The Corpus Christi Downtown Management District is now the largest city in the Texas Main Street Program. Receiving — and presenting — the official designation are (from left) Hannah Shaw, DMD merchant and special events coordinator; John Crain, Texas Historical Commission vice chairman; Terry Sweeney, DMD executive director; and Brad Patterson, THC community heritage development division. Courtesy Photo
Downtown Corpus Christi just became the largest participating city in the prestigious Main Street program, announced the Texas Historical Commission recently. Main Street is one of the most successful economic development programs in the country for utilizing the assets of a community to generate investment money and create jobs and promote small businesses.
“We are incredibly excited to have been selected from the competitive application process,” said Terry Sweeney, executive director of the Downtown Management District, who applied for the program. “Downtown has so much momentum. The Main Street program will help us leverage that momentum to attract new investment and businesses while preserving our historic main street fabric.”
The Texas Historical Commission’s Main Street program works to provide technical expertise, eduction, resources and support to designated Main Street communities to revitalize their historic downtowns and commercial neighborhood districts. The goal is to visually improve areas, while developing their economic stability. Currently, 90 communities in Texas are involved in the program.
Downtown Corpus Christi has more than 50 historic buildings and a variety of local shops, restaurants and bars that should benefit from the program.
“We hope this new program helps property owners and merchants alike see how reinvesting in their buildings and businesses can yield significant economic gains,” said Casey Lain, owner of House of Rock and DMD Board Chair. “We have seen a growing number of new businesses opening in some of our historic buildings. The Main Street program should keep that momentum going!”
Since it began in 1981, the Main Street program has generated more than $3.1 billion in overall reinvestment into participating historic downtowns, and created more than 33,000 jobs and 8,500 small businesses.
