The U is Silent; We Aren’t-Episode 10
The Bones Are Good: The Secret to A Small-Town’s Revitalization
Developer Robin Miller joins us to reveal how Staunton’s historic buildings are getting new life—thanks to the power of preservation, tax credits, and a little creative vision. Hear about the hidden gems behind old walls and why saving the past is shaping the city’s next chapter. This episode is a masterclass in how preservation meets progress.
About This Podcast
The U may be silent, but Staunton has a lot to say. Join Visit Staunton as we sit down with inspiring individuals at the top of their craft. We’re chatting about what drives their passion, the actions behind the impact, and a little about the place where they’re making it all happen.
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TRANSCRIPT
00:09
Welcome back to the U is Silent, We Aren’t podcast by Visit Staunton right here in Staunton, Virginia. Thank you guys so much for joining us. I am so excited for this episode. As you guys have learned probably every episode, we cover different topics and I have learned something new every single time we sat down with a guest. And so that’s one of the reasons I’m so excited for this is I know we are going to learn a lot. And also I just can’t wait to dive into the projects that
00:39
Robin Miller, thank you so much for joining us. You have many projects going on and what you have done in Staunton. Robin, you are a community developer, but you focus a lot on historical tax credits and rebuilding historical figures in a community, which I know as we were coming in, we were talking about is I don’t think Staunton would be the successful town it is today without developers like yourself.
01:06
honoring the historical nature as well. Well, and without the historical tax credits, that’s really the financial key. They have two types of historical tax credits, federal, which is a 20 % and Virginia has a state historic tax credit of 25 % and you can combine… I was going to ask if you can stack. You stack them and if you qualify both approval processes, you go through the state first and then you go to the…
01:35
National Park Service at the federal level to get your approval. And so that really provides the economic and financial incentive to take an old building where you have a whole lot more risk. You don’t know what’s behind the walls or how a structural integrity and allows you to renovate it in the appropriate way for a new economic use. And so we’ve done that now in Staunton.
02:01
In addition to the villages, which is where we’ve been working for about 20 years, we’ve done four other buildings outside of the villages here and right in downtown Staunton. Yeah. you want to say one reason that I’m super excited is because like there’s so much I just, I do not know about historical tax credits, but you know what? I see that the Black Banana is one of the most amazing hotels in Staunton and the Arcadia apartments just opened up and I’m sure others listening may, may be the same. So
02:28
You were talking about the projects that you guys have and are working on. Can you tell us a little bit about what you do and what you currently are working on and just share us little bit about yourself? Well, just to back up on kind how I got to stand, it’s kind of interesting. I was given a talk about 22 years ago in Winchester, Virginia on historic tax credits because I’ve been doing that in Virginia for about 30 years.
02:56
in the audience was the mayor of at the time, John Avoli, who I didn’t know. And he came up to me after the talk and said, have you ever been to Staunton? And I said, well, I’ll try to do it, but I’ve never been to downtown Staunton. So he invited me to come for lunch, and a couple weeks later, I came to Staunton to have lunch with John and drove by the villages of Staunton and saw this amazing complex of…
03:22
deserted and derelict historic buildings that were all overgrown and had a 10-foot high chain link fence. It looked a little different than it does today. Yeah, it looks different now. So long story short, we started negotiating with the city to see if we could figure out a way to save that project. And my partner, Dan Gecker, was a real estate attorney.
03:51
we were able to, he was able to help with the city, facilitate the transfer of the property from Commonwealth of Virginia to the city of Staunton. And then the city of Staunton put out RFP, request for proposal. We competed with four other development groups to be the master developer, and we were selected to be the master developer. And that’s kind of how I got started at Staunton.
04:17
So I imagine the 22 years ago you came and you first looked at the property, which BlackBernand is now sits and is beautiful and working and it had many different iterations. Hospital, was prison, then it was just left and dilapidated. I imagine it was daunting to say, yes, we’re going to go into this. So what was it that drew you?
