Hopewell, Virginia, United States

🇺🇸 Hopewell is an independent city surrounded by Prince George County and the Appomattox River in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Hopewell with Prince George County for statistical purposes.

Hopewell is in the Tri-Cities area of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA).

Urban renewal Like many cities, Hopewell embarked on an urban renewal plan in the 1960s in an attempt to revitalize its downtown retail area. The plan was a failure because many of the retail businesses that had been located downtown moved elsewhere to new shopping centres being developed outside the city limits in Petersburg, Chester, and Prince George County. With the exception of a new branch bank and a Hardee's fast food restaurant constructed in the late 1970s, the former downtown area that was razed for redevelopment remained a vast gravel parking lot for decades.

However, a new urbanisation is occurring and many long vacant storefronts are now refurbished and occupied. Several others are now under construction. Further, the City invested $12 million in a new beautiful state of the art flagship library for the busy Appomattox Regional Library System, the Maude Langhorne Nelson Library. The Library has a cyber cafe, extensive YA and children's collections, and a replica of the historic, 1600s era frigate ship, Hopewell, installed as a centrepiece. The City also restored the Beacon Theater, which was built in 1928, and there are 70 or more concerts and other events annually. Performers there include The Temptations, The Four Tops, Vince Gill, Travis Tritt, Clint Black, Amy Grant, Average White Band, Vanilla Ice, The Commodores, Pure Prairie League, Delbert McClinton, and many more.

New plantings and street beautification projects have been put into place, to attract more businesses and shoppers to the East Broadway area.