Downtown Saline has much to offer with shops and restaurants and small-town charm, but like many other communities, it has struggled with business closings in recent years.
Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com
The City of Saline is about to get some help revitalizing its downtown. Saline is one of 10 selected for the Michigan State Housing Development Authority’s Main Street Program this year.
The program offers training for city leaders to help them plan redevelopment strategies for the community.
Art Trapp, Saline’s downtown development director, said city leaders will attend four daylong training sessions this summer and fall. Sessions are hosted at cities that have successfully redeveloped downtown areas through the Main Street Program.
The four training sessions are the start of a long-term relationship between Saline and MSHDA. Cities that participate in the Main Street Program move through three different levels of development and assistance.
Trapp said Saline could use the help. He and other city leaders have struggled to fill empty commercial space downtown. Trapp said many small businesses have left downtown Saline over the years. “As those businesses have gone out, we have holes,” he said.
In the Murphy's Crossing building at Michigan Avenue and Ann Arbor Street, “the whole second floor is empty. Five or six businesses used to be there,” Trapp said.
One gaping hole is the site of what was to be the mixed-use development the Village Marketplace + Lofts. The project, west of Ann Arbor Street on Michigan Avenue, has been stalled for years because of lack of financing.
Joe Borgstrom, director of specialized technical assistance and revitalization strategy at MSHDA, said the program offers cities two kinds of expertise: Formal training from MSHDA, and input from other cities who have also gone through the program.
“So they’re not going to just learn from state experts, but from communities themselves and how they’re implementing it,” Borgstrom said.
Another benefit of the program is that cities don’t have to pay for it, Borgstrom said.
The Main Street Program was started in 2002 under Gov. John Engler, and has been continued under Gov. Jennifer Granholm.
Six cities, including Howell in Livingston County, have completed the program. Borgstrom said Howell brought in more businesses and developed a new streetscape through its participation in the program. “It’s all locally driven plans,” he said. “It’s not a situation where we come in and tell them exactly what to do. We help them develop themselves.”
The goal for Saline is not to make it another Howell, Borgstrom said, but “to help Saline be the best Saline it can be.”
Trapp said residents of Saline are invited to a webinar on July 13 in Saline’s City Hall to learn about the Main Street Program. Residents will be able to view a presentation and ask questions.
Other cities selected for the program this year are Allegan, Caro, Chesaning, DeWitt, Grand Ledge, Greenville, Lawrence, Sparta, and West Branch.
Learn more about the Michigan Main Street program at their website.
Tara Cavanaugh is a freelance writer for AnnArbor.com. To reach the news desk, call 734-623-2530 or email news@annarbor.com.
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