with each strip mall, each additional stretch of sprawl, we are losing our “sense of place.”

While Europe considers its structures worth keeping, America continues its frenzy of tear-downs and new construction. If this continues, we will not be able to differentiate between Kansas City, Birmingham or even Charleston.

We have a landscape worth preserving in Fairmont — and structures worth saving and re-using. We need more housing choices and more places to do business. Our new city council is focused on how we can continue the progress we’ve made to date and is exhibiting a much-needed sense of urgency.

The plans are finally in place and the momentum is gaining, but the work is far from over. Can Fairmont rise to the occasion? Do you value our community as a unique place to live, work and play? If so, ask yourself how you can support the effort. Whether you can volunteer for groups like Main Street or Fairmont Renaissance, or you can actually invest and become an “urban pioneer,” Fairmont needs your commitment now.

Our window of opportunity for change will not remain open indefinitely.

Laura Kurtz Kuhns is president and CEO of the Vandalia Redevelopment Corp.