04:44
to say yes to the Blackburn Inn project, but also Staunton as a whole. What was it that said, we’re going to go into this? Well, it was just kind of a coincidence. It happened to be the right time. It was kind of the right place. I saw this building and thought, wow, what a great campus. I had just finished up another project, was kind of looking for a project. It was a time in my life where I was looking to expand. I had the time and the energy and the knowledge.
05:13
But what really drew it to me was the city of Staunton itself because I met with the city officials at the time. Of course, John Devole was the mayor and I drove down Beverly Street for the first time, said, oh my God, what, you know, this is the coolest small city in Virginia. And even 22 years ago, that downtown Beverly Street was looking good.
05:37
Now it’s better now, there was a few vacant storefronts that have since been filled, but I was amazed not only with the downtown area, but all the neighborhoods, the historic neighborhoods. In fact, I ended up buying a house about 20 years ago over behind Stewart Hall School. And just a little bungalow with a metal roof and still there. So the beauty of Staunton itself,
06:06
The fact that the city government was very competent and supportive and helpful. And my partner Dan Gecker and I spent about a year to a year and a half trying to get, win the, the development award as a manager developer. And then we spent another year negotiating with the city on the zoning.
06:33
and the planning and getting a new zoning category worked out. But I loved Staunton back then, I still do, it’s a great place, it’s safe, it’s clean, it’s well run, people are friendly, great food city. I tell people that Staunton is not a diamond in the rough, it’s an undiscovered diamond. Because even today, a lot of my friends in Richmond, and I split my time between Staunton and Richmond,
07:01
have never been to Staunton. That’s a shame. it really is. So once they get here, they love it. So we the Blackburn Inn is a way to get them to Staunton. And then once they see downtown, a lot of them will come back many times. Can you talk about what the vision was like for the Blackburn Inn and that revitalization project? And then I know it’s not over. You guys are still expanding through there. But what was that? What was that?
07:31
visioning like, because I should mention like it, was not just a, oh, we got the bid, get the dozers out. It was a process. Well, no, is, candidly, it’s been a very, very challenging project. It’s 80 acres. are 12 large historic buildings on the site. We assumed when we bought it, because it had been used as a prison maybe five or six years before we bought it, that the water and sewer systems were still good.
08:00
It turns out that no, they weren’t and we had to replace all the underground sewer lines, water lines, put in new roads, VDOT standard roads, which were extremely expensive. And we knew that we had to take it one bind at a time. So we started with the bindery building. People say, why do you call it the bindery building? Well, because there was an old wooden sign that looked like it been there a hundred years that said the bindery on it. So we thought, well, that’s a cool We’ll honor that. So we turned that into 19.
08:30
very upscale large condominiums and started selling them, I guess, and we finished those in probably 2006. And we did that building first because it was the most visible. As you drove into town on Richmond Road and looked to the left, it was really rough. Now it’s beautiful building. We changed the road, we landscaped, and…
08:56
From there, we also did a, where my office is now, a smaller building where I work out of every day. And then we did another series of individual houses on Greenville Avenue. We did those one at a time and sold those. We used historic tax credits, state and federal. We also, what drew us was that Staunton has got a historic renovation
09:25
tax abatement program. Meaning if you have a historic home and you abate it correctly, particularly using historic tax credits, your real estate taxes don’t go up for seven years. So from a cash flow point of view, particularly for a hotel or commercial space or a homeowner, that was a very valuable incentive. And you need these economic incentives to make it work. It’s not like just going out and buying a farm.
09:54
where you can bulldoze and put the roads where you want them in the water and sewer and lay it out exactly. Because these buildings, you can’t move the walls. Some of them are 18 to 24 inches thick. So you have to piece it together. Make the vision match the building a bit more. So on that side of things, because I know every project, and you’ve had a long career, probably has its own set of challenges. there any particular challenges or hurdles or, you know?
