COLUMBUS, MS – Courtesy of The Dispatch and Abigail Sipe Rochester
Main Street Columbus, Inc.’s Barbara Bigelow recently spoke to the Rotary Club of Columbus about our downtown area, which now has an impressive 96% occupancy rate! Of this, she said, “We have a very active downtown. . . It’s not because of me. I like to think that Main Street as a whole plays a part of that, and the volunteers and the partners that we have. We have merchants that so want to be downtown. They don’t want to be anywhere else.”
Part of her job is bringing available commercial and residential openings to the attention of interested parties; another is helping to attract investment into the area. Downtown has benefited from American Rescue Plan funding, and more should soon be incoming; the plan is to use it for more beautification and citizen enrichment projects, as well as safety improvements in heavy-traffic areas such as Main Street and 5th.
Please click here for the original article: https://cdispatch.com/news/occupancy-rate-reaches-96-in-vibrant-downtown/
photo credit: Rotarian Jason Dunn talks with Main Street Columbus Executive Director Barbara Bigelow – Abigail Sipe Rochester, Dispatch Staff
