Investment question?
I live in a town of about 8000 people in the upper midwest. We are located in a beautiful river valley 12 miles south of a fairly large recreational lake. We are about 30 miles east a town of 15,000 and 60 miles west of a town of approximately 80,000. We don’t have any big tourist draws here but I think our town has potential.
The main street has a lot of empty store fronts and the building my wife works in was at one time a mall. There is room for 15 businesses in it in areas ranging from app. 200 sq. ft. to app. 4000 sq.ft. It is for sale and can probably be had for about $150,000. I would very much like to see this community thrive again. We don’t need anymore dollar stores, hobby/gift shops, or antique stores. Does anyone have any advice to give?
We are located on an interstate and we draw a lot of out of state hunters and fisherman.
There is a little town out in West Texas that has been working on revitalization. They were once a triving community at a crossroads (major interstate and large state hwy). The first thing you need to do is get the community involved. In thier area, the local churches have even gotten involved.
Some businessmen in the community formed an orgainization called “Mainstreet” thier goal is to help revitalize downtown. Several of these guys owned some of the abandoned buildings downtown. (It was a real ghost town). So they donated some of thier buildings to the organization. The organization then sells them for a very, very low price (something like 10,000 in some cases), one condition of the sale is that work must done on the building within a set amount of time and a certain amount of $ must be invested in the remodel (that way people aren’t just purchasing the property and letting it sit).
One of the churches in town then put in a sandwich/coffee shop…it is interesting, run by volunteers.
Another group in the city formed an organization named “Downtown Revitalization Association”. They work to bring events to the downtown area. They work with local sponsors and have huge concerts/festivals on the 4th of July and Christmas. This has helped bring people into thier downtown.
If you can find like-minded people to get work together to revitalize then you will definately be able to do it.
I suggest putting in a coffee/sandwich shop, maybe a small bookstore (a place where people can drop in). If you are near a “vacation/recreation spot” like you described put in some shops that will draw in outside money. Put in some antique shops, water gear shops, gift shops…pull as much $$ into your community from outside as you possibly can.
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ANTIQUE souvenir china MAIN STREET BINGHAM ME MAINE DISH ON PEDISTAL Preble NICE $9.99 |
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Main Street Panama on Independence Day 1900s antique view postcard $7.99 |
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10pcs Antique Bronze Vintage Charm Cameo Setting (inner 20mm) Pendant #184 $4.59 |
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Autometer Antique Beige Mechanical Oil Pressure Gauge 2 1/16″ Dia Beige Face $79.90 |
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COL. CHARLES DENBY UNION SOLDIER 1861 WOODEN CIGAR BOX 5 CENT CIGARS ANTIQUE $19.99 |
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VERY NICE ANTIQUE SKELETON KEY FOR SOME ONES COLLECTION OR FOR CRAFTING 63 $6.99 |
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10pcs Antique Bronze Vintage Charm Scissors Pendant 60*25mm For Necklace #183 $3.88 |
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