10:22
interesting stories that jump out to you from any of the projects that you’ve done in the area? Well, yeah, one interesting, the very first project we did in Staunton, this was kind of interesting. were, Dan and I were working to get the, become master developer at the villages, which was the old Western State Hospital, when we saw an ad that there was a building in downtown Staunton going up for an IRS auction. And we found out about it two weeks before the auction.
10:50
And it turns out it was the old YMCA. And so we called up the IRS guy and said, hey, you know, we’re interested in looking at that bill. And he said, sorry, you missed it. We were open, you know, on such and such a day. it was, was all the doors were chained and we couldn’t get in. And he wouldn’t, I said, well, we’re serious developers. We’d like to take a look. No, come to the auction. So Dan and I walked around the building, kind of peeked in the windows and
11:20
decided, yeah, it’s a great location, solid building. We don’t know what’s inside, but for a certain price, we can make it work. So we agreed on what that price was and showed up at the auction. And it was cold. It was in January. remember the auction was held across the street in the funeral home’s parking lot. And there was about 100 people there. It’s a very loved building also.
11:50
Yeah, exactly. Anyway, long story short, we were able to get it. Dan had, well, for an IRS auction, you also had to come and you either paid cash or certified checks. Oh, okay. So he had a little black briefcase. We figured out in $100 or different denominations, some certified checks. And so while I was doing the bidding, Dan was standing over on the side. Dan’s taller than I am. He had on a black overcoat.
12:18
and he looked kind of like a mafioso with the briefcase. But we were able to get it and then we started to work on that before we were able to really finalize what was going to happen at the villages. Because I love Staunton so much. said, hey, and we we decided to turn it into condominiums. I’ve done condominiums for a long time. I personally believe that that’s kind of going to be an important segment even more than it is already. they many people say they’re the most beautiful condominium.
12:47
anywhere in the region. They turned out really honestly. And one of the interesting stories was that there was a pool. Some people that grew up here said they used to learn to swim there. So what we did, we divided the pool in half and one of the condos has got a wine cellar. We have a trap door. You go down the stairs and there’s a wine cellar in what used to be the pool. And is that something you guys incorporated in? We built it in
13:12
For him this was all spent. We built them all then we sold them. We wasn’t pre sold sure we thought that’d be a cool feature I’d say so kind of on that side of things because you guys do a mixture of You guys built the condos in the historic YMCA You just opened up the Arcadia Apartments right downtown on Beverly Street, which will be
13:37
Amazing. The other side of the building, was, you know, former movie theater, the Arcadia projects, that is also being developed by some others in the community. And they’re on the home stretch of that where it would be a performance venue. So I’m like thinking back, I’m like, oh my gosh, back in my single days, that would have been the coolest place to live right next door to a performance venue in downtown. So you have permanent living spaces, but then you also have
14:03
a hotel and where meetings are held and weddings and events. And so it really is a mixture. guess for you, especially from a historical standpoint, what role do you see the historical developments playing in both the community needs, right? Cause we have residential now benefiting, but also local tourism. Well, I mean, that’s what drew me to Staunton. didn’t
14:27
bulldoze all the buildings in the 60s like they did in many other cities across Virginia. Imagine what a different town this would have been. And not, I don’t think for the better. No, absolutely. If they bulldozed Beverly Street buildings, we’d be another sleepy little town with no activity whereas now, I mean, it really is a cool, small city in Virginia. first, Staunton had the historic structures were still standing. Many were
14:55
in need of repair, but there’s been a lot of other developers in town that have done pretty much all the buildings on Beverly Street and other places downtown. And that’s again, using the state and federal historic tax credits and the tax abatement program have provided the economic incentives and it makes sense for a developer to take that risk. It’s not an easy game and there’s a lot of uncertainties. Now, how do you balance honoring the historic nature
15:24
and but also the modern amenities. Like I think about a Blackburn Inn, the most, it’s one of the most photographed spots in Staunton, even whether people are staying there or not, they always want to go for a tour and see this beautiful spiral staircase, for example, in the Blackburn Inn. How do you go about balancing like, let’s preserve it, this is what’s special, but also like there’s modern amenities that are needed in a modern standard. That’s a very, very tricky part. And so you have to,
15:53
We hire some good professionals, architects, interior designers. And then my team has been doing this for so long, we have a good idea of what will work and what won’t. But the challenge is you have to submit your detailed architecture plans before you start the work to the Department of Historic Resources. They in turn, after they approve it, submit it to the National Park Service.
