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ECONOMIC BOOST FUELS URBAN GROWTH
Let's meet for a cappuccino in downtown Rocky Mount.
Huh? A hip-hop clothing store, an art gallery, a European pastry shop/caf‚, a Mexican bakery, a Lowe's, an educational specialty shop, a movie theater, a homegrown bank, a central library? Those and more have all landed in this small community-once thought of as Hicksville, not Hipsville-within the last 30 months.
While far from being a hotbed of hipness, the largest town in Franklin County is experiencing some noticeable economic success. What's even more interesting is that this mini-boom is not being fueled primarily by customers from the exploding Smith Mountain Lake region nearby.
Instead, this community of 5,100 is benefiting from a combination of workforce investment, downtown revitalization, a rebound in local manufacturing businesses, tobacco settlement funds, an improving economy, availability of infrastructure, and proximity to Roanoke (for commuters) and Smith Mountain Lake (for potential customers).
"We're quietly-or maybe not-continuing to be a growing bedroom community of Roanoke," says Larry Heaton, Chairman and CEO of Franklin Community Bank, a two and a half-year-old bank headquartered in Rocky Mount. "We're in a transitional phase -both Franklin County and Rocky Mount," he says. "We're going from a county that has been agricultural, [characterized by] 'good old boys,' and a manufacturing economy, to more of a service-based economy."
His bank's main location, reflecting this transition, surprises the visitor with its dark hardwood floors and rich mahogany furniture and woodwork throughout, emulating an old-fashioned bank. He says there was great interest in starting a new hometown bank when mergers and acquisitions took away a previous local bank. "Franklin County is a pocket of prosperity," he says.
The rebound
Rocky Mount Community Development Director Lara Burleson focuses on small businesses "to help the 'Mom and Pops' and independents to move forward." It's a direction the town has been embracing. When she began her job two and a half years ago, there were about 10 empty storefronts in downtown Rocky Mount, some sitting empty for years. They are all filled now, she says. "We often overlook the impact that [bringing in] small businesses has," says Keith Holland, Rocky Mount town manager. "It is not as noticeable to the public," but over time the economic impacts are significant. Rocky Mount has climbed back from some devastating job losses in the late 1990s, when about 2,000 textile jobs disappeared (eight percent of the workforce). Since then, "many of those laid off were absorbed by existing industries," he says.
It has not been an easy rebound, however. When Lane Furniture closed its Rocky Mount plant in 2001, the town lost 600 jobs. "We took a hit to the gut," says Director of Commerce and Leisure Services Scott Martin. Was this a turning point for the town? Yes, he says, emphasizing that "it was not a death knell-it forced us to diversify." By that time, the town leadership had already begun to change its focus. Says Holland, "Some recently elected council members were told by voters that they wanted council to be more cooperative with the county." The message was heard, resulting, for example, in the establishment in 1999 of the 13-member, locally funded Franklin County Workforce Development Consortium, located in Rocky Mount. "It has been wildly successful," he says.
"This county chose to invest in its workforce when things got tough," says Martin. Indeed, according to Consortium literature, "Improving the skills of the workforce is Franklin County's highest economic development objective."
The strategy seems to be working, because the unemployment rate in Franklin County is now 2.6 percent, with about 15,000 workers streaming into the county every day. Drive through the streets of Rocky Mount and witness bustling factory after factory. One downtown industrial park alone hosts about 2,000 workers.
Tom Maresh is owner of New Millennium Computing, an IT consultancy. He moved to Rocky Mount from Southern California because he liked the area. His business took off a few years ago and has not slowed down since. "All my customers tell me they're busier than ever. They're having to add employees." And this is despite the presence of competing businesses at Smith Mountain Lake.
"When I got here three years ago, the general opinion was that the town was dying," he says. "But in the last two years, I've become aware of other start-up businesses and more activity. When these new businesses come in, they're slammed-especially the food businesses. For another example, the dentists around here are overwhelmed."
In addition to its downtown economic revival, Rocky Mount's U.S. 40 East corridor has become the sight of several new strip malls and big box stores.
