LynCag plans to buy Main Street Galleria

The Lynchburg Community Action Group, a nonprofit dedicated to anti-poverty programs, is poised to buy the Main Street Galleria.

Executive Director James Mundy said the local charity hopes to close on the three-story downtown building by Friday. The final sale date will be dependent on the outcome of a City Council decision scheduled to be made tonight.

LynCag, which runs a variety of programs focused on helping the low-income, has been renting office space in the Galleria since April.

That arrangement began as a temporary measure while renovations took place at the nonprofit’s main building on Commerce Street. But Mundy said the group was already in need of additional space for its programs and quickly came to see the potential in the Galleria.

“When we came into this facility, we realized it was exactly what we needed. That’s when we began looking at the idea of purchasing the building,” he said.

The Galleria’s top two floors are office space while the ground level is retail and restaurants. Mundy said LynCag plans to maintain all the current leases. Terms of the building’s sale were not immediately available.

Once considered a major downtown revitalization project, the Galleria was built in the 1980s under a public-private partnership. The city donated the land for the construction, in exchange for which it retained certain rights to the property, including the right to repurchase the site 50 years from now for the flat fee of $75.

LynCag is asking council to relinquish that piece of its authority, citing concerns raised by the bank financing the sale. Council has already discussed the matter once in closed session and signaled it was willing to consider a proposal.

Under the offer that will come before council during its regular meeting tonight, LynCag will give the city a standing $2,000 discount on the government’s annual contribution to the Galleria’s maintenance in exchange for granting its request.

The city, which has certain guaranteed rights of access to the Galleria, contributes about $15,000 a year to the building’s upkeep. The Galleria directly connects to City Hall.

LynCag’s building on Commerce Street will remain its administrative headquarters. Certain programs, such as initiatives dealing with job training, housing counseling and support programs for ex-offenders, will be operated out of the Galleria.

Mundy said LynCag plans to keep the retail and restaurant space on the ground floor. Managing that type of property will be a new endeavor for the organization.

“New but exciting,” Mundy said.

He added LynCag does not plan to make any changes to the list of tenants. “We want them all to say,” he said.

City Council will hold a public hearing on LynCag’s request prior to beginning its own deliberations. The hearing has been scheduled for council’s meeting at 7:30 tonight in City Hall, 900 Church St.

Other items on City Council’s agenda today include:
- A public hearing will be held on Holly Hill Townhomes, a controversial development proposed for Graves Mill Road, near the Bedford County line.

Holly Hill developers previously reduced the scope of their project from 75 to 50 town houses in hopes of quelling concerns from neighboring residents. Council subsequently kicked the plan back to the planning commission for a new review. The commission, which had voted against the original design, gave its stamp of approval to the reduced layout last month.

The issue returns to council today. A public hearing will be held prior to council deliberations.

- The big-box ordinance, which seeks to regulate large retail developments, will be discussed during an afternoon work session.

Earlier drafts of the proposal, which is waiting to be voted into law, were designed to make big-box stores a conditional, rather than by-right, land use. Conditional-use developments require a special permit that can only be granted by council. By-right projects are allowed automatically provided they meet certain minimum standards.

Council loosened the ordinance’s permit requirements during discussions last month, agreeing to allow big-boxes to proceed by-right as long as they meet a set of tougher development standards. Projects seeking a waiver on any standard would still require a permit.

The city has been working to pass the big-box ordinance for more than two years now. It is not clear if council will be ready to act on the issue today.