Advertisement

Header Utility Menu

  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Events

LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Instagram Get Our App

  • Login

Virginia Business

Mobile Menu

  • Issues
  • Industries
    • Banking/Finances
    • Law
    • Real Estate
    • Economic Development
    • Education
    • Energy/Green
    • Federal Contracting
    • Government
    • Healthcare
    • Hotels/Tourism
    • Insurance
    • Ports/Trade
    • Small Business
    • Startups
    • Technology
    • Transportation
  • Regions
    • Central Virginia
    • Eastern Virginia
    • Northern Virginia
    • Roanoke/New River Valley
    • Shenandoah Valley
    • Southern Virginia
    • Southwest Virginia
  • Reports
    • Best Places to Work
    • Business Person of the Year
    • CEO Pay
    • COVID-19
    • Generous Virginians Project
    • Legal Elite
    • Most Influential Virginians
    • Maritime Guide
    • Site Locator
    • The Big Book
    • Virginia CFO Awards
  • Company News
    • For the Record
    • People
  • Opinion
  • Lists
  • Awards/Events
    • 2022 Virginia Business Political Roundtable
    • Women in Leadership
    • Diversity Leadership Series
    • Virginia 500
    • Legal Elite
    • CFO Awards
    • Big Book of Lists
    • 100 People To Meet
    • Best Places To Work
  • Virginia 500
    • Read The Issue
    • Power Up Virginia 500
    • Buy an award plaque
    • Suggest execs for 2023

Advertisement

Header Primary Menu

  • Issues
    • February 2023
    • January 2023
    • December 2022
    • November 2022
    • October 2022
    • Issues Archive
  • Industries
    • Banking/Finances
    • Law
    • Real Estate
    • Economic Development
    • Education
    • Energy/Green
    • Federal Contracting
    • Government
    • Healthcare
    • Hotels/Tourism
    • Insurance
    • Ports/Trade
    • Small Business
    • Startups
    • Technology
    • Transportation
  • Regions
    • Central Virginia
    • Eastern Virginia
    • Northern Virginia
    • Roanoke/New River Valley
    • Shenandoah Valley
    • Southern Virginia
    • Southwest Virginia
  • Reports
    • Best Places to Work
    • Business Person of the Year
    • CEO Pay
    • COVID-19
    • Generous Virginians Project
    • Legal Elite
    • Most Influential Virginians
    • Maritime Guide
    • Site Locator
    • The Big Book
    • Virginia CFO Awards
  • Company News
    • For the Record
    • People
  • Opinion
  • Lists
  • Awards/Events
    • 2022 Virginia Business Political Roundtable
    • Women in Leadership
    • Diversity Leadership Series
    • Virginia 500
    • Legal Elite
    • CFO Awards
    • Big Book of Lists
    • 100 People To Meet
    • Best Places To Work
  • Virginia 500
    • Read The Issue
    • Power Up Virginia 500
    • Buy an award plaque
    • Suggest execs for 2023

Home News Regions Southwest Virginia In St. Paul, renaissance is on the agenda

In St. Paul, renaissance is on the agenda

Published January 31, 2020 by Tim Thornton

The Western Front Hotel
The Western Front Hotel in St. Paul

People once called St. Paul the Western Front.

“St. Paul was a coal town, so the railroad would run in and drop people off there,” says Kimberly Christner, president and CEO of Williamsburg-based Cornerstone Hospitality. “One side of the railroad was dry and … the other side was wet with alcohol, and that was the St. Paul side.”  The St. Paul side of the tracks, she says, featured bordellos, bars and bar fights. “People who are still living say it was bloodier than the Western Front in World War II.”

So Christner and her partners named their boutique hotel the Western Front.

The 30-room hotel, which opened in 2018, is part of a renaissance in the little town that straddles the border of Wise and Russell counties. Along with the hotel and its restaurant, Ina + Forbes, led by Torrece “Chef T” Gregoire, who appeared on two seasons of Fox’s “Hell’s Kitchen,” the town of 1,000 people also boasts a new high-tech co-working space and a local craft brewery.

The downtown Lyric Theater, built about 1950, is being reborn as a performance space and conference center. Phase one of that project is complete, says Kathy Stewart, Main Street manager for St. Paul Tomorrow, the organization that’s resurrecting the Lyric. If the $2 million phase two goes as planned, the Lyric could be hosting shows and meetings in 2021.

Stewart hopes the Lyric will become an affiliate of the Crooked Road, Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail, but St. Paul’s main draw remains outdoor activities. Biking, hiking and ATV trails run through the town.

The Clinch River does, too.

In 2019, Virginia’s Depart­ment of Conservation and Recreation acquired three parcels along the river to create the commonwealth’s first “blueway” — or water-based — state park, with master planning scheduled to start this fall. It will offer a series of camping and boat launch sites for paddlers on the Clinch.

Just a block from the river, the University of Virginia’s College at Wise’s new Oxbow Center gives entrepreneurs broadband access and co-working space, as well as connections to the Center for Innovative Technology in Herndon, says Josh Sawyers, U.Va.-Wise’s innovation center manager.

“If they want to stay here and connect with those jobs,” Sawyers says, “the technology now allows them to be able to do that.”

It’s also attractive, he says, to entrepreneurs tired of big-city headaches.

“It’s off the beaten path,” Stewart says of her town, “but it’s up and coming.” 

Related Stories

Virginia Business logo

‘Big Stone Gap’ to be filmed in Virginia

Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center joins Curio brand by Hilton

Crooked Road music trail generates $9 million in annual economic impact

Trending

Norfolk’s MacArthur Center mall listed for sale

Making strides

It’s back!

After the crisis

Fort Monroe development moving forward

Sponsored Stories

What Logistics issues will have the biggest impact on you in 2023?

In the New Year, Aim for Better Cybersecurity

4 innovative ways to create capacity

WHERE IS THE SUPPLY CHAIN WHEN YOU NEED IT?

P.A.I.N.T. Your Financial Mountain

5 Benefits of Treasury Management Services from Atlantic Union Bank

Blazing trails in the digital landscape

Advertisement

Advertisement

Trending

Norfolk’s MacArthur Center mall listed for sale

Making strides

It’s back!

After the crisis

Fort Monroe development moving forward

Sponsored Stories

What Logistics issues will have the biggest impact on you in 2023?

In the New Year, Aim for Better Cybersecurity

4 innovative ways to create capacity

WHERE IS THE SUPPLY CHAIN WHEN YOU NEED IT?

P.A.I.N.T. Your Financial Mountain

5 Benefits of Treasury Management Services from Atlantic Union Bank

Blazing trails in the digital landscape

Get Virginia Business directly on your tablet or in your mailbox!

Subscribe to Virginia Business

Advertisement

Advertisement

Footer Primary Menu

  • virginiabusiness.com
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Footer Secondary Menu

  • Industries
  • Regions
  • Reports
  • Company News
  • Events

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

Sign Up

LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Instagram Get Our App

Privacy Policy Cookie Policy

Footer Utility Menu

Copyright © 2023 Virginia Business. All rights reserved.

Site Maintained by TechArk