Vacant storefronts have a significant impact on a Main Street. They create gaps in the sidewalk activity and can become unsightly nuisances or even safety hazards. In our recent annual survey of Main Street leaders, 22% reported that vacant spaces were a top challenge for their community. In another survey in 2022, 70% of local leaders reported that a lack of built-out space hinders economic development in their downtowns or districts. Residents also notice the impact of vacancy; aggregated data from Main Street America community surveys show that ​“too many vacant storefronts or lots” is the second most-cited concern about downtowns.

This work is about more than just filling empty spaces. Many of these buildings are located in locally or nationally designated historic districts and serve as tangible connections to a community’s past. They embody deep community memory and reflect the values of local heritage and place-based identity. These spaces often anchor a community’s sense of belonging and continuity, reminding people not only where they are, but who they are. 

Vacant buildings offer more than economic opportunity; they present the chance to protect and adapt these meaningful places for future use. Main Street leaders can approach vacancy with a preservation ethic grounded in the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties, recognizing that honoring architectural integrity while modernizing for new uses is both a best practice and a moral imperative for lasting revitalization. 

There is an urgent need to reduce storefront vacancies and activate properties on Main Streets. Using a strong understanding of the causes of vacancy, a robust inventory of downtown buildings, and a toolbox of regulatory changes and incentives, local leaders can help fill vacant spaces to foster economically vibrant and sustainable communities. 

Why Buildings Are Vacant

Every building is unique, and many factors may contribute to vacancy rates in your Main Street district. Understanding these different factors and identifying which ones apply to your community is an essential first step in filling vacant spaces.

Ownership: Who is the owner of the building, and what are their motivations? You may encounter issues such as inherited ownership or absentee ownership — two scenarios where the owner may not be as invested in the building’s or community’s future. Other owners may have unreasonable expectations about the value of their building or have no motivation to get their building occupied. In our 2022 survey, uncooperative building owners were identified as a top obstacle by 72% of Main Street respondents. 

Capacity: You may also find that owners are motivated, but they lack the necessary funds or skills to prepare the building for occupancy. This may suggest a need for training or technical assistance for owners. Our survey found that 40% of Main Street leaders believe their communities lack real estate developers willing to undertake rehabilitation or infill projects.

Regulations: Are there policies in your community that make changes harder, or that incentivize blight and neglect? You may find that there are issues in a property tax structure that could make it favorable for owners to sit on an empty or unimproved building.

Financing: It’s possible that the costs of building rehabilitation are high, or that it is difficult to get capital or loans for building rehabilitation in the district. Are there programs available to help building owners pay for improvements, like loans or grants? Our survey identified capital-related challenges as a top obstacle for 45% of Main Street respondents. 

Interested in learning more about financing? Main Street America is dedicated to assisting communities in securing and utilizing funding through our Unlocking Capital on Main Street Pilot Program.

Local Market Conditions: Local market conditions form a complex landscape that influences decisions made by both property owners and tenants. What types of new businesses have adequate consumer demand in your district? Are the vacant spaces of the right size and type for those businesses? Is the rental rate or sale price of a vacant building affordable to the entrepreneurs seeking to set up shop? 

These factors are complicated, and they often overlap and intersect. Creating solutions requires a deep understanding of the landscape in your Main Street. Consider using these approaches to understand vacancy in your community and seek out interventions that can help. 

Case Study: Right-Sizing Resources and Incentives in Quincy, Illinois 

Main Street programs, local governments, and community partners can collaborate to design incentive programs that directly address the barriers preventing buildings from being occupied, such as accessibility upgrades, code compliance, or façade repairs. The most effective incentives are tailored to local needs and can be paired with state or federal tools, such as Historic Tax Credits, affordable housing programs, or tax abatements for targeted investment areas. 

In 2015, Quincy, Illinois, launched the Downtown Rental Rehabilitation Program (DRRP) to combat growing vacancy and underuse of upper-story spaces in its historic downtown buildings. Many of these buildings faced deferred maintenance, safety issues, and financing gaps that made residential redevelopment difficult. The city recognized that bringing residents downtown could increase safety, reduce blight, support local businesses, and expand the overall tax base. 