16:21
must be approved by both. And there’s always some give and take, some pull and push. There’s things we want to do that they may not allow us to do. And so then we negotiate and we try to come up with a workable compromise. But there are many things that, there’s no compromise. You cannot do that or you must do this to get the tax credits. And that’s only fair because the purpose of the tax credits is to save the building.
16:51
and also the significant architectural features in the building. So it is difficult. In fact, you spend a lot of time and energy working out those details. I imagine. I imagine for sure. Now, on these properties, because they’re all variety of ages, and whether it be in Staunton or another location you’ve been at, have you guys ever uncovered anything that’s really unexpected in the process?
17:20
Well, yeah, in one of my buildings in Richmond, it was an old hospital and we had done all the preliminary work and had tested for asbestos and had all the normal routine inspections and all. Got our budget worked out and it turns out in the middle of it, this was about going to be 150 apartments in an old hospital, they hit this one spot and when they were demoing it, turns out the whole cavity was
17:49
just packed with asbestos we were not aware of during the… That’s not a happy surprise. Yeah, we had to stop construction, all the other workers had to go out, bring in an asbestos team with all the suits on, and it took about two weeks to get it cleaned up, which we did, but that was a huge unexpected cost that wasn’t in the budget and we weren’t anticipating. And that’s a good example of why historic tax credit projects are risky. There are things that you don’t…
18:17
know no matter how much, how many times you walk it and how many engineers and inspectors you have going through it. Once you go through the work of taking down some of the old nonhistoric features, you can run into problems. Here in Staunton, the Beverly Hotel Apartments, which we redid, that was an interesting, probably one of the more difficult we’ve ever done because it had been vacant for five or six years.
18:47
The city actually held an auction because the taxes hadn’t been paid. Dan Gecker and I bought it at the auction, city auction. Again, we had a price we weren’t gonna go above and we got it for just about the price we expected. We knew it was in bad shape. My team had been in it five or six times. We’d had professional engineers in there. But when we got in it, it was in much worse shape than we had.
19:16
could possibly imagine. were some things that were just, that was held together by baling wire and duct tape and it was a mess. And so again, not things that we couldn’t fix, but drove the cost up. Even though we had a large contingency, we blew through the contingency. so you just really…
19:42
have to go into it with your eyes wide open that there’s going to be things. We don’t know what they are, but we’re probably going to spend. No, there’s going to be things. There’s to be problems that you don’t know about. Yeah. You got to be willing to roll with the punches and we’ve got a good team that does that. Has your career always been on the historical side or did you start out being like, I want to build a brand new build? how have you always been on side? Well, I started off, graduated from West Point, was in the army for nine years, the Army Corps of Engineers. So when I got out of the army, I went back to my hometown and
20:12
joined up with some other folks and we were building what’s called a planned unit development, essentially new construction on 125 acre farm. We installed the roads, water, sewer lines, and now there’s about between three and 400 homes there. I’m no longer involved in that. So yeah, the first 10, 15 years of my civilian career was new home building and developing of raw land.
