HomeMedia ReleasesNewsWith casino now an anchor tenant in Schoolfield, Danville officials shift focus of master plan

Jan 2, 2021

With casino now an anchor tenant in Schoolfield, Danville officials shift focus of master plan

City officials are going to request to add the West Main Street corridor and the surrounding neighborhood to the Schoolfield master plan that is being developed.

The project was put on hold last summer pending the outcome of the vote on whether to allow a Caesars Virginia casino at the former Dan River Inc. site at Schoolfield on West Main Street.

“We are in the process of working with WRT [the firm developing the master plan] to update the scope of the master plan now that Caesars will become the anchor tenant within Schoolfield,” said Danville Economic Development Director Corrie T. Bobe. “We’ll look at expanding the footprint of where WRT will focus their planning efforts.”

Caesars Virginia pledged to purchase the Schoolfield site for $5 million if the casino referendum passed. The company and the Danville Industrial Development Authority — the city’s land-buying arm — closed the sale of the property Wednesday.

Bobe told the Danville Register & Bee in August that the outcome of the November casino question — which city voters overwhelmingly approved — would determine the emphasis of the master plan.

A master plan helps determine the best use for a property within a designated area and helps provide developmental guidelines for public- and private-sector projects, Bobe said.

But a proposed casino changed that, prompting the firm and city officials to shift the focus outside of the 85-acre Schoolfield site’s footprint. The Dan River Inc. property contains about 700,000 square feet of structure, including the 617,000-square-foot former finishing plant that can be seen from West Main Street.

Previously, the master plan emphasized the commercial and industrial area of the site.

“We’ve asked for them to look into the residential component of the neighborhood as well,” Bobe said.

City officials also want WRT to examine the West Main Street corridor from the North Carolina line to the Schoolfield site.

The Schoolfield neighborhood was just given state and national historic designation this month, Bobe said.

The designation highlights the important role the district played in the community and opens up opportunities for developers to access historic tax credits to pursue redevelopment projects, she said.

“Schoolfield has a lot of history, being the original mill town for Dan River Mills,” said City Manager Ken Larking. “Dan River has had a tremendous impact on the city of Danville through its long history. It’s great the area is being recognized as a historic district. It will open the area up for new investment.”

In order to apply for the state designation with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, a building-by-building survey of the Dan River Mills village in Schoolfield had to be conducted. The IDA and the economic development office hired three consultants, Hill Studio, Storied Capital and Burton Consulting to conduct the survey in January 2020. The survey encompassed 972 properties and cost $87,023.

The historic district is bisected by West Main Street and begins east at Selma Avenue and stretches west to Laurel Avenue. Memorial Drive makes up the northern boundary and the southern end is at Rutledge Creek near Schoolfield Cemetery.

The Schoolfield village was founded as an independent company town in 1903 by Dan River Inc., which produced cloth for home and apparel from 1882 to 2006.

The structures built in Schoolfield included homes, stores and industrial properties.

As for the master plan, the city’s contract with WRT is $374,000. But Caesars Virginia — as part of its agreement with the city — has pledged to cover up to $360,000 of the master plan’s costs since voters approved a casino in November.

Since the casino referendum passed, Caesars is in charge of planning and designing its casino resort and will become a full partner in the master planning process, part of a steering committee to help guide the plan.

WRT’s work was originally supposed to be complete by early 2021, but the COVID-19 pandemic and the casino referendum pushed back the timeline.

Bobe said she was not sure whether changing the scope of the master plan will increase its cost.