Danville’s Industrial Development Authority will consider contracting with an engineering consultant to study parking at Dan River Falls, a former mill building that has been redeveloped for mixed use.
At its regular meeting at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, the IDA is set to consider a nearly $42,000 agreement with Dewberry Engineers Inc., a Danville-based engineering consultant.
The Dan River Falls building was formerly part of Dan River Mills, the textile giant that powered Danville’s economy for decades. It fell into disrepair in the years after the company closed.
In early 2023, a million-dollar project to redevelop the building into residential and commercial space broke ground. The first phase of the project, which included 150 apartments, opened in late 2024, and a second phase, including 40 apartments, is expected to be completed by late 2025 or early 2026.
Right now, there is one surface lot and a below-ground parking garage for Dan River Falls residents.
“As residential and commercial occupancy increases at Dan River Falls, the staff has identified the need to explore additional parking solutions on adjacent property,” says the staff report in the IDA meeting’s agenda packet.
The IDA owns about 2.34 acres of undeveloped land along Memorial Drive, located at the front of the Dan River Falls building, according to the report.
“To assess the feasibility of constructing a single- or multi-story parking facility on this parcel, Public Works has engaged Dewberry for architectural and engineering services,” the report says.
City staff is requesting approval of the contract with Dewberry “to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of potential parking structure options to support the continued growth of the Dan River Falls project.”
Dan River Falls sits just outside of Danville’s growing River District, which has also seen an increase in parking demand recently.
In June, Pivot Parking began enforcing downtown parking time limits on behalf of the city. Before this, time limits were posted on signs throughout the River District, but there hadn’t been parking enforcement for about two years.
A new parking garage on Spring Street will break ground Oct. 23 to create additional parking downtown.
Also Tuesday, Danville’s planning commission will meet at 2 p.m. and its airport commission will meet at 3 p.m. On Wednesday, the Danville-Pittsylvania Regional Industrial Facilities Authority will meet at noon, and on Thursday, the board of zoning appeals will meet at 10 a.m.
There are no meetings in Pittsylvania County this week.
