Cardinal News: Then & Now takes a look back at the stories we brought you over the last 12 months. Through the end of the year, we’re sharing updates on some of the people and issues that made news in 2025. This installment: short takes on several development projects across the region.
Riverfront projects in Danville make progress
Then: The first tenants at Dan River Falls, a massive rehabilitated textile mill, moved in in December 2024. A second phase of construction planned to bring 40 more units online a year later. An adjacent riverfront park experienced construction delays, but aimed to open by spring 2025. Early concept and design planning for a third project, a whitewater channel, was beginning.
Now: The second phase of construction at Dan River Falls is complete, with tenants starting to move into this part of the building in early December. This phase added 40 units, bringing the total number of apartments in the building to 190. It also adds amenities such as a community garden and yoga studio, and includes increased parking space. The completion of this phase marks the end of residential construction at the building, though construction on office spaces for the city’s parks and recreation department, economic development department and Dewberry Engineering continues. Developers still expect that the building will house commercial space and restaurants on its first floor in the future.
Construction on the nearby riverfront park is now more than 18 months behind schedule, with a soft opening planned for January and a grand opening planned for spring 2026.
The planned whitewater channel project now has an anticipated completion date in 2027. The channel will run in front of the Dan River Falls building, and the project will repurpose the infrastructure of the historic Danville Canal, which is already in that location.
— Grace Mamon
* * *
Developer moves forward with affordable housing plans at former Walker Foundry site in Roanoke
Then: The former Walker Machine and Foundry site in Roanoke was rezoned in January, a first step for developers who are looking to turn the site into affordable housing, commercial space and a center offering services to Roanoke’s Norwich neighborhood.
The factory closed in 2019 after employing thousands in the region for almost a century. In July, the Roanoke Economic Development Authority received $1 million from Virginia’s Industrial Revitalization Fund, which supports the redevelopment of vacant and deteriorated industrial and commercial buildings, to be used for this project.
Now: Foundry Realty, a real estate development firm focused on adaptive reuse of sites like this one, plans to build 275 affordable multifamily units, green space, a restaurant, an outdoor active fitness and wellness provider, and commercial space, including a satellite office for a health clinic.
Derek Kaknes, principal of operations and finance for the firm, said he expects to hear soon about a $5 million grant proposal submitted through Virginia’s Workforce Housing Investment Program.
The application is through both the Roanoke Economic Development Authority and Total Action for Progress, both of which have been “really huge partners” throughout the entire process, Kaknes said.
The grant money, if awarded, would allow Total Action for Progress to establish a revolving Home Buyer Assistance Fund for eligible potential homeowners at the Foundry.
Kaknes said the workforce housing grants they’ve applied for target households making between 80% and 120% of the area median income.
This year, the developers made progress on teardown and cleanup work on the site, Kaknes said. Many of the foundry’s original 30 structures were knocked down before the group bought the property, he said. He intends to keep the three remaining structures on site in place.
Next on the to-do list is removing underground storage tanks and existing concrete slabs using federal brownfields grant money, Kaknes said.
He said the firm has relied heavily on the Norwich Neighborhood Association to coordinate outreach with the neighborhood as plans for the project solidified.
“We’re very cognizant of keeping the community involved and recognizing that Norwich as a community has been a little bit underserved by the broader city government,” Kaknes said. “…Providing these homeowners opportunities is, I think, probably the best opportunity to transform and support the Norwich neighborhood in a way that could really change both the internal and external views of what the community is.”
In late December, Kaknes said the project was awarded $2.5 million through the Virginia Workforce Housing Investment Program to support the new homeownership opportunities in the development. More than $15 million in funding was distributed to 14 projects across the Commonwealth, according to a press release on Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s website.
— Samantha Verrelli
* * *
Lynchburg officials announce completion of Blackwater Creek restoration, with final touches planned for 2026
Then: This summer, excavators towered over Blackwater Creek, Lynchburg’s largest tributary to the James River. Construction crews were busy restoring the creek’s path, which had formerly been blocked by College Lake and its accompanying dam.
When College Lake Dam overtopped during a major storm in 2018, removing it became a public safety priority for city officials. The dam was taken out in 2024, which resulted in Blackwater Creek’s upstream and downstream sections being reconnected for the first time in nearly a century and prompted a restoration process to mitigate future flooding.
Now: The construction phase of the restoration project, which consisted of stabilizing the stream channel and floodplain, removing excess sediment and creating wetland habitat in the former lakebed area, is complete, according to a city press release.
The area remains closed to the public until further notice while final touches are made, said Erin Hawkins, Lynchburg Water Resources’ project manager for the restoration. Ongoing work includes planting native grasses and trees, fixing up Creekside Trail, transforming the former Lakeside Drive bridge into an overlook, and monitoring water quality levels in the newly restored creek.
A formal celebration of the project’s completion is expected this spring, Hawkins said. In the meantime, she said, she hopes the project serves as a reminder that every Lynchburg resident plays a part in being a good steward of the city’s waterways.
“While many people may not feel directly connected to this project because it’s not in their backyard, the watershed is connected all the way from the airport on the outside of the city to the James River and beyond. It’s all connected through this system,” she said. “So whether you’re cleaning up a project in your yard, or just being mindful and picking up trash while you’re out, it’s a benefit for our watershed as a whole.”
— Emma Malinak