ALAN KIM The Roanoke Times

A portion of Henderson Lawn — past site of concerts, vigils and festivals — will be converted into Virginia Tech's black box theater along College Avenue.

BLACKSBURG -- Despite the recent losses of some mainstay businesses, there's more downtown these days than empty storefronts.

There's also a flurry of construction and a new vision for the heart of town as an arts and culture district, a legal designation that some say could revitalize the struggling commercial core. Town officials are beginning discussions about that designation.

All the momentum -- construction of a downtown hotel, expansion of Tech Bookstore and plans to build a new park and farmers market, among other projects -- has spurred optimism among officials and many familiar with downtown issues.

Others, however, wonder whether a focus on arts that includes two big Virginia Tech projects can really save the town's small, independent retailers, many of whom are struggling with high rents, aging buildings and changes in shopping patterns.

It might be easy for pessimists to chalk up the latest theme of revitalization through the arts as doomed to be another round of meetings and committee reports. And certainly not everyone is happy about the conversion of part of Henderson Lawn -- past site of concerts, vigils and festivals -- into Tech's black box theater. The theater will host plays and other live performances.

But that project, coupled with a larger, planned $50 million performing arts center nearby, has created a sense of excitement among businesses and nonprofit organizations.

Town Manager Marc Verniel said he hopes the town can work with Tech designers and architects on several planned projects to maximize the benefits both to downtown and to the university.

One issue is parking. "The question is how much is enough" and where it should be, Verniel said.

Designing parking so people attending arts performances on campus also walk through downtown, perhaps stopping for a meal or a drink or a bit of shopping, would be ideal, Verniel said.

Having performing arts nearby will complement the art house movies and community arts programs offered by the nonprofit Lyric Theatre, director Susan Mattingly said.

While the new Tech arts facilities are only a piece of downtown revitalization, Mattingly said, discussion of them has generated some real momentum for revitalization.

To Darlene McGinnis, partner with her husband, Rip, in the new 34-room Main Street Inn, the Tech arts projects may mean a steady flow of customers for theirs and others' businesses.

Arts "bring a high class of visitors to the area," McGinnis said. And those visitors often spend money in restaurants and shops. McGinnis, who said she has owned and managed hotels in Virginia Beach for 30 years, says the arts facilities will likely bring in women visitors.

"Women shop when they travel," McGinnis said.

The town's newest hotelier said she also hopes Main Street Inn will create more foot traffic for all downtown businesses, including the retailers.

Leslie Hager-Smith, director of the Downtown Merchants of Blacksburg and a candidate for town council, hopes to see that trend as well. But she also said more political leadership is needed to shore up downtown retailers.

Right now, the number of independent retailers is about equal to the number of restaurants and bars. But the retailers are struggling, Hager-Smith said.

She said the town should have stepped up its recruitment of new boutique retailers starting a decade ago. And there are other issues.

"We have an owner problem downtown," Hager-Smith said.

High rents, buildings that need repairs and other issues plague shopkeepers, she said.

A chill went through the downtown business community last month when news broke that Harley Helms would have to close his shop after 70 years as the town cobbler. Because Helms had only a verbal, month-to-month lease with his landlords, he will have to move by the end of this month.

Helms is not the only downtown shopkeeper with such a lease arrangement, Hager-Smith said.

She wants to see town officials bring the landlords into the discussions of downtown's future.

There are also worries about the possibility of more on-campus restaurants and retail shops that might be built along with the arts projects and compete with existing businesses, Hager-Smith said.

"We need to insert an IV, and get [retail] recruitment done" before Tech gets its performing arts center, she said.

She, like many town officials and business owners, want Tech to collect local meals and other taxes from at least some on-campus businesses. Under state law, the university can decline to do so, making goods and services sold on campus cheaper that those sold off campus.

Town and Tech officials are constantly discussing the tax issues, Verniel said.

Meanwhile, the merchants association is working on smaller ways to bring shoppers to the town's core, including new events such as Wonderful First Wednesdays, a Sunday flea market and a summer festival now in the works.

Town council is also set to vote April 22 on the 2008-09 operating budget that includes funds for a downtown cleaning crew to look after streets and sidewalks.

The budget earmarks $50,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant funds to help with the design of a new Blacksburg Farmers Market and public park planned for Draper Road and Roanoke Street. The funds will pay for needed design work, said Kathryn Albright of the Friends of the Farmers Market board.

The town is also working on two road improvement projects that could help with downtown revitalization -- a College Avenue promenade and improvements to North Main Street between College Avenue and Prices Fork.

Collectively, these efforts are creating a synergy that the town manager said he hopes will make the downtown not simply a place to drive through, but a destination in its own right.