That鈥檚 changing later this fall, when bulldozers break ground on a 35-house development conceived and led by Dean Weaver 鈥�89. With relatively little experience as a developer, Weaver focused more on the property鈥檚 opportunities rather than its challenges and jumped in with both feet.

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know better. It seemed like the right thing to do 鈥� so I just did it,鈥� says Weaver, who learned the hard way that securing planning and zoning approvals for an unconventional idea on an unwieldy site can be a long and tough process. 鈥淗ere I am three and a half years later.鈥�

Weaver鈥檚 goal for Collicello North 鈥� named for Collicello Street, which runs through the property 鈥� is to recreate the feel of an old, traditional neighborhood where different kinds of people can be united by an affection for the place and the people who live there. (Weaver uses the traditional pronunciation with a soft 鈥渃,鈥� 鈥淐olli-sello,鈥� although some in the neighborhood say 鈥淐olli-chello.鈥�)

He hopes the mixture of detached homes and townhouse-style units will attract buyers of different ages and budgets. Most of the houses will face a central green area, with parking relegated to alleys in the back, a decision designed to encourage residents鈥� sense of 鈥渂eing connected, being community,鈥� Weaver says. The master plan also includes a small amount of mixed-use space for commercial or office use.

Sustainability is another important part of the concept. The homes will be on the small side relative to the American norm, ranging from 900 to 1,800 square feet and emphasizing living space quality over quantity. Each house will come with a 3-kilowatt聽solar array on the roof,聽allowing homeowners to generate much of their own electricity.

Kirsten Parmer 鈥�93, director of marketing at , emphasizes its location within walking distance of EMU and downtown Harrisonburg, and a connector path leading to the planned biking and walking trail.

鈥淚 believe that our culture is waiting for this,鈥� says Weaver. 鈥淚 think we鈥檙e primed and ready for it.鈥�

After college, Weaver worked in construction for a while before starting an irrigation company. Housing development is a more recent interest that he鈥檚 pursuing in his role as special projects manager at Blue Ridge Architects, a company in downtown Harrisonburg led by Randy Seitz, class of 鈥�87.

With design work handled by Blue Ridge Architects (which is also ), Weaver will manage construction of Collicello North through another company he started with Seitz, R+D Building Systems. He hopes to set a close-knit, collaborative tone for the project, beginning with financing, development and design and continuing throughout construction. Making things as welcoming as possible for small contractors 鈥� e.g. minimizing paperwork and paying every two weeks 鈥� figures into his desire to 鈥渄o my part in living in a nice community.鈥�

Weaver feels confident that enough others want to live in the kind of nice community he has in mind that he鈥檒l be building out Collicello North on spec, rather than waiting for individual lots to sell.

鈥淚f I build it, they will 鈥︹�� he says, before trailing off with a chuckle. It鈥檚 probably bad karma for a developer to say something like that, he admits.

Regardless, he is about to build it, and hopefully they will come. If all goes according to plan, construction on Collicello North will be finished less than two years from now, and community at Collicello North will have just begun.

In an industry in which computers have replaced pen and paper in the drafting stage, you’d be hard pressed to find a drawing board in 90 percent of architectural firms, he says.

But the once essential board, quickly becoming a thing of the past, serves not only a practical purpose for Seitz, it’s a daily reminder of why he entered the industry at all.

“I got into this because, in ninth grade, I took a mechanical drawing course and said, `I want to do this with the rest of my life,’ ” he said.

More than 30 years later, most of his work is computer-based, but there’s still that “white piece of paper stage,” as Seitz calls it.

“To me, that piece of the process happens best with a pen or pencil in my hand,” he explained.

Certainly, Seitz and Blue Ridge Architects have made many changes throughout their time in the industry, and now the downtown Harrisonburg company is celebrating its 10-year anniversary by giving back to the community surrounding it with six events throughout the year.

A year of celebration

In February, Blue Ridge Architects welcomed nominations for local ministers to win a trip to Exponential East in Orlando, including lodging and airfare.

The prize went to local pastor Peter Eberly.

The following month, the firm hosted a three-day free film series featuring the architects’ favorite movies.

On May 3, the firm offered a free church architecture tour, explaining the history behind some of what the company calls the best architecture in downtown Harrisonburg.

The biggest event is coming up, however; Blue Ridge Architects’ official 10-year anniversary is in June, so the firm is holding a celebration June 21 at the Turner Pavilion, which it designed.

On Sept. 19, the firm will host a 10-hour pro bono design marathon to benefit local nonprofits.

To finish up the year, the firm will have 10 days of Christmas giveaways in December.

The firm is also offering its front room, equipped with a kitchen and ample meeting space, for use for local nonprofits.

The history

Blue Ridge Architects has been marked by the ebbs and flows of the industry, but it’s come out strong.

In 2004, Seitz and Ron Davenport opened up what was then called Blue Ridge Design Studio at 61 S. Main St.

“That’s kind of when the whole real estate industry was overheated,” Seitz said, explaining that architects were just overloaded with so much work.

A Harrisonburg native, he wanted to move back home from Indiana.

“I looked at working for other firms, and I looked at the opportunities I would have going on my own,” he said. “It seemed to be a great time to kind of go out on your own.”

The surge in business lasted for about five years, and “then the bottom fell out,” as he puts it.

The recession hit the architecture industry nationwide, and Blue Ridge Architects was no different.

“We got through it because everybody made sacrifices,” Seitz said, adding that 2009 was the roughest year for the company.

Since then, however, the firm has gotten to the point where it has too much work – a much better problem than the 2009 situation, Seitz points out.

In 2010, the company changed its name to the current moniker thanks to a tip from a marketing consultant.

“Amongst many recommendations, big and small, one of them was, `Put `architects’ in your name so people know what you do,’ ” Seitz said.

Less than a year ago, the firm moved to its current spot at 126 W. Bruce St., a jump from 750- to 3,000-square-feet of office space.

But the business has already outgrown the place.

It started a sister construction-management company, called R+D Building Systems, to address a shift in the industry toward inclusive design and construction businesses. That company is currently housed in Blue Ridge Architects’ storeroom.

“We’re going to be doing some renovations over here in the summer to try to better accommodate it,” Seitz said.

The firm has hired seven staff members, mostly architects, in the past year, and it’s in the process of starting its first offshoot branch in Charlotte, N.C.

Bursting at the seams

About one-third of the firm’s work is large church projects in the Mid-Atlantic region, another third of the workload consists of projects for Eastern Mennonite and James Madison universities, and the last chunk goes toward a mix of residential, retail and commercial projects.

“Architecture firms of our size, particularly those that aren’t working in a metropolitan area, they need a couple areas of specialty and concentration but you also need kind of a general practice,” Seitz explained. “That combination is … the best for weathering the ups and downs of the economy.”

At 16 employees currently, the firm is still small but it’s the largest architectural company, or branch thereof, in the Valley, Seitz believes.

At any given time, the firm’s employees are working on roughly 30 active projects, ranging from a $5,000 feasibility study to a multi-year contract; the firm is looking for ways to keep that number lower.

“It feels to me like the growth that has happened recently has been sort of that, `Build it and they will come,’ kind of concept, taking a leap of faith with this space and, within a year, filling it up,” said Kirsten Parmer [1993 EMU grad], head of PR and marketing for the firm.

The business was recently named second best architectural firm in the Shenandoah Valley by Virginia Living magazine.

“We are very fortunate and feel very blessed and are glad to be where we’re at,” Seitz said.

Courtesy of the Daily News Record, May 20, 2014