by Bailey Shelton | photos by Adam Grubb Media
HOW HISTORIC DOWNTOWNS ARE HANDLING RENEWED INTEREST
Chain stores, mail order catalogs, and malls—these three were prime suspects in the death of Main Street USA, according to Miles Orvell in his 2012 book, The Death and Life of Main Street. The simple formula of convenience and the one-stop-shop drew away the crowd even before Amazon or drop shipping came on the scene.
Now, though, renewed interest in Main Street living is making suburban municipalities rethink downtown investment, and reframe the ways they plan for future growth.
In one extreme example, a restored three-bedroom, three-bath home on Pine Street in Zionsville was recently listed for over $1 million. According to a home report from Century 21 Scheetz, the same property was listed for $325,000 in 2015.
“The closer to Main Street the better for a lot of people. In fact, Main Street is attractive, and block by block, people like to be as close as possible,” says Gary Angstadt, realtor at 21 Century Scheetz. Angstadt has sold homes in the Zionsville area for over 20 years, and he’s seen the changing tide of its housing market. “22 years ago, when I started selling homes in Zionsville, a $1 million house was very unusual, but just in the past few months, two houses have closed at $1.65 million.”
PLANNING FOR DOWNTOWN RESURGENCE
South of Indy in Bargersville, a new strategic development plan promises to deliver a shiny new multiuse thoroughfare that aims to feed traffic from State Road 144 to their historic downtown. As it stands, Bargersville’s latest growth spurt comes with the addition of an outdoor event space called Umbarger Plaza. However, Bargersville continues to grow, and the city needed a more comprehensive plan in place for commercial, mixed-use, and multifamily development.
“There was some momentum coming to the town. There was interest from outside parties of ‘Hey, we’d like to invest here, but there was no plan for them to reference,” says Drew Braley,’ the principal from Browning Day who ran point on the Bargersville plan. “They wanted to control what that might look like as opposed to just saying yes to everybody that came to town.”
Bargersville’s cultural history is heavily tied to the railroad track that runs through its historic downtown and the agricultural landscape of the surrounding area. The Umbarger family is one of the key stakeholders that Browning Day consulted as part of their planning project; they own several downtown properties and active businesses in the area, including large silos that are a fixture of the Bargersville landscape.
The vision put forth for Bargersville is twofold: First, they’re trying to attract more mixed-use and multifamily residential projects. Currently, over 90% of their housing stock is single family, and they’re looking to flip that ratio to 80-20 by 2040. Second, they’re wanting to build up more along State Road 144, driving that corridor to connect into downtown, but keeping truck traffic away from Main Street. Their hope with new investments is to make room for the new residents Bargersville’s downtown is attracting while also maximizing their investment in downtown development.
A couple miles down State Road 144 in Johnson County, Franklin is one of the more coveted downtowns in Indiana, with its preserved 1890s commercial facades, treelined streets, and sprawling parks system connected to Franklin College. This fall, Franklin plays host to the Preserving Historic Places conference with Indiana Landmarks.
From afar, it might seem like Franklin is the pinnacle of downtown success, but to hear their Community Development Director Krista Linke describe it, their downtown has been a labor of love over 25 years in the making. In 2003, the first strategic plan Linke worked on was approved by the city, and by 2009 it was followed up by their Gateways and Greenways plan, which became the blueprint for the major downtown corridors of Franklin.
“Every year, we just ticked off one or two phases of that Gateways and Greenways plan,” Linke says.
One of the first major tasks taken on at the time was in direct response to major flooding that hit downtown Franklin in 2008. The city established the Franklin Development Corporation, which acquired and demolished 89 homes affected by the floodwaters. Today, the FDC still acquires one or two blighted properties each year and redevelops them, in a strategy that encourages neighbors to feel more pride and ownership of their neighborhood.
The city also acquired a federal block grant to address their aging water, drainage, and sewerage infrastructure. The memory of that flood has yet to fade for the city, and their new amphitheater is designed with ample drainage and sealing in the event of a flood.
The most direct impact of that Gateways and Greenways plan, however, can actually be seen simply by driving into Franklin from the I-65 interchange. A truck route moves traffic around downtown Franklin and connects I-65 to State Road 31 to the north. This keeps larger vehicles from downtown Franklin’s narrow streets and decorative streetlamps, saving the city millions in damages and upkeep.
