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Executive Summary
Town Run Commons – A Creative Community for the 21st Century
As befits one of the 100 best art towns in America, Shepherdstown has West Virginia's first approved Creative Community development -- Town Run Commons. It is also Jefferson County’s first approved mixed-use property. Based on a commitment to environmental and economic sustainability, Town Run Commons creative community integrates commercial use, public spaces and residential dwellings. It is designed to reduce dependence on the automobile. It is consciously located in close proximity to existing infrastructure. A key attribute of Town Run Commons is preserving the natural areas of the property, such as Town Run (creek), while providing a building form that will be appealing visually both from Route 480 and from the adjoining properties. The scale of the proposed development is appropriate for the Shepherdstown Route 480 corridor and is reminiscent of old barns - traditional rural industrial structures -- built along the primary roads in historic districts.
The original concept of Town Run Commons was to provide a welcoming and productive environment for the Creative Class, especially artists and artisans. The vision evolved into this development with designated living space, working space, and open space; a community for resident artisans, their patrons, and the Shepherdstown community at large. The plan of 5 structures include 10,000 sq.ft of commercial space, 10,000 sq. ft of studio space and 32 condo/flats, of which 12 are set aside for income qualified (workforce) housing targeted to working artists.
The developers are Shepherdstown residents, who are taking a comprehensive and long-term view of the community, which has led them to embrace the concepts of environmental and economic sustainability, as the two inseparable.
Environmental Sustainability
A concern for environmental issues has been incorporated into all decisions regarding the design and construction of Town Run Commons. No development is planned for the open/green space adjacent to Town Run (creek.) There are also significant setbacks from Route 480 and adjacent properties in essence framing the entire development in green. Although the Shepherdstown community has not yet developed an integrated trail system, Town Run Commons is designed to be part of it – and hopefully will lead the way to its creation. Town Run Commons continues to use the expert advice of local water preservation and heritage groups to improve its environmental assets. Efforts are being made to use native plants for wildlife habitat and conservation landscaping, while implementing simple storm water techniques such as rain gardens and permeable (grasscrete) roads.
Economic Sustainability
Town Run Commons – A Creative Community is destined to be a must-see, must-be location in Shepherdstown and the Eastern Panhandle by adding value through creating economic opportunities. It provides a way to attract 21st century green, high tech and creative economy business by being the living example of the quality of life they require to attract the workers they need. There is an intrinsic balance built into Town Run Commons. Commercial mixed use is focused on the north end of the property, residential mixed use on the south end and the truest blend dividing the two.
Commercial Mixed Use
An ethnic restaurant – tentatively Italian or Tex-Mex -- is planned for 2,000 of the 5,000 sq.ft of the commercial marketplace structure. Filling out the market space will be a home grown, home made (HGHM) store, a community kitchen, a butcher shop and a small cafe. The HGHM store is an important connector business for the restaurant and local residences. It is expected to cover its base expenses as a food supplier to the restaurant and serve as a retail outlet for residents in the Eastern Panhandle. We believe the real economic accelerator will be the community kitchen, which will provide a health department approved kitchen for making value added products and meals. The synergy builds with the HGHM store then providing a distribution point for the home made foods – jellies, salsa, frozen meal, salad dressings – anything the residents of the Eastern Panhandle can imagine making. The Jefferson County Development Authority’s Agricultural Extension office validated this concept in a recent study stating that Shepherdstown has the demographics to support a home grown, home made store. A new concept being pursued by Peter Corum is the promotion of a “Gas Garden”, which is similar to WWII’s victory gardens. Area residents would be encouraged to have small gardens focusing on one vegetable or herb that they could then sell at The Market at Town Run Commons. This, coupled with the HGHM store, would create a viral marketing base that could sustain the business.
The middle or true mixed use property, which reflects downtown Shepherdstown, will have more traditional creative businesses on the ground level with residential living units above. Commitments for business space have been received from a range of creative businesses - graphic design, photography, printing/matting, retail (book store), software design and specialty food stores.
Residential Mixed Use
Do not overlook the economic impact of a residential mixed use property because of a bias based on traditional “residential subdivisions”. Town Run Commons Creative Community is a completely different approach. Interest is coming from two primary demographic groups – single/newly married (no kids) and empty nesters. Both have disposable income. Both display professional interest of significant breadth – college professors, teachers, writers, painters, sculptors, weavers, song writers, performers, programmers and photographers. The 10,000 sq. ft. of studio space throughout the residential courtyard promises a boom of creative cross-pollination that is sure to produce valuable economic outcomes. In the same way that the community kitchen provides economic synergy in the marketplace, the grass court yard will have similar economic benefit as an out door venue for music, theater and art shows. An event coordinator has already approached Town Run Commons to do a summer series for 2009, which would leverage the permanent “Studio Tour” created by a central area of creative workplaces.
All the effort put into developing this ideal Creative Community can have only one purpose – to attract the kind of creative individuals that will make it bloom. However, the truth still remains, that it is the people who create the community.
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