Portland Development Commission Holds Application Workshop for New Main Street Program

The Portland Development Commission has officially kicked off its new economic development program, Portland Main Street®. The program, charged with promoting neighborhood commercial district revitalization, is based on the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Main Street® approach that has been implemented in 2,800 communities within 45 different states.

PDC will be holding application workshops for representatives of all interested business districts on February 2, from 1 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.; and February 3, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The workshops will be in the Oregon Association of Minority Entrepreneurs’ main conference room, located in Portland at 4131 North Vancouver Avenue. A representative from each district that wishes to apply is required to attend at least one of the workshops.

Belmont Street (at 30th) in SE Portland's Sunnyside neighborhood

The NTHP implemented the Main Street® approach in 1980 with 30 participating communities in six states. The trust started the program after seeing the deterioration of downtown business districts in communities across the country. Increases in suburban sprawl, national chains and freeways, diverted the focal point of these communities from the downtown districts to shopping centers on the outskirts of town. Consequently, businesses on Main Street began to close and business owners began tearing down their buildings to make room for national chains, or to replicate the mall-style in their own businesses.

In order to combat this trend, NTHP decided to put into operation a fund matching economic development program that put the focus back on Main Street. The members believed this was achieved by saving its historic buildings, reviving its commercial core, strengthening its businesses, controlling sprawl and keeping a sense of place and community life in area.

“As this program has moved to the West Coast, the founders have added the terms older and significant to the program,” said Claudia Plaza, Main Street® program manager with PDC. “This program isn’t just about keeping 300 year-old buildings around. It’s about maintaining the significance of communities while adapting to the challenges associated with modern business practices.”

  NE Killingsworth Street (at 30th) in Portland's Concordia neighborhood

The program takes a four-point approach to encourage economic development within communities that is appropriate to today’s marketplace and helps preserve older and historic properties. These four points are:

• organization (getting the community working towards consensus),
• design (getting the commercial district in top physical shape),
• promotion (marketing the district’s unique characteristics and assets) and
• economic restructuring (diversifying the district’s economic base).

Oregon currently has a Main Street® program at the state level that is administered by the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department. The state program is on a tier system where only the top tier is actually designated as a Main Street® partner, while the other two are in the exploratory and planning stages. All three tiers are offered technical support, but only the top two can apply for grants. All communities within the Portland program will be Main Street partners, and will be alloted matching grants up to a certain amount. There are currently seven Main Street® partners in the state program. There are also 63 other cities and neighborhoods in the state that are currently in the planning stages of the program, including Portland's St. Johns neighborhood. If selected, the St. Johns district would be allowed to transform its current program into the Portland system, but wouldn't be allowed to do both.

The Main Street® approach was adopted by the City of Portland when the City Council approved its Economic Development Strategy in July of 2009. The program was one of several possibilities the city looked at to achieve business vitality in Portland’s neighborhoods. The program was passed along to the PDC, which contracted with the National Trust Main Street Center® to see if Portland was a good fit for the program’s urban model. The contracted consultants met with community leaders, examined resources and reviewed past and current revitalization efforts.

After deciding the program was a good fit, and adding a sustainability element to the program, the City Council approved general fund dollars to implement the program in four communities within the city.

  NE Dekum Street in Portland's Woodlawn Neighborhood

“Other than just being a good fit for Portland, one of the main reasons it was decided to use this program was that it not only produces results, but produces results that are measurable in terms of reinvested dollars and jobs created,” said Plaza. “That really helps spur development and inspire reinvestment.”

Interested communities will go through an extensive application process where they will be required to convince a review board that they have the community support, fundraising capabilities and historic assets to make this program a success. They will also have to outline a budget and suggest possible projects that meet the criteria of the program: economic development, historic revitalization and sustainability.

Qualifying business districts include any five to 15 adjacent blocks within the city that do not fall into an urban renewal area. The city’s 11 urban renewal areas aren’t allowed to apply this budget cycle for the purpose of fairness, but the issue will be on a yearly basis.

Clinton Street in Portland's Hosford-Abernethy neighborhood

“Hopefully both programs can coincide with each other in the future because they are both very different, yet very valuable,” said Plaza. “Urban renewal dollars are for capital improvements while this program is focused around technical support.”

She continued, “PDC is about offering different programs to meet the different needs of each community.”

Once four business districts are selected a new not-for-profit Main Street organization must be created, or an existing independent, community development nonprofit organization must add a Main Street program to its mission. Committee members should include local stakeholders such as residents, business owners, neighborhood association members and other interested individuals. Each committee will have subcommittees for each of the four points to the approach.

Once a volunteer-based board of directors is created and begins fundraising, the group receives a yearly 1:1 matching grant of up to $30,000 for operating fund. This includes the salary for a full time program manager and administrative expenditures. The group will be rewarded, on a matching basis, up to $3,000 for promotions, $20,000 for sustainable investments, and $20,000 for property improvements. An architect is then hired by the group and trained by the National Trust Main Street Center®. Main Street District designation, NTHP training on the Main Street Approach and technical support from PDC will also be provided.

NE Dekum in Woodlawn

While support by local communities has been very positive, Alliance of Portland Neighborhood Business Associations’ president, Jean Baker, has heard a few concerns from local business associations.

“One concern is that a majority of the not insignificant funding to improve the districts must be raised by each volunteer-driven Main Street organization,” said Baker. “The other concern is that each program is reasonably restricted to no more than 15 blocks, with a preference for eight to ten blocks. Commercial districts with existing business district associations almost all cover more area than that.”

Due to the size limitations, some associations are going to have to decide on a specific area within its district. Conversely, several neighborhood associations could surround a qualifying district, making it difficult to come up with a unified vision.

SE Stark Street in Portland's Montavilla neighborhood. Photo: Amaren Colosi

This isn’t a problem for everyone, as the Montavilla Neighborhood Association and the Montavilla/East Tabor Business Association have already teamed up and formed a steering committee to look at the possibility of submitting an application for the neighborhood’s main drag, Stark Street west of I-84.

“There has been a consensus that the program is a natural fit from the historic and architecture standpoints,” said Brian Wong, MNA president. “There’s a very strong community feel in this neighborhood and this program could help accommodate that.”

Some possible projects discussed by the group include improvements to the historic commercial buildings, improving pedestrian and biking access and planting trees throughout the district.

“We are always trying to maintain a walk-up community in this area,” he said. “When the residents, customers and business owners live around the district, there is much more of a fiscal and emotional commitment to it. We hope this program could help promote that idea.”

While the Portland-based program is picking up steam around town, other Main Street® programs are gaining national attention. Oprah recently named the success of the program in the Oak Street district of New Orleans the #12 thing that is getting better in America on her 100 Things That Are Getting Better list.

For more information on how to apply, visit the PDC’s Portland Main Street® program website: http://www.pdc.us/bus_serv/business_support/mainstreet.asp.

For more information on the NTHP and the Main Street® program, please visit: http://www.preservationnation.org/main-street/.

Top photo: St Johns neighborhood