Development continues in Danville's River District

Restaurant, grocery store, brewpub to open

DANVILLE, Va. – In just a couple of months, suite 102 of the Hughes building, located at 530 Craghead Street, will be Craghead Market, a grocery store specializing in organic foods.

"Economic development would tell us that probably the item on the top of the list for the needed amenities in the River District to support over 600 apartments, over 2,000 residents, is to have groceries and prepared food within walking distance," said Rick Barker Properties president Rick Barker.

Barker's company owns eight of the nine buildings in the 500 block of Craghead Street and this development is the latest phase of his multi-year effort to renovate the buildings.

A taco and tequila bar, similar to El Jefe in Lynchburg and Tuco's in Roanoke, will also be opening up in the next couple of months.

"We have looked at Danville's master plan and understand what's vital in a revitalized downtown," said Barker.

Seven luxury apartments and five vacant commercial spaces are about to be completed and next year Preservation Ale and Smokehouse is scheduled to open.

Danville's economic development director, Telly Tucker, believes the revitalization will help make the River District more of a destination location.

"All of us like to have some variety, particularly where we dine, where we go visit, the places that we see. Having this type of amenity, it's a unique amenity to Danville and to this part of the state," Tucker said.

He said the River District is the city's nucleus and is the key to growth in the rest of the city.

"As that nucleus becomes stronger, you then develop outer rings associated with development that will then spur in some of those adjacent neighborhoods to the River District. So North Danville, the Monument-Berriman area, continuing up West Main Street towards Averett University and even beyond to the Schoolfield area," Tucker explained.

Barker anticipates the renovation of the entire block to take two to three more years to complete.