20:41
But a lot of people can do that. The historic Tash credits is pretty narrow niche and that’s what I really, really love, the old buildings. We did a couple old buildings in my hometown in Kingsport, Tennessee, but there wasn’t enough old buildings. were historic buildings there because it was started in the late 1920s. So Staunton offered a real, just a wonderful array of different historic buildings of all types. You know what I love about that though is
21:12
being an older community or an older building has a whole set of challenges. I’m looking to buy a home right now and it’s like, you balance out older home with a challenge but newer and not as much character? And you know, there’s always these things, but sometimes age of a community can be looked at as a challenge. And there’s certainly challenges with it, but I love the vantage point of all the opportunity with it. I mean, it’s such a great, the architecture here is such a great draw for.
21:37
our tourism and our locals and it’s such a defining point for us, but also from your standpoint and like, we don’t have to take it down. Like this is, this is the, this is the gym right here. It’s going to take a lot to go into, but I love the vantage point of there’s an opportunity here with that age. Well, you just can’t replace these, these buildings. mean, the current architecture, uh, doesn’t have the, the, the beauty and the, the feel and, and it just can’t be replicated. Um, plus
22:06
some of the historic buildings, if you tore them down, you couldn’t build it back that way. The building codes have evolved and they continue to evolve over the years. And each time they do, it makes it harder to do historic buildings. there is some, there’s a few years ago, they came up with a historic building code. So there’s certain things that you can do in a historic building that you can’t do in a modern building. But it’s challenge.
22:35
pressure from the public because you are going into very beloved buildings. I think about the YMCA building, And so many people had memories there, but it’s also such a visually stunning building. so when you mix emotion with, you know, being a prominent space, do you ever feel the pressure from the communities you’re in to like live up to expectations, but also keeping things? Yeah, not too much. And the reason is, let’s say, Staunton specifically.
23:05
Every building or every project we’ve done has been viewed very positively by the community. Take them one at a time. The old YMCA had been sitting there vacant, chained up for, I don’t know, four, five, six years before we saw it. Nobody had been able to do anything with it. Then the villages and all that we’ve done there, which had been, was a huge white elephant. In fact, everybody that…
23:33
was alive when it was a prison and that was as I can always remember the prisoners sitting up out there and smoking cigarettes and throwing them out from the porch. That’s a memory that people from Staunton have. Then take the Beverly Hotel, that building we bought at auction, it was about to fall down literally. So we saved that building. We weren’t really looking to do that. We actually were approached by some of the city.
24:01
staff and the mayor at the time, a city manager, hey, please come look at this building because it’s such a prominent building as you enter Staunton. So if it did, if they did have to demo it, it’d be like you’re missing a front tooth. And so that was kind of the reason that Dan and I decided to do it. And it has worked out okay. Then the third one would be Staunton Steam. And that was a super cool building, but
24:29
It’s an industrial building, not much use for laundries in today’s modern world. so that was a real challenge. And we were able to it rezoned and also get a historic, get it designated as a historic tax credit site. And that really has improved that neighborhood. Otherwise it’d be just a vacant building and before long you’d have vagrants in it and it’d become a
24:57
could become a real eyesore. So I certainly hope the neighbors around that property are glad that we did it because it has improved the neighborhood and property values. And then the Arcadia building, the last one we just finished in December, it had been sitting there vacant for 65 years. And it’s a four story building, but it only had the first and half the second floor there. The third and fourth floor were gone because it burned 65 years ago.
25:26
That was a challenge too. We weren’t really looking for that building, but worked with Pam and Tom. We were doing the Arcadia project. Yeah, we bought that from the Arcadia project, helped them out. And when we were able to take the very last significant building on Beverly Street that hadn’t had any renovation in 65 years. so that rented very quickly. We finished in December and we were 100 % leased up in 90 days.
25:56
Imagine again, I’m jealous. It’s scary to be next to a performance venue when it’s right down from the American Shakespeare Center. Of course, Hotel 24 is right there. There’s a coffee shop across the street. Like that side of Beverly, especially is just so cool. And I’m like, that be the best place to live right here. So on another side of unexpected discovery. So allegedly.
