The town of Pulaski is working to turn some of their dilapidated, empty buildings into new businesses.
In recent years, this town in the New River Valley with a population of about 8,800 people has been slowly working to help revitalize old buildings. Some past examples of brownfield projects include properties that were converted into a hotel, a skate park, and a new brewery that opened this year.
“People shop at these places and visit these places everyday and don’t realize that they were once brownfields properties not that long ago,” explained Shannon Ainsley, economic developer for the town of Pulaski. Last year, the Environmental Protection Agency awarded them $500,000 to assess brownfield properties, which are dilapidated properties which may appear unsightly or pose safety concerns.
“So this grant gives us funds to be able to assess these properties that are kind of sitting there and forgotten,” Ainsley said. “People don’t really quite know what to do with them because they’re not sure what the contaminants are, if any.”
Pulaski is focusing on properties along roads that lead into town, where there are several abandoned gas stations and other buildings, built decades ago.
“We had a lot of industry. That industry started to pull out,” Ainsley said. “And this is not unlike any other small town. This happens in a lot of small towns and a lot of the towns are left trying to figure out their new identity.”
Pulaski was awarded the new brownfield grant in May 2025, but they are still working to find building owners willing to get a free assessment of their property. Ainsley said funding may be available to help make improvements to open them as a new business.
