What makes a historic city worth visiting?

Richmond-area leaders hope to find out in a trip to Charleston, S.C.

James Dunn, president of the Greater Richmond Chamber, which puts together an annual InterCity Visit to a large metropolitan area, said Charleston was selected because organizers sensed that the South Carolina city is a place that has better capitalized on history.

"History is what we have," Dunn said. But "there's a lot of frustration that we have never quite been able to get our act together."

About 110 business, government and community leaders will travel to Charleston on April 2-4 for this region's 15th InterCity Visit.

Q. Why Charleston?

A. Richmond and Charleston have some things in common. Both are Southern cities founded by British settlers and are steeped in Colonial and Civil War-era history, including their roles in the slave trade.

"Richmond is really rich in historic resources, and we as a community have to have what Charleston has had -- a difficult discussion of our history," said William J. Martin, director of the Valentine Richmond History Center, who is going on the visit.

Tourism is a major thrust for both cities. Martin said he is interested in learning more about what draws visitors to Charleston. He said Charleston had seen a drop in museum attendance but an overall increase in visitors.

Q. What else do the cities have in common?

A. We have the James River; Charleston has the Ashley and the Cooper rivers, the Battery and the nearby Atlantic coast. And riverfront development is a signature element of Charleston.

The group from Richmond will hear about Charleston's infrastructure investments, and some participants will have the chance during one of five breakout tours to visit Daniel Island, a planned community that includes a soon-to-be-open 500-slip marina and waterfront park.

"I'm definitely interested in the revitalization that's taken place in Charleston," said Laura Lafayette, a senior vice president with the Richmond Association of Realtors. She said she wants to explore how Charleston preserves its architectural past while having an eye to growth and the future. "What's the balance we need to strike?" she asked.

The group also will hear about Charleston's Spoleto Festival, an annual 17-day event featuring indoor and outdoor performances by renowned and emerging artists in the areas of opera, theater, dance, chamber music, jazz, the visual arts and more. Richmond said farewell to the three-year stay of the National Folk Festival last fall, but the Richmond Folk Festival is set to debut in September. And the Richmond Performing Arts Center is scheduled to open next year.

Tourism, history, preservation, the arts and the riverfront all play into Richmond's recent report from consultant Jim Crupi and also in the draft Downtown Master Plan. "Charleston has been extremely successful in marketing those elements of the city," Martin said.

Other sessions and breakout tours will focus on technology, the arts, young professionals, planning for the future and affordable housing.

"How do we ensure there's a diversity of housing-price points so that a variety of people can call the city home?" Lafayette asked.

Q. Why InterCity Visits?

A. Dunn suggests considering the Richmond region as a product.

"The best companies in the world are constantly benchmarking their competition," he said. And whether it's a company looking to move here, one looking to expand or a family deciding where to visit, he said, customers have a choice. "We need to understand how our product stacks up in the market."

Similar groups have visited Richmond, too -- Lexington, Ky., Mobile, Ala., Jackson, Miss. A group from Baton Rouge, La., might visit this fall.

Q. Where have past visits been? What has resulted?

A. The first visit, in 1993, was to Jacksonville, Fla., when organizers focused in part on an engineering school as part of Virginia Commonwealth University's efforts along those lines.

In 1996, a group visited Austin and San Antonio in Texas to learn about the semiconductor industry after Motorola Inc. selected the Richmond region for a chip plant. The group eyed San Antonio's River Walk as part of Richmond's plans for the new Canal Walk.

The chamber takes discussion leaders to help shake out some of the lessons learned while the group is still in the host city. It also formalizes some of its findings two to three weeks afterward. But Dunn also said people emerge afterward to tackle issues back in the Richmond area.

"We will have champions that evolve out of the process that will say, 'We're going to run with that.'"

The visits to Florida and Texas, as well as to Minneapolis, in the 1990s played a key role in the decision to transform a modest proposal for the Greater Richmond Convention Center into a larger project, he said. "We got our eyes opened to what the competition was doing."

Q. Who's going? What is the trip's cost?

A. The group includes wide range of people from museums, law firms, universities, development companies, governments, marketing firms and Fortune 500 companies, including some headquartered in the region, such as MeadWestvaco and Genworth Financial.

The visit will be co-led by Katherine Busser of Capital One Financial Corp., who is chairwoman-elect of the chamber, and David A. Kaechele, chairman of the Henrico County Board of Supervisors. The cost is $1,950 per person. Elected officials generally have their visits paid for by their government. The city of Richmond, for example, is sending two council members and an economic-development official.
Contact Kiran Krishnamurthy at (804) 649-6810 or kkrishnamurthy@timesdispatch.com.