26:23
Blackburn Inn is known to be a little spirited, I would say. How do you guys approach that in the story you tell now? you don’t, and in many ways, mean, Staunton is a very, very old town, right? And we have our own campaign of haunted Staunton that people love. It’s one of our most successful every year. Amazing Staunton ghost tours happen here. But how do you guys?
26:53
approach that? Well, that’s a good question. We first I’ll say I’ve been there for 20 years. I’ve been in every building many times. I personally have never seen or felt anything that bothered me in the least. Now, that said, we’ve had a couple of folks of employees years ago who swear they were in a building and all the windows were shut and a door.
27:22
opened and closed. was no wind. I didn’t see it with my own eyes. I also think after this long in developing all the projects, I just also feel like you’re unphaseable. If something happens, oh well. Well, that’s true. I’m not too faced by it. hey, you who knows? Certainly if there are spirits around, they would be at that site with such a long history going back to 1828.
27:51
And we do have a beautiful cemetery in the back that we keep and maintain. And early on when we started, was, you know, we got these calls that wanted to come do the Ghostbuster thing and try to, and we, I didn’t think that was appropriate because I don’t think that, I don’t think all of those are legit. But we recognize that there’s been a long history there and many people live there, many people passed on from there.
28:20
One of the longest standing myths or legends, I’ll say not myths, but legends in Staunton is that a choir, singing choir is known to haunt some places along the grounds places. So perhaps there’s a tune that will, but we are a very musical town. We are very musical. musical. So it’s only natural that generations and eras of iterations of Staunton would experience that too. Could be. I will say I’ve never heard it. Right.
28:49
But the musical part, that does remind me, that was the other thing that attracted me to Staunton was the Heifetz International Music Institute, which I love, and American Shakespeare Center. then of course, Staunton Music Festival. There’s not another city the size of Staunton that has such incredible cultural activity. And the arts, all the art studios.
29:17
and in co-op and just so it’s an amazing. Doesn’t make sense on paper, but here it feels natural. feels natural. It draws people, not only tourists, people getting out of Northern Virginia and Northern cities that are so difficult to live in and so expensive. lot moving down here. That’s good. The retirees move here, have money to spend, don’t put a stress on the schools or many other things.
29:47
We just made a national list a couple of months ago in like the top 10 of coolest places to retire in 2025. And we were up there with Phoenix and, or maybe it was Tucson and like places in Florida. And I was looking at the list, I’m like, how do we get here? And also, I mean, it is very, very true, but also I’m like, ah, I’m trying to find a house right now. So. It’s difficult to find a house because so many people are moving. But I mean, I think too, when we’re saying that it’s not like.
30:15
Oh no, we’re busting at the seams. I think we are growing at a healthy level. Oh, absolutely. And we’re seeing some new construction in the area, which is good. And not just a wonderful place. Are you surprised you’re still here 20 years later? No, not at all. I don’t plan to. I’m actually used to split my time, maybe 60, 70 percent in Richmond, 30 percent in Staunton. Now it’s almost flipped. I’m here almost every weekend. Got the little house behind.
30:45
Stuart Hall, built we just walk in there. Yeah, so we can walk right down to the dinner and walk back home. not many places you could walk to the choices that we have on Beverly Street or go to a movie, a first run movie we have at the studio right there. So or America Shakespeare Center or Hi-Fist. It’s a very, very unique, special community.
31:13
Yeah, appreciate you saying that. Looking forward to the next 10, 15, 20 years, right? What role do you see historical developments continuing to grow Staunton over the next 20 years? Well, specifically at the villages, we finished six of the 12 historic buildings. So that means I’ve got six left. I would love to renovate those. They’re the ones a little more challenging from an economic point of view.
