2017 was a busy year for Main Street Columbia Inc.
Director Nik Ingram spoke with the Columbia Board of Aldermen at the April 3 meeting and shared some insight into things going on with the organization and in downtown Columbia.
“I wanted to give everybody a perspective about what we’re doing, where we’re going and what we’ve done,” he told the Board. “Everything we do, we work to build a thriving, creative and attractive downtown Columbia community. We create opportunities for merchants and artists to express their talent and imagination. We do this by hosting events in the downtown area, growing business entry and expansion and celebrating the improvement of historic spaces.”
Main Street’s objectives in 2018 are to promote, grow and celebrate, according to Ingram.
“In order to promote, we’re going to spend or invest money o help promote the Cruise-Ins that are wildly successful,” he said. “Maria and her group (Columbia Gearheads) have done that. We’re going to encourage businesses and vendors to participate and also grow the crowd and business participation. In our effort to fill up empty spaces, we want to add new businesses to the downtown district. We also want to help existing businesses expand or fix up their current spaces. We want to celebrate the events, such as the monthly Cruise-In that are hosted on Main Street, Celebrate our Freedom Fest in July, Main Street House of Horrors in October and Candlelight Christmas in December.”
In 2017, Main Street spent approximately $12,000 on events and received $25,000 in in-kind donations and $10,000 in sponsorships.
Ingram also said that seven new businesses opened up downtown and 14 spaces were remodeled either outside or interior.
“We also estimate that about 10,000 plus people came to our events downtown,” Ingram said. “We also currently have 27 members of Main Street. There are 36 buildings that are almost ready to rent. The key word is almost. It could be something simple, a few thousand in renovations. The problem is that they are all almost ready to rent. There are very few that are ready for a business to move into. That’s been my biggest problem trying to recruit. People assume that it’s dead because there are empty spaces, but the reason that there are empty spaces, from my experience is that there is sometimes lack of investment from the actual building owners. One of the problems is that they cannot make their return on investment. But in three years, if we tried to recruit one business each month to come downtown, it could generate about $80,000. One new business per month over three years means 50,000 extra visits and $2.5 million in revenue generated. That would equal $170,000 in additional tax money for the city. If every person spends $50 on a visit to a business and that business has an $80,000 gross revenue, it grows exponentially. It starts by adding one business, one business a month.”
Ideas for increasing downtown traffic
Director Nik Ingram of Main Street Columbia submitted several ideas for aldermen to consider based on what other cities are doing to cope with empty structures downtown.
1. Encourage business owners to update buildings with fresh paint and attractive signage.
2. Make changes to ordinances to allow a street vendor to set up once a week for lunch.
3. Consider giving notice to building owners that they could face fines for not turning the space into retail businesses.
4. Create an ordinance as to what businesses would be allowed in the downtown historic district.
“It’s better to have a mobile food vending ordinance to regulate them as to not have it,” City Attorney Lawrence Hahn said.
Mayor Justin McKenzie said many municipalities have the regulations in place.
“We took a little road trip and were in Covington, La.,” he said. “We saw several places that had mobile food trucks, like Kane’s does when they come down to the Cruise-Ins. There were several trucks there, even some from the local restaurants.”
Ingram said that at a recent Cruise-In where it was raining, people drove to find the food vendor, Kane’s.
“Six people got out in the rain to pick up food from them,” he said. “They got seafood, and they went home. They were passing by and saw them out there downtown. I know it would work downtown, especially on a Monday, when many restaurants aren’t open. We could have different food every day if we wanted.”
Alderman-at-large Edward Hough also shared a similar experience from Covington.
“We stopped by and they had a farmer’s market there that they have every Saturday,” he said. “There are people who have tents with produce and things. But they also have prepared food. It was in a little courtyard area in downtown. It was the neatest thing.”
Pictured Above: One of the most popular events that Main Street Columbia Inc. promotes is the monthly Cruise-In car show.
