Tide of change

By Liz Barry

Published: November 12, 2008

Sunlight spills through smudged windows over a collection of potted plants in the dim hallway on the top floor of The Virginian Apartments.

It’s a modest garden. Green stalks and puckered flower buds lean toward the rays of autumn light.

For David Sickmen and Montana Lautenschlager, the tiny garden is a symbol of life in an apartment building with, at times, a darker past.

Built in 1915, the red brick building — known as “The Virginian” — stands three stories tall on the corner of Rivermont Avenue, just before the bridge to downtown. Once a dormitory for Piedmont Business School students, it fell into disrepair. Today, it’s owned by Charlottesville-based entrepreneur Oliver Kuttner, who bought it in 2006 and hired Sickmen and Lautenschlager to renovate and run the apartments.

The couple moved in a year and a half ago to tackle the massive task.

“It was in horrible shape,” Sickmen says.

He paints an ugly scene: urine-stained hallways; beat-up doors patched with plywood; walls stained yellow from years of cigarette smoke.

But they saw hints of beauty in the building, which overlooks the downtown skyline, the James River and the Blackwater Creek Trail.

“The potential was obvious,” Sickmen says.

After months of hard work, the couple restored the building plank by plank, room by room. Today, 21 of the 22 apartments have been renovated and are rented. There is now a waiting list to live there.
The apartments house long-time residents and a new wave of 20- and 30-somethings, who want to be a part of the building’s transformation. There are students, musicians, artists and small-business owners. Some have moved from Virginia’s more expensive cities, like Charlottesville and Richmond, lured by cheap rent and historic architecture.

The resulting community is one of mixed race, age, economic status and religion.

Linda Williams, known by her nickname “Miss Linda,” has lived in The Virginian for 21 years. Her walls are covered floor-to-ceiling with pictures and mementos from the past.

Williams remembers the apartment being a quiet, peaceful place when she first moved in, inhabited by mostly elderly tenants.

“It was nice then. The floors were shining. It was nice in here.”

Over time, she saw the building deteriorate. Since Sickmen and Lautenschlager took over the maintenance, Williams’ quality of life improved dramatically. She compares it to living in Boonsboro, only with lower rent.

“I just got a new stove and a refrigerator, a decent door ... I sleep all night now, and I do not have to worry about a thing.”

Jason Alvis, 26, moved in four months ago to be a part of the building’s change. He commutes to Charlottesville twice a week to take graduate classes at the University of Virginia, but prefers to live in Lynchburg because it’s cheaper and near his friends.

Alvis had a hand in transforming his apartment. He pulled up old flooring, stained the wood underneath and painted the walls.

“There’s something redemptive about that, to watch a building turn.”

The Virginian’s dorm-like setup and community vibe has bridged age and race gaps among the residents, Alvis says. The halls are wide, and there are communal balconies on the front and back of the building.

“Because of the nature of the building, you can’t avoid seeing people and slowly getting to know them.”

Sickmen and Lautenschlager, both artists, are also part of a wave of out-of-towners settling in Lynchburg.

Sickmen was a founding member of the Hackensaw Boys, an Americana band from Charlottesville that he toured the United States and Europe with for seven years. After parting ways with the Hackensaw Boys, he moved back to his hometown of Charlottesville, and then moved to Lynchburg with Lautenschlager when rent became too high.

Lautenschlager worked on a farm outside of Charlottesville before moving to Lynchburg.

The couple’s child, Eljin Sickmen, was born in their apartment seven months ago, under the guidance of midwives. They view the birth as an example of how the apartment has come full circle to new life.
Their apartment has a Bohemian feel, with colorful walls and shelves full of art, books and knick-knacks. They keep a dead roach on the bookshelf in their living room — a souvenir from the apartments’ former state.

Though the building has improved dramatically since the couple took over, it’s far from where they want it to be. Each week, they make multiple trips to the hardware store for new fixtures or material for the building. There are appliances to be upgraded and kitchen cabinets with one too many paint jobs that need to be replaced.

“It aggravates me sometimes. Sometimes I can’t stand this building,” Sickmen says of the seemingly never-ending list of things that need to get done.

But behind the frustration is hope, a feeling that The Virginian’s transformation is part of a tide of change in Lynchburg, and the country.

“I feel like this is something I could show Barack Obama, and he’d be like, ‘Good work,’” Sickmen says.