31:43
Just because we like the building and want to fix it, know If it’s gonna cost pick a number four six eight million dollars You need to be able to convince a bank to loan you the money to do that You have to have a business plan that that works and that you can convince the bank will work So we’re still on a couple of those buildings that they can’t easily be turned into apartments or condos because the rooms are small So we’re looking for other other business ideas It’s standing in general
32:11
The historic homes and many of the neighborhoods have already been renovated, but they’re still on the West End and various other places. There’s some opportunities to individual homeowners to buy a historic home and fix it, which by the way, if you do buy a historic home, the Virginia State Historic Tax Credits are eligible. You’re eligible to use those, not the federal, but the state that has a wonderful program that encourages
32:41
someone to buy an old house, fix it up, and they can get the 25 % historic tax credit. Now you do have to send your application in, you gotta be in a historic district, you gotta get your Part 2 approved, you gotta do what you say you’re gonna do, but it’s not that hard. And so for some of the other neighborhoods, the neighborhood that I’m in now was really rough when I bought that house. It was probably…
33:10
20 % owner occupied, 80 % rental, the houses, many had absentee landlords. Now it’s totally flipped. It’s probably 80 % owner occupied, 20 % rentals, and those houses, one at a time over the last 20 years, have been bought by people like yourself, young couples, mature couples that then come and may use the tax credits, may just clean it up.
33:38
But the bones of those houses, you know, don’t get that nowadays. The hardwood floor, the beautiful trim, the high ceilings, the molding. can’t… Place mantles that you see. Exactly. Yeah. And there’s still houses, lots of houses in Staunton. Now we may need to expand our historic districts or create some more because to get the tax credits, you do need to be in a historic district. But I see it as a very valuable tool to save the historic homes in the other neighborhoods that are still available.
34:08
Yeah, that’s me. See, that’s why I was so excited about this episode is I feel like I’ve just learned so much along the way. And I mean, I see the final products that you have and the projects you’re working on. But there’s so many of us that we we don’t know, like, what’s the process to get there? And and I think a lot of times questions of like, why are they starting right now? And it’s like there’s there’s a lot of steps to get there. But the end product is so amazing. And and when the end product still honors all the history that’s been in in the space and in the building and the community, I think
34:37
What what a gem for a community in a way to keep keep us true to ourself for someone like yourself if you found an old house that you wanted to renovate the Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources is an excellent source. can on the website. You can actually call them on the phone. They’ll talk to you. They’ll give you tips It’s it’s not easy, but they’ll hold your hand and and make it work And so, you know if you bought an old house and spent just to make the math easy
35:04
$100,000 on renovation, your qualified costs, you could get back $25,000 in tax credits. Now they don’t write you a check, but you use that on your income and you don’t have to use it the first year it carries forward, I think 10 years or so. So it’s a strong incentive to do it right. You do it right, that’s right. Well, you guys certainly have done it right. We appreciate.
35:30
your creativity and your eye and your love of Staunton and all that’s been made here so far and what you’re going to keep working on in the next, we’ll say 20 years. You’re never going to retire. Never plan to retire. We’ll probably take, it’ll take many years to finish up what we’re doing. We’ll keep going. But it’ll be worth it. So thank you so much. Thank you guys for listening in. I told you we were going to learn some new stuff today. I know I certainly did. So thanks for checking out the You Is Silent We Aren’t podcast by Visit Staunton. If you like what you heard, and of course you did,
35:59
Give us that five star rating if you don’t mind. Share the word. Recommend us to a friend, a neighbor, somebody looking to buy a house or a property and needs good knowledge. Share it with them. Robin, anything else you want us to know or share or what we can keep up with? Just want to emphasize again what a great place Staunton is. This is where I’m going to be for the rest of my life. Just couldn’t encourage people more to come check it out. Come stay at the Blackburn. Enjoy downtown Staunton.
36:29
Maybe move here. Thank you so much. See, couldn’t have said it better myself. Thanks, Robin. Thanks, guys. Talk soon.
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