To address these barriers, the DRRP offered the following incentive: A $25,000 forgivable loan per renovated market-rate residential unit. The zero-interest loan covers 50% of eligible project costs, up to a maximum of $25,000 per rental unit. Property owners may apply for multiple units. Loans are forgiven after project completion and a five-year compliance period. The program aims to make rental housing redevelopment financially viable while encouraging and promoting quality investment. 

Since its launch, the program has directly supported the creation of 40 new upper-story housing units and contributed to a 230% increase in property values — proof that smart incentives can transform vacant spaces into vibrant, income-producing assets while supporting broader revitalization goals. 

Understanding Your Property Landscape

Before you can tackle vacancy in your district, you have to know what you’re working with. It may be helpful to create an inventory of buildings and parcels of land in your district, including vacant and occupied spaces. You can use your inventory to understand square footage and rent per square foot, building amenities, other lease terms and tenant history. The inventory will help you track the overall vacancy rate in your district, document the ownership and business mix, and make note of specific challenges, problems, or hazards for specific properties. 

Main Street America’s BOOMS Tracker is an interface that allows local Main Street leaders to enter data about buildings and lots in their district to create an inventory. As of April 2025, local Main Street programs have tracked over 15,000 properties with the BOOMS Tracker, and 20% of all tracked buildings to date have partial or full vacancy.

Many Accredited Main Streets are located in designated historic districts through local policies or the National Register for Historic Places. These designations indicate that rehabilitation projects should strive to maintain a high preservation ethic and may require additional design review. Historic designation can also provide access to financial incentives at the local or national level, including historic tax credits. 

Assessing Local Regulations

Have you heard business owners and property owners complain that outdated policies are holding them back from improving buildings? Sometimes, these regulations can be assessed at the local level for simple changes that make it easier for businesses to move in. Two common examples are parking requirements and use restrictions. 

Parking requirements: Parking is always a hot topic on Main Street. Many cities have established minimum parking requirements in their zoning code. Parking requirements might be the same across the entire city, failing to account for the unique built environment of Main Streets. Many buildings in local Main Streets do not have space to accommodate parking on site, and they are more likely to rely on foot traffic, other modes of transportation, or shared parking sites nearby. In response, many cities can update their zoning to exempt their local Main Street area from parking requirements. Dive deeper into the parking debate here > 

Use restrictions: Use restrictions determine what kinds of building uses are allowed in a given zoning district. In the early days of zoning, this was used to keep polluting industrial uses away from housing. However, today the same laws might prevent developers from adding housing on Main Street. There could also be uses considered ​‘industrial’ by the local code, but that your stakeholders actually want on Main Street. Would a brewery, chocolatier, or screen printer be considered a manufacturing use in your community?

Case Study: Zoning Overlay in Downtown Elgin, Texas

In Texas’s Elgin Main Street, outdated zoning meant that some business types that were becoming common downtown required a special use permit creating time delays, extra expense, and uncertainty. The Downtown Elgin Zoning Overlay provided a better pathway to welcome new uses: housing, food production, cabinetry making, metal smithing, winery, brewery, pottery making, meadery, fiber processing, woodworking, and more.

The overlay determined a pedestrian core that required commercial space in the front 50% of the property. Allowing for multiple tenants in a building created more diverse options of space sizes for business tenants and gave property owners multiple revenue streams. The overlay was developed by the Main Street program, Planning & Zoning Commission, and the Historic Review Board. In the first five years of the overlay, ten buildings were renovated and occupied with multiple tenants, and the number housing units downtown doubled. 

Working Together for Shared Prosperity

Early evidence from the BOOMS Tracker suggests that there is room for 190,000 housing units that could lead to $140,000 — $575,000 extra dollars in revenue in each Main Street every month. Vacant buildings are holding us back, and removing vacancy offers opportunities to support local economies, foster vibrant downtowns, and rehabilitate historic places. Local Main Street programs can lead the way in combating vacancy by understanding the factors driving vacancy, tracking properties in their districts, and supporting the development of incentives or policies to fill up thriving downtowns. Main Street programs are not only the implementers of revitalization strategies, but also the conveners, policy shapers, and advocates for reinvestment and preservation in our downtowns. They sit at the intersection of public, private, and nonprofit sectors and are uniquely positioned to influence investment and mobilize community action. 

Downtown Decorations, a Main Street America Allied Member, is this quarter’s Main Spotlight advertiser. For more information about what they do to support Main Street organizations, click here.