Banker Heaton says that about five years ago, the town annexed some adjacent territory, which allowed for the extension of water and sewer, which then enabled commercial development.
"It's a brave new world over there," says town manager Holland.
Besides the availability of new infrastructure, the town and county hold another advantage. "We are part of the tobacco settlement region, which gives us access to [additional] economic development funds," says Martin. "These are not available to other parts of the state." While Rocky Mount does not have room for significant population growth, it is poised to serve a surrounding area that is growing by leaps and bounds. Real estate broker Wes Naff, owner of Meadow Spring Land and Realty, has been based in Rocky Mount for the last 23 years. Over the past three years, he has experienced 18 to 20 percent growth per year.
"A lot of land has doubled in value," he says. "A lot of the strength of our economy is driven by the strength of Roanoke and its economy. Our proximity to it gives us the best of both worlds."
In terms of trends, he sees some long-term investments in land in response to the recent losses in the stock market. Recently, he has seen a greater interest in "raw mountain land" for recreation or second homes. He sees buyer demographics changing too. Over the past three to five years he has noticed more buyers coming from Roanoke. "They want to live in the country within 30 miles of the city."
Also during this time, he has seen more and more hits on his Web site from D.C. area residents and "half-backs"-people moving half-way back from Florida towards their northern hometowns.
So what is Rocky Mount's relationship to nearby Smith Mountain Lake communities? "Clearly, [the Lake] is an economic engine," says Heaton. "Politically, there's some sorting out to do." "We want the folks at the Lake to see us as their hometown," says Burleson.
This relationship is one of the focus areas studied by a 2004 retail market assessment of Rocky Mount, commissioned by a group of public and private agencies.
Among the challenges uncovered through area interviews was the perception that "Rocky Mount is not relevant to people at Smith Mountain Lake. The Lake community seldom knows what is going on in the town on a regular basis."
The report also found that the town is losing potential sales to other retail centers: "The Rocky Mount Primary Trade area [central Franklin County] is leaking $30.9 million dollars each year in the specialty retail categories such as bookstores, gift stores, home furnishings."
The retail market assessment reported that only 11 percent of surveyed Rocky Mount shoppers originated from its secondary trade area, largely comprising the Boones Mill area and the southern Smith Mountain Lake communities. In order to attract customers from these and other areas, the study recommended tactics such as:
Pursue a loyalty program focusing on Smith Mountain Lake and Boones Mill;
Be host for a Ferrum College welcome-back festival;
Adopt a vision which includes becoming a "home furnishings center and an outfitter for visitors to the region."
The decision to relocate the central library in downtown Rocky Mount was a controversial and pivotal one. Since its opening in the summer of 2004, it has been a catalyst for the downtown's revitalization.
It is housed in a former department store building that was empty for years, leaving a gaping hole in the downtown district. "The library really brought foot traffic, and after-hours activity," says Jerry Robertson, executive director of the Community Partnership for Revitalization, a non-profit organization of the Virginia Main Street program in Rocky Mount. "Downtown used to roll up after five o'clock; now there's a push for stores to stay open later."
The presence of the library resulted in the appearance of a popular specialty store-Creative Learning, which offers educational supplies for home-schoolers, public and private schools, classroom decorations and scrapbook supplies. It also offers private tutoring, hiring veteran teachers and those in training.
"I strategically put myself next to the library where the home-school parents come in," says owner Crystal Naff. "And most of my walk-ins come from the library." She began her business as a part-time venture in January 2003. Although the library was not there yet, she knew it was coming. By October 2004, she was successful enough to expand her hours to full-time.
While most of Naff's customers come from the area, others come from as far away as Lynchburg and Floyd, proving the value of a specialty store in bringing outsiders to a community.
She dreams of expanding upstairs to create a social hall and community center to host after-school programs and community activities. A few months ago, she started Friday night "scrapbooking crop" sessions. "Sometimes they go on 'til midnight," she laughs.
"The story is resiliency," says economic developer Martin. "It's a unique story in Southside. It's just starting now. The next five years are going to be very interesting."
(Deborah Nason is a contributing editor with the Journal. She lives in Roanoke County.)
