Aug. 9—Leaders in Decatur and Athens say their downtowns are booming, with most retail spaces occupied and a low turnover rate, and a Hartselle leader said they are working to get their downtown to thrive like the others.
“The leadership in Decatur, the city, the community as a whole loves the downtown area,” said Decatur Downtown Redevelopment Authority Executive Director Kelly Thomas. “It’s the heart of every community, but I think for our city especially, it’s where we can all come together and spend some time. Whether that’s watching a play or eating at a restaurant or shopping at one of the boutiques.
“Downtown is a place for everyone, and I think Decatur’s downtown has a very tight-knit community feel that appeals to everyone.”
Tere Richardson, Athens Main Street executive director, said Athens’ downtown area is flourishing.
“Walkability is very important, foot traffic is very important,” she said. “My organization and several others are very conscious about trying to do events that bring people into downtown. And people — it might be their first time in Athens — they can see what we have to offer, and they’ll come back.”
Jasmine Sanderfer, Hartselle Area Chamber of Commerce president and CEO, said they have a few vacancies, but most of downtown is full.
“I would not say that it’s thriving just yet, but we are building on that. We want to have that community that’s downtown,” she said. “So, it’s not where we would like for it to be, but we’re building; we’re getting there. And I think that’s just Hartselle as a whole.”
Thomas said Decatur’s downtown has a few store spaces available, but not many.
“We do have some stores changing owners,” she said. “Obviously, that will look like an empty space for a little while, but that’s just temporary.”
Thomas said they do not have a large turnover rate.
“We have a very healthy downtown, so a lot of times, once a store goes in, they tend to stay. We’ve had different stores close recently for personal reasons with the owners; it didn’t necessarily have anything to do with downtown Decatur,” she said. “Downtown Decatur as a whole is doing amazing. We’ve seen shop owners move into larger stores. … That’s just a sign the downtown health is very well.”
There are retail stores, Thomas said, that will be coming soon that have yet to be announced.
“So, there are exciting things in downtown’s future,” she said.
Thomas said there are improvements being made to downtown Decatur all the time.
“We’re already over $100 million of new investment in the downtown just in the last two years,” she said. “The amount of investment we’re seeing downtown is unprecedented for our downtown.”
Richardson said there is a difference between empty spaces downtown and vacant spaces.
“We’ve got empty spaces, just a few, but those are buildings that are owned by individuals that are not interested right now in selling or leasing those buildings,” Richardson said of Athens.
There are only two vacancies in a warehouse on Marion Street off the Square, Richardson said.
“We have more interest in people moving into downtown than we have available properties,” she said. “That’s a good position to be in, but also, when you have people calling that are very interesting additions to downtown, you wish you could provide them with a space that they could be part of the downtown family.”
Richardson said Athens Main Street and other organizations hold several events throughout the year to bring people downtown. One is a concert series on the Square called Fridays After Five.
“When we do Fridays After Five, that’s 3,000 to 4,000 people on a Friday night,” Richardson said. “Many of those will be people who maybe haven’t been to Athens before. They’ll take a few minutes to maybe eat dinner early or eat dinner after the show and make plans to come back and shop.”
Similar strategies have been successful in Decatur, with such events as 3rd Friday and annual Dia de Los Muertos and Mardi Gras festivals.
There have been several improvements made to downtown Athens, Richardson said, and there are more plans for the future. Athens has replaced the sod on the north side of the Square with pavers.
“That was one of the more traveled paths, so it was in dire need,” Richardson said. “That really widens the sidewalk, and it makes it easier on event nights for people to walk up and down there.”
The city has taken out the old lamp posts on the Square that only shined on the street and replaced them with lamp posts that also shine on the sidewalks. Richardson said the city plans to do the same to streets surrounding the Square. She said it improves downtown’s walkability. The Athens Farmers Market is downtown and is currently undergoing a remodel with in-kind services from the city and county.
Sanderfer said she is working with the local government on how to bring businesses to downtown Hartselle.
“How do we promote that and make sure we’re advertising to the right business for them to come down,” she said. “The companies we advertise to, we want them to thrive here as well.”
Sanderfer said Hartselle’s downtown does not have a high turnover rate.
“It’s just more about making sure that we encourage people to come downtown,” she said. “We’re always thinking of ways we can have events that will draw people into the stores.”
Downtown’s biggest event, Sanderfer said, is Hartselle Depot Days.
“This festival was created for our downtown merchants to draw traffic downtown,” she said. “We’ve looked at the statistics and we have people that are coming from the Gulf. We have people coming from Arkansas, Mississippi, and it amazes us.”
Sanderfer said they are aware of how many people Athens’ Fridays After Five brings to their downtown.
“Hartselle also wants to position ourselves and have an event similar to that that works for the community,” she said. “That gives people of all ages something to do.”
Sanderfer said they recently had a group of about 50 people come to Hartselle specifically to take a tour of historic downtown.
“I know that we’re a small town and we don’t think about those things, but people are still looking at Hartselle and our downtown,” she said.
Sanderfer said they are working with the city to incorporate more lights downtown. She said they are hoping by next year to install benches around downtown.
—erica.smith@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2460.
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