Harrisonburg and Rockingham
are capitalizing on their own group of schools, which include not only JMU, but also Eastern Mennonite University on the city’s north end, Bridgewater College near Dayton and Blue Ridge Community College in nearby Weyers Cave. Together these institutions produce more than 7,000 graduates per year. Shull says the region’s diverse
economy, natural beauty and recre- ational amenities are a major draw for young professionals. “Workers now are often picking where they’re going to live, and then they find the job. That was unheard of 20 years ago. … But this area certainly checks all of the boxes.” In April,
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nomic development, who arrived in Harrisonburg in 1994. “It has been fun to grow alongside JMU.” Some of the univer sity’s
nearly 4,000 em ployees settle in Rockingham County, says county administrator Stephen G. King. The county’s population has increased 6.7% since the April 2010 Census, to an estimated 81,422 residents. The combined growth of
Harrisonburg and Rockingham since 2010 has been 8.6%, the third-fastest among Virginia metro- politan areas. It trails only Northern Virginia (12.4%) and Winchester (11.1%), according to Census data. Boosting growth in their home-
towns is nothing new for Virginia colleges and universities. Charlottes- ville, Blacksburg and Lynchburg all have blossomed around educational institutions. These schools spur commercial and residential develop- ment while producing a steady stream of graduates, many of whom stay in the area to work, start busi- nesses and raise families.
Harrisonburg seventh out of 325 metro areas nationwide on its 2019 “Best Places for Millennials to Move” list. (Lynchburg was No. 1.) The survey was based on factors such as unemployment rates, immi- gration flows, housing costs and crime rates. The report states that Harrisonburg is “great for outdoor activities, strolls to the local brewer- ies and restaurants, or bringing out your artistic and creative side.” The city is also “a wonderful place for ethnic and linguistic diversity,” it says. That’s a nod to Harrisonburg’s status as a Church World Service refugee resettlement area since 1988. Children from families speak- ing more than 50 languages attend the city’s public schools.
Now a destination A generation ago, downtown
Harrisonburg was not much of a destination. Aside from a smattering of restaurants and bars, an ice cream stand and the Court Square The- ater, there were few businesses to attract residents and visitors to the area. The Downtown Merchants Association was active, but many stores had abandoned Main Street for the growing U.S. 33 commercial corridor. Beginning in the late 1990s
several revitalization efforts were
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undertaken by citizens’ groups and the city. “One of the first things that was on my desk when I arrived [as economic development director] in 1998 was the idea that we were going to try to do a revitalization of downtown,” Shull says. However, such efforts were largely volunteer- driven and lacked substantial funding. With the launch of Har-
risonburg Downtown Renaissance in 2003, the seeds for a vibrant community were planted. The nonprofit soon hitched its wagon to the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Main Street America program, with its four-point plan for revitalization: economic vitality, design, promotion and organization. “It’s all open source, so we had
that framework and the methodol- ogy, and we got to customize it to our local needs,” says HDR Executive Director Andrea Dono. “We had a bunch of people roll up their sleeves and take a piece of everything.” As a designated Virginia Main
Street community, Harrisonburg was able to leverage state funds for feasibility studies, training, streetscape projects, tax incentives and public-private partnerships. From the beginning, HDR
has worked with the city and area developers to meet the demand for housing downtown. The number of residences in the district increased from 150 in 2003 to 586 at the end of last year. Many of those units are part of mixed-use developments, with apartments and lofts above shops on the ground floor. “That was huge for us,” Shull
says, “because now you have 24/7 activity downtown. And that led to more restaurants and retail popping up and just more vibrancy.” King says that, with the growth
of JMU, Rockingham is seeing more urban-style development, including student housing. Two new apart- ment complexes are expected to open along Port Republic Road, just outside the city limits, next year.
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