The National Main Street Center announced that Downtown Lansing, Inc., will receive a Resource Team Visit, July 19-21, 2016. Downtown Lansing, Inc. is a member of the Main Street America™, a national network of communities implementing the Main Street^® Approach for comprehensive downtown revitalization. Designated as a Select Level Michigan Main Street in 2013, Downtown Lansing, Inc. became a Nationally Accredited program in 2015. The visit is an important technical service offered by Michigan Main Street to local Main Street programs as they mature in their revitalization efforts.

“We are proud to partner with Downtown Lansing, Inc., the City of Lansing, downtown property and businesses, and the Lansing community”, said Laura Krizov, Manager of the Michigan Main Street Center, a program within the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. “This visit is intended to connect our national partners with the local efforts to offer additional guidance and resources in support of the community’s commitment to a vibrant downtown”.

A team of national experts has been assembled to review the progress of the program, conduct market research, and gather community input. The past few weeks, Downtown Lansing, Inc. has been inviting the community and working with local leaders to complete surveys developed in preparation for this visit. Next week, the team will arrive in Lansing to conduct meetings with stakeholders and local leaders and to work with the Downtown Lansing, Inc. Board of Directors to devise strategies that can continue to direct the revitalization efforts and help achieve increased economic vitality for Downtown Lansing.

“This visit is very timely and strategic”, said Matt Wagner, Vice-President of Revitalization Programs for the National Main Street Center, who will also lead the Resource Team. “Working closely with our Michigan Main Street partner, we have selected Downtown Lansing to be among the first programs in the country to receive this service following a format that reflects our recently Refreshed methodology. We look forward to serving as a resource to build on the strong foundation already in place and help Lansing implement strategies that continue to add energy and investment to its downtown.”

Main Street has been a highly effective methodology for breathing new life in thousands of the country’s historic downtowns and commercial districts. After going through an intensive review of the approach and its implementation across the country, the National Main Street Center recently launched the “Refreshed” Main Street approach, confirming the value of the four-points while helping communities elevate the strategy-driven focus of their efforts to respond to evolving market needs and opportunities in the commercial district revitalization field. The Refreshed Main Street approach reinforces the value of community engagement and investment, fosters an increased understanding of existing market conditions, and promotes strategy and result-driven focus for the successful transformation of downtowns and urban commercial districts.

About the National Main Street Center

Over the past 35 years, the National Main Street Center has been leading a national network of coordinating partners and over 2,000 local historic downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts known collectively as Main Street America™ – all sharing a commitment to preservation-based community revitalization. Originally launched as a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1980, the National Main Street Center pioneered an incremental, volunteer-driven strategy to help downtowns counteract booming suburban growth. This novel approach was in stark contrast to the urban renewal projects that were destroying commercial districts. By tapping to important community resources, citizen participation and its older and historic buildings, the Main Street Approach has helped reinvigorate America’s historic downtowns and commercial districts in cities and towns across the country. Today, as an independent subsidiary of the National Trust, the Center continues to build on its three-decade record of success, with new leadership and added resources to help communities bring new life, vitality, and continued investment to their downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts.