Today, residents and guests of Downtown Casper, Wyoming, can walk a few blocks for a wood-fired pizza at Racca’s Pizzeria Napoletano, browse a gallery at Art 321, attend an event at David Street Station, or spend the day exploring unique retail shops. Those experiences may feel natural now, but they exist because years ago a handful of people were willing to see possibilities where others saw problems.
One of those people was Art Boatright, Casper native and President of Mobile Concrete.
When Boatright first stepped inside the building at 430 S. Ash St. in Downtown Casper, he wasn’t looking at a group of thriving businesses, he was looking at a challenge.
“It was a mess. It was a disaster,” Boatright recalls. “It had been all kinds of different things but had gone vacant.”
The rundown building, located in the heart of the Old Yellowstone District, had seen decades of use and neglect. It needed significant structural work, extensive renovation, and a vision for what it could become. Fortunately, vision wasn’t in short supply.
Boatright, his wife Lynette, business partners John and Lauren Griffith, and community advocates including Liz Becher, Community Development Director for the City of Casper, believed downtown Casper deserved destinations that would bring people together. They saw an opportunity not simply to restore a building, but to create a place that would attract residents, visitors, and future investment.
That vision, however, would require far more than good intentions.
A Labor of Love
Revitalization stories often focus on the finished product. What they don’t show are the long days, difficult decisions, and physical labor that happen behind the scenes.
For 430 S. Ash St., much of the work happened beneath the floor.
“We had to do quite a bit of concrete reinforcement underneath it, and it was not easy,” Boatright says. “We would have to drill holes in the existing floor and then use a special way to get the concrete down into forms below because there was no way to do it otherwise.”
The work was physically demanding. Boatright and Griffith completed much of it themselves while still maintaining their full-time careers.
“John and I did all that,” he says. “That was really hard because we both had other jobs.”
Then came the challenge of preparing for the installation of heavy equipment for Racca’s Pizzeria Napoletana, one of the new businesses looking to open in that space.
“You hear the saying ‘labor of love,'” Boatright says. “John and I were underneath the floor in the crawl space trying to pour the big foundation that would house and hold the heavy pizza ovens. Concrete was in our faces and everywhere. John was like, ‘That better be some pretty good pizza.'”
The comment was half-joke, half-truth. The project took years of planning, construction, financing, and problem-solving before the first pizza was ever served.
The Partnerships That Made It Possible
While determination played a major role, revitalization has never been a one-person effort. Boatright credits much of the project’s success to partnerships between private investors, community organizations, and the City of Casper. Central to that effort was longtime Downtown Casper advocate Liz Becher.
“Liz is such a proponent for the Old Yellowstone District and such a force,” says Boatright. “She worked with us to find incentives and programs that made it feasible.”
Those tools mattered. Incentives, strategic property transactions, and public support helped bridge the gap between an ambitious vision and a financially viable project.
“We utilized our Revolving Land Fund to buy the old Houston Supply warehouse. At the time, we purchased the whole building for about $438,000. I went to Council and said, ‘I want to buy this building from Houston Supply, and we will divide it into three different parcels and sell them off accordingly — but I already know who I want to market it to.’ The goal was never to flip property for profit. It was to clean it up, reposition it, and bring in the right kinds of uses that would change the trajectory of the entire district.”
From the start, the vision was intentional: to anchor an arts‑ and experience‑driven district, not storage units or manufacturing facilities.
“I was actively courting Art 321 away from their cramped original space, and we walked the building with members of the Casper Artist Guild who could see the vision,” said Becher. “Then Lynette and Art, and the Griffiths, came through with other partners. We took one large warehouse that had been storage for plumbing equipment and divided it into three new spaces.”
Infrastructure Matters
Just as important was the City’s willingness to invest in infrastructure. At the time, one of the district’s biggest challenges wasn’t restaurants or retail, it was parking.
“There was no parking lot,” Boatright says. “It was basically a dirt lot.” The City stepped in and transformed the area into the parking infrastructure that serves downtown today. “The City really put a lot of effort and money into that,” he says. “That’s been the biggest game changer, quite frankly, with everything downtown, because you’ve got parking for all these events and everything down here.”
It’s a reminder that successful revitalization often depends on investments people rarely notice. Restaurants, apartments, galleries, and event spaces may draw attention, but infrastructure makes those destinations accessible.
The Importance of Being in the Arena
Like nearly every redevelopment project, the 430 S. Ash St. renovation had its share of skeptics. For Boatright, criticism was never a reason to stop. Instead, he points to a philosophy that has guided much of his career, and one he teaches his children from Theodore Roosevelt’s famous 1910 “Man in the Arena” speech.
The speech celebrates those who step forward, take risks, and attempt difficult things — even when success isn’t guaranteed. “You can say all you want about the person that’s out there doing it, whether he’s succeeding or failing,” Boatright says. “But he’s in the arena.”
That mindset shaped the project from the beginning. It would have been easier to leave the building vacant. Easier to wait for someone else to take the risk. Easier to assume Downtown Caper’s best days were behind it. Instead, a group of people chose to act.
Art’s wife, Lynette, may not be from Casper, but she quickly became one of its fiercest champions.
He states: “She probably had more to do with it than myself, pushing us forward with the mindset, if we’re not going to be the ones to start it, who are? She poured countless unpaid hours and emotional energy into the project, and overcame many obstacles, determined to make downtown better because she fell in love with the people here. I couldn’t have done it without her.”
Today, those decisions and that determination have created opportunities for dozens of employees, attracted thousands of visitors, and helped establish momentum that continues to build throughout Downtown Casper.
Building a Downtown That Attracts People
For Boatright, the future of Downtown Casper isn’t just about restaurants or entertainment. It’s about creating a community where people want to live. He points to the new Old Yellowstone Apartments and other planned residential projects as the next critical chapter in the evolution.
“The rooftops are the key,” he says. “Once you get a core group of people that are living here, now they’re going to frequent all these places.”
That vision extends beyond attracting visitors. It’s about creating an area that encourages young professionals, families, and future generations to stay, or come home. Restaurants, music venues, galleries, breweries, public spaces, and housing all work together to create the kind of community that retains talent and attracts investment. It’s the same vision that has guided Downtown Casper’s revitalization for more than two decades.
Progress Worth Protecting
This story isn’t just about redevelopment. It’s about perseverance. It’s about partnerships. It’s about people willing to invest their time, money, and energy into something bigger than themselves. Downtown Casper’s transformation didn’t happen overnight, and it didn’t happen by accident. It happened because community leaders, business owners, investors, nonprofits, and city officials shared a belief that the district could become more than what it was. Today, as new residents move into Downtown Casper, attend events at David Street Station, visit Art 321, or gather around a table at Racca’s, they’re benefiting from years of behind-the-scenes work.
The story of Downtown Casper remains unfinished. Challenges and opportunities still lie ahead. But if the last twenty years have proven anything, it’s that progress belongs to those willing to step into the arena and build it. One building, one partnership, and one bold idea at a time.
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