Restoring Downtown Buena Vista
By Lacy Rodriguez
Downtown Buena Vista is currently full of empty buildings, a reflection of the past days of a busy downtown. However, residents of Buena Vista have started to make a change and are working to bring life back to Buena Vista’s beautiful village center by purchasing and renovating its abandoned buildings.
Craig Lawhorne, who is the Assistant Provost of Southern Virginia University, and his wife, Ruthie, have been residents of Buena Vista their whole lives and recently bought a building in the fall of 2020. Their reason for buying a building downtown was to accommodate their growing business, Vinyl Cuts. They “want to see the buildings get renovated and revitalize[d] downtown”. Once they are able to get contractors “lined up…we hope to start the renovating soon” and move their store to that location.
The Lawhorne’s believe it is important to bring Buena Vista’s downtown back to life. “When we were growing up, Buena Vista had a vibrant downtown. Several factors have contributed to the decline of downtown Buena Vista, and many other communities have also declined because of those factors, but many of those places have come back and are really nice (Clifton Forge is a good example) and we think Buena Vista can make a comeback too”.
The Lawhornes express hope that “Southern Virginia University students will continue to come downtown and to increase their presence in the community and be an integral part of revitalizing downtown.” Lawhorne says, “If you are downtown, stop by our store to say ‘hi’. We have free ‘I heart BV’ decals available to everyone.”
Another Buena Vista couple that is working on restoring downtown Buena Vista is Tyson and Camden Cooper. Tyson, who is the Vice President of Financial Operations for Southern Virginia University, and his wife, Camden, have been living in Buena Vista for 15 and 18 years, respectively, and recently bought a building downtown in February 2021. Camden says, “We love Buena Vista, and seeing all the empty buildings was sad. We have six kids, and want them to love the area.”
The Coopers’ current plan for their building, which is located on Magnolia Ave, is to put two living spaces in the back, with offices and retail spaces in the front. Tyson says, “We haven’t started renovations yet, as we need to get approval to have living spaces on the first floor, as Buena Vista regulations state that there can’t be living spaces there, but we are hoping to get a special permit to allow it.”
Like the Lawhornes, the Coopers are hoping to restore Buena Vista. “Downtown is the heart of the city, and we want to bring life to it,” Camden says. Tyson adds, “There is little reason to gather downtown, so we want to bring life back so we can just have fun there.”
While downtown Buena Vista may be mostly empty for now, the residents have exciting plans for the future. As the Coopers put it, “Buena Vista is our home…[and] we’re very excited.”
