What is happening in downtown Floyd?

On Thursday afternoon, I spotted this earnest group of men and women standing under the Floyd County stoplight and peering at the buildings in our tiny downtown area.

At first, I took them for European visitors because a guide was standing in front of them and pointing out features of nearby buildings. However, as I drew closer, I recognized the "guide" as Mike Maslaney, and some of the "visitors" as local contractors.

I found out that these 16 contractors were doing a pre-bid walk through in preparation for bidding on facade work in the downtown area of Floyd, Virginia, which will help give Floyd the look of the 1900s again.

The work is being made possible with federal grant money and local contributions. The town has received over $200,000 as part of a multi-phased grant from the Department of Transportation and $1,000,000 in Community Development Block Grant money from the Department of Housing and Community Development.

A project of this size has many members on the management team. On this occasion I met Alina Whitaker of the New River Valley Planning District Commission  who is the Program Manager for the Grant and Mike Maslaney who is the chairman of the local management team. They were leading the contractors through the pre-bid walk through and answering the many questions that came up.

For the full story of the grant and of the project so far, go to floydpress.com and read Wanda Comb’s story, Going back in time.

The next big question is who will be chosen to build an "old" Floyd? Here is another shot of some of the potential players. We have a good representation from local contractors.  Stay tuned a for more news as the story develops.