“We did a brick wall restoration on North Main Street and it got hit by a semi twice in two years,” Linke says. “We worked a really long time with Google and trucking navigation companies to get that updated to route trucks away from downtown.”
This effort was made possible through a relinquishment project with INDOT, where the city of Franklin received $14 million to take responsibility over Jefferson Street, their main corridor that also happens to be State Road 44.
“[INDOT’s] primary purpose is to move traffic, it’s not pedestrians,” says Linke. “We had a mayor at the time that was very involved in getting that relinquishment project done.”
Many of Indiana’s main streets sit along state roads, which different communities have tackled in a variety of ways over the years. In Westfield, Main Street is also State Road 32. In their Downtown Westfield Master Plan, their goal for the city involved making major thoroughfares like Main Street feel more pedestrian friendly and connecting over six districts of the city through greenways and multimodal routes.
“Our job was to create a place that is recognized as a downtown but also stitches together the prior planning efforts of others so that it’s a cohesive story,” says Christine Pearson, associate principal at Browning Day. “We don’t want to abandon or ignore the good work other people have done. We wanted to embrace it and bring it into a wider vision for downtown.”
Westfield, like other parts of Hamilton County, is in high demand in terms of housing, and like most of the state, the city is starting to look at ways of incorporating mixed-use and multifamily developments. For Westfield, this means plans for infill housing and slow, long-term replacement of dilapidated buildings with new builds as needed.
“One way to create a downtown that’s really lively and active is to create a place people want to live,” Pearson says. She mentioned there are tax rate benefits for mixing in diverse housing types, but it also gives current residents a closer-knit community as new neighbors move in nearby.
Similarly to Bargersville’s connection with agricultural structures, Westfield’s historic architectural language and old-growth tree canopy were important to the community as the area continues to grow. Those two elements drove the architectural guidelines that Browning Day put forward.
Pearson says, “Connecting the wants and needs of the city with our perspective, we asked, ‘what can we build into the architecture of the site that supports the image that they want to see?’”
COMMUNITIES ON THE RISE
While bigger towns around Central Indiana are trying to shape the renewed interest in downtown to last for the next twenty years and beyond, other communities are starting to see interest turn their way as well. Carmel inspires Westfield, Greenfield inspires Bargersville, a project in Tipton reflects one in Columbus.
Some downtown developments can begin through state and national block grants, especially in communities with fewer than 50,000 residents that suit certain income requirements; that’s where Indiana Main Street and the Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA) come into play. OCRA processes $32 million in grants each year. Beyond funding, they also run an accreditation program called Indiana Main Street, where Main Street organizations in smaller towns can network and gain access to state resources.
OCRA Executive Director Fred Glynn says that it seems like now more than ever people are wanting to get back to that sense of community, where you can walk up to a local business and know the people behind it.
“Other communities are starting to grow, and we should have some guidance on how these communities can grow into their own destiny and their own goals going forward.” Glynn also says the two main problems facing small towns in Indiana are water and housing. 42% of the grants OCRA handles go directly to water management projects. For housing, Glynn says they often refer communities to other state agencies, or support housing efforts in indirect ways.
Glynn talks about a domino effect, which starts with attracting people to downtown, which leads to businesses coming in, and eventually grows to the city reinvesting in the corridor. For the city of Franklin, the metaphor rings true.
“I used to go to all the community exchanges and think, ‘How are we ever going to get things done?’ And now communities are coming here, which is very rewarding, but it also takes time, and it has to involve everybody to get the buy-in and support,” says Linke.
The experts at Browning Day are also starting to see the community learn to ask more specifically for what they want as they consult on city plans around the state.
“The language of the public is becoming broader as we have these projects,” says Pearson, regarding the examples put forth in strategic developments around Hamilton County. “I think it comes down to the day-to-day. People see what’s happening over there and they wonder what it’d be like for them where they are.”
Currently, Browning Day is working on a strategic plan in Tipton, which will be released this fall. Tipton happens to be a newcomer to Indiana Main Street accreditation, and they recently received READI grant funding to rehabilitate the historic Diana Theatre in their downtown district. Glynn describes them as the next community on the rise.
Interest in downtown ebbs and flows, but real downtown redevelopment can take time. Key players in every town can make things happen; the real trick is knowing what to ask for and how to make it a reality.
