Community: City of Midland
Population: 10,000+
Seven blocks of beloved Main Street Midland needed some tender loving care. After a successful run, this 25 year-old streetscape was tired; sidewalk brick pavers were trip hazards, curbs had been chewed up over the years and deteriorating cross walks made this vibrant downtown look a little less appealing. It was time to Dig In and create something new. To the rescue: $7.2 million in donated foundation funding, more than 800 points community input on what a new downtown should look like, 22 weeks of construction and voila! a new downtown Midland. The new streetscape features three blocks of festival streets built for downtown entertainment, wider sidewalks for outdoor dining and retail, urban-designed planters to support horticulture and unique features like fire places, pergolas and flexible seating. The transformation has revitalized downtown Midland and renewed it as the heartbeat of the community.
Replicability:
The simple concept of ask and respond is an easily replicable task for community development projects. Midland residents love to be involved in helping shape their community. The new downtown streetscape design began with three months of public input that resulted in 800 points of contact with community members. Numerous in-person brainstorming sessions, stakeholder sessions, man-on-the street surveys, on-line surveys, in person and on-line plan review and comment opportunities made sure that everyone who wanted to be involved in the process had the chance to do so. The result was a design that met the desires of our community to have their downtown be a vibrant gathering place. In response to community input that focused on wanting more space for downtown events, a desire for more outdoor dining space, unique gathering spots, the ability to provide entertainment without closing down streets and a downtown that would draw new business. Events: The new downtown Midland streetscape features three blocks of curbless “festival” streets that, when closed down for festivals and events provides a large uninterruptable area for tents, vendors and activities right on Main Street. Three new events have already relocated downtown, attracted by the festival street concept. Outdoor dining: three existing businesses were able to open new outdoor dining spaces thanks to the larger sidewalks in the festival street areas; more outdoor dining spaces are being planned. In addition, downtown Midland added the opportunity for retailers to offer outdoor retail space to catch the eye of sidewalk shoppers. Unique gathering spots: two fire place features were added to the streetscape adding a unique place for visitors to meet up or hang out on their visit to downtown Midland. Flexible seating allows for groups to pull up a chair around the fire and have an intimate space to gather and relax. Pergola seating spaces have been added to two corners, again, providing a new and unique seating area that offers shade to those who seek it. Entertainment: being able to provide downtown entertainment without closing down streets is an added benefit. Downtown Midland’s new plaza intersections are large rounded corners that allow for entertainers to set up and folks to gather around without closing down streets or parking.
Creativity and Originality:
Besides utilizing an extensive, successful and creative community input process resulting in creative and unique elements being built into the streetscape, downtown Midland kicked off this construction process with one heck of a party. The construction season was themed “Dig In Midland” and as construction got underway, downtown Midland partnered with our construction contractor, Fisher Companies, who brought eight pieces of heavy equipment and several large piles of sand onto Main Street for the kids to explore and play in. Music, refreshments and hundreds of families joined us for one last party on the old Main Street and spent the afternoon exploring big trucks and digging for treasures in the sand. Plastic construction hats, shovels and other construction-themed trinkets were given away throughout the afternoon. The Dig In theme and logo was used throughout the construction season to alert folks to construction details, closures and other details related to construction.
Community Impact:
The Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation, Charles J. Strosacker Foundation and Rollin M. Gerstacker Foundation provided the $7.2 million that funded the construction of downtown Midland’s new streetscape. This gave the Midland community a completely new downtown environment using no additional tax dollars and at no additional costs to downtown property owners. The foundations challenged Midland residents to also own a piece of the new downtown and raise additional funding for streetscape amenities like fire places, specialty seating and gaming tables. Through a crowdfunding effort, the community donated more than $50,000 to this effort, which was matched 2:1 by the Midland Area Community Foundation and a 1:1 match by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation – providing an additional $200,000 for downtown to add streetscape specialty features chosen by the community. When you invest in your community, others are eager to be a part of that energy and rebirth. Four new investment projects have started construction in downtown Midland since the new streetscape was announced including a hotel, mixed-use building, new bank building and a 32-unit residential project. This represents several hundred thousand dollars’ worth of additional private investment in downtown Midland alone. Several other new investments are in the discussion stage. Further downtown investment and overall community involvement are major impacts as a result of this project.
