Monday, August 7, 2006

Think of a city with a bistro, yoga studio, a deli with German wheat beer on
tap, a Polish pottery shop, massage therapists and acupuncturists.
Richmond, Seattle, Atlanta?  No, this is downtown Petersburg.

"We only lack a grocery store and a pharmacy," said Kimberly Calos, a shop owner
and newcomer to Petersburg.  That said, a natural-foods market is supposed to open this fall.
Once the forgotten stepchild of Richmond, Petersburg has attracted an enclave of
artists and entrepreneurs.
     
These urban pioneers have moved into Old Towne Petersburg in the past couple of
years. They are gutting and restoring vacant buildings, many with original heart pine
floors and granite columns.  They are turning first floors into workplaces and upper floors into living
spaces.

Want to see? They put together a tour, "Work Places and Living Spaces." Eight
properties on North Sycamore and West Old streets will be open to the public
Friday through Sunday.

Some projects are complete, or nearly so, such as a bridal shop -- Lavender &
Lace with gowns that sell for as much as $1,800. The owner lives on the third
floor.  Most are still visions in the making.

Aimee and Alain Joyaux are turning a three-story cotton warehouse built in 1854
into their home and Antiques & Plunder, a shop with imported items from France.
The couple from Muncie, Ind., found Petersburg on the Internet. "We were looking
for a community with old buildings in a poor town, translation: cheap real
estate, in a fairly warm climate close to an international airport," Aimee said.
They paid $32,000 for their warehouse on North Sycamore Street.  "In retrospect, we should have paid less," Alain jokes. "We've owned it for
three years, and we're two years behind in restoration."

The plan is to turn the second floor into their living quarters and the third
floor into an art studio for Aimee. They will tear the roof off the back for an
open-air garden. The first floor is stocked with armoires, a whole shipping
container's worth they brought over from France for the shop. 

"We love the building and the potential of the town," said Aimee, a former
college professor who now leads the art department at Appomattox Regional
Governor's School.  "There's an enormous amount of hope here."

Hope is what Petersburg is all about.  The once-vibrant town has one of the highest teen-pregnancy rates in Virginia.
It's one of the most fiscally distressed cities in the state. The city's school
system is one of the state's worst performing.  Its newcomers say they want to help turn the city around.
"It's a sensitive issue," Aimee said. "We're trying to find ways to retain what
is good here." 

They prefer not to talk about two shootings in the past two years at a nightclub
in Old Towne Petersburg.  And if only someone would do something with three attached buildings in major
disrepair on North Sycamore Street.

They say they like the hometown feel and the energy in Petersburg.
"Everyone is so friendly," said shopkeeper Calos, who organized the tour. "If a
person on the street looks confused, people will ask if they can help."
A city bus stops. The bus driver gets out and greets everyone, strangers
included, on the sidewalk. "See what I mean?" Calos said.

Calos, 47, opened Kimberly Ann's Antiques & Consignment Boutique in November.
She moved here from Hopewell, where she ran a store for 16 years. She was drawn
by the creative energy, she said.  With short dark hair and bright blue eyes, Calos -- a bundle of energy herself
-- bears a remarkable resemblance to Betty Boop, the shop's mascot of sorts,
though she tries to distance herself from the cartoon character.

On this midweek day, a truck full of wallboard has arrived at the Joyaux
building on North Sycamore Street.  Bobby Lynch is installing a wood floor in what will become an art gallery in a
building adjoined to Longstreet's Deli, which is doing a brisk lunch business.
Lynch, 46, and his wife, Hope, 35, will move here from Carytown, he said.
Workers are busy redoing the Old Dixie restaurant, also on North Sycamore.
Eric Flail, who moved into "a cheesy 1970s office" last fall, is refurbishing
colorful tabletops with old-time advertisements for the restaurant.

A semiconductor engineer for Nikon, Flail, 42, asked his company if he could
transfer here from Portland, Ore. "Where can you get this much space for this
price anywhere in the world?"
He paid $72,500 for his three-story building with floor-to-ceiling front windows
and 5,800 square feet. The building was most recently an optometrist's office. A
bunch of cool, old eyeglasses were left behind.

Flail tore off a cheap facade and turned the cavernous second floor into his
residence. He found leather chairs in good condition for $50 each at a nearby
store and a retro couch in the basement that he hauled up to the second floor.
"There are amazing buildings here waiting for someone to love them," he said.
It's all work in a former jewelry building, circa 1853, owned by Mike and denise
Secondi. Yes, that is denise with a lowercase "d."  "It wouldn't be me if it was a big 'D,'" she said.

The building is made with huge timbers, and like the other grand old buildings
on North Sycamore, it has high ceilings.  When they bought the structure in December for $50,000, one could hardly walk
through it because there was so much stuff, denise said. She and her husband, a
diesel mechanic, have cleared and gutted the place themselves.
They moved here from Kalamazoo, Mich. The couple met on the Internet and share a
pastime, riding Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

"We wanted to find an area where we could ride more and still have four
seasons," she said.  The building will be turned into a spa, massage and yoga studio. It will have a
"wow" factor, denise said. But she isn't saying what that will be.
Artist Parks Duffey, Petersburg's original urban pioneer, discovered the city 12
years ago.

Efforts to revive the city haven't stuck until now, he said. "Petersburg has
really caught on in the last three years."

The city comes alive on Friday for the Arts on the second Friday of every month,
similar to Richmond's First Friday once-a-month gatherings at art galleries,
Duffey said. "All the restaurants are packed. It's jumping down here."
The pending expansion at nearby Fort Lee, with as many as 8,200 military and
civilian personnel converging on the area, is expected to boost revitalization
efforts -- and put pressure on the housing market.

Real estate values have shot up in the past couple of years, Duffey said. But
prices are still cheap, about one-third of what they are in Richmond, he said.
Investors can qualify for federal and state historic tax credits. Plus, they can
get tax abatements for improving property values.
"I feel that this time it will all jell," Duffey said.

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