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When I was asked last fall to present a keynote address to the National Trust for Canada conference in Calgary, I was asked to focus on the economic value of preservation as a real estate development tool, in part because Calgary was an oil city more known for its glass towers than its old buildings.
In retrospect, it seems odd that in 2016 we would need to make the argument that historic preservation is a path to the future. There is scarcely a city in Europe or the Americas that has not seen an economic “boom” from its historic buildings, especially if those buildings are conserved in enough concentration to spark revitalization. From Denver’s LoDo and Seattle’s Pioneer Square to Manhattan’s SoHo and Chicago’s Printers’ Row, it seems every town has an historic district that has turned into an economic engine.
Still, there are those who cling to the half-century old idea that historic buildings are museums, restoration is expensive, and historic museums need subsidies because they are outside of our economic everyday. This concept fails three realities.
First, for nearly fifty years we have been repurposing thousands of buildings in economically viable ways, aided for the last forty years by investment tax credits. Second, this multibillion-dollar industry has created the infrastructure to restore and rehabilitate older buildings. Third, museums have transformed over the same time into productive, often profitable enterprises. There were no blockbuster exhibits in the 1960s and gift shops were quaint appendages, not number-crunching marketing machines.
But the myth persists, driven by the first argument. “Everyone knows” that preservation is expensive. Which it could be, in a vacuum, but the fact of the matter is that real estate is an asset whose value is entirely determined by externalities. Once you have a critical mass of historic buildings, you actually generate economic growth thanks to those externalities.
You start saving historic buildings in a city and there is a positive knock-on effect. Each one you save creates an externality that grants value to the next one. It is like dominoes falling UP rather than DOWN.
Photo: (c) Vincent L. Michael
Preservationists got to this party early. In stark contrast to the stereotype, preservationists were not focused solely on nostalgia and romantic ideas about history and architecture. Mary Means began the Main Street program in the 1970s at the National Trust’s Midwest office, recognizing not simply the value of the new tax credits, but the economic potential of harnessing externalities.
Means saw that commercial buildings were in danger because planner and developers did not see their future potential. It was a DIY effort, but more importantly, it was an effort that pushed beyond the boundaries of “historic preservation.”
The Main Street program had Four Points and only one of them–Design–was related to the traditional concerns of historic preservation. The other three were all about the base–the economic base, that is.
Organization. Main Streets needed to be coordinated through cooperative local agencies, not to compete with shopping malls, but to create a dynamic NEW product that was firing on all cylinders.
Events (now Promotion). Main Streets needed to promote their new product, arguably difficult in the heyday of the suburban shopping mall, but one that was already starting to work in tourist towns.
Economic Restructuring (now Economic Vitality). This was the most ambitious, most pragmatic and most brilliant of the Main Street Four Points. It recognized that Main Streets were economically viable products in the modern world but ONLY if they did not try to be what they were in the old world before the malls.
This was a stunning foresight by the preservation community. It was abject abandonment of all the nostalgic reasons we want to save things. We weren’t trying to preserve the past as past. We can save historic buildings only if they become something new. To survive, historic places must serve the future, so let’s focus 75% of our energy on that. And it worked. Everywhere. It worked so well that by the dawn of the 21st century shopping malls were stealing the Design piece from Main Street and creating ersatz Dodge City storefront malls, while old warehouse districts in every city from Leeds to Los Angeles had multiplied in value with lofts and shops and hipster cafes.
More importantly, the success of Main Street offered an alternative model to the economics of the mall and megastore, an alternative focused on local growth. The mall and megastore delighted Wall Street because they centralized–alienated–profits.
Main Street offered–and offers still–jobs that can’t be outsourced; resources from within; growth building on permanent, local fixtures not subject to the whim of a distant corporation. Money circulating in the local economy. There are other sustainable economic strategies, but heritage conservation has proven to be one of the best and longest-lasting.
Interestingly, while Main Street has become an effective tool for the economic revitalization of various small and medium-sized towns, its first iterations included neighborhoods in large cities, notably Chicago. Similar real estate economic realities exist in Baltimore and Boulder as in Natchitoches and Libertyville. You can see successful Main Streets in Washington, DC, Boston, Cleveland, Orland, and elsewhere.
And of course you can see those loft districts of revitalized buildings in nearly every city in the Western world (and many in the East). Main Street is a living legacy of the time when preservationists discovered the key to urban revitalization before the planners and developers.
Photo: (c) Vincent L. Michael
This economic approach to saving old buildings went on to spawn heritage areas in the 1980s, which added natural area conservation and recreation as goals, effectively subsuming much of the traditional urban and regional planning discipline.
But, still we have to make the argument. Thankfully, we have not only the tools to do so, but two generations of success to point to.
Read more of Vince Michael's work on his heritage conservation blog, Time Tells.
Vincent L. Michael, Ph.D. is a heritage manager, consultant and thought leader in the heritage field. He has worked in the field of heritage development, tourism planning, community planning, historic architecture, education and design in a wide variety of capacities and is a sought-after lecturer, tour guide and expert. Michael serves as a Trustee of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Global Heritage Fund.
Urban Impact Inc., harnesses strategic investments and collaborative efforts to foster a vibrant and sustainable future, from visionary adaptive reuse ventures to transformative development grants for small businesses and property owners in Birmingham, Alabama's historic 4th Avenue Black Business District.
Online registration and the regular rate are available through Friday, April 26. Download the conference mobile app, sign-up for the attendee webinar, grab some Shop Main Street merch, get recommendations, and more!
With just a little over a month to go until we convene in Birmingham, Alabama, for the 2024 Main Street Now Conference from May 6-8, we are excited to announce that the full schedule is available online and the mobile app is ready for download.
From budgets and staffing to programming priorities and the myriad of backgrounds that bring people to Main Street, the insights and key findings from this year's trends survey provide a snapshot of the state of the Main Street Movement.
REV Birmingham and Woodlawn United share how they work to reenergize spaces and places in Birmingham, Alabama, through civic infrastructure projects in the city’s historic commercial corridors.
With a specially priced registration rate of $199, tailored education track, free lunch & learn session, and abundant networking opportunities, Main Street Now 2024 is made for civic leaders passionate about community preservation and economic development in historic downtowns and neighborhood commercial corridors.
Opportunities to experience time-tested Main Street Approach techniques and creative solutions in action abound in Birmingham with these great excursions.
Starting in early 2024, we will engage in an intensive program assessment of MSAI. We look forward to bringing an enhanced Main Street professional development experience to the network later in the year.
Founded in 2003 and currently housed within the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), Michigan Main Street (MMS) recently celebrated 20 years of impact across 41 communities.
This three-week live, online course will prepare local leaders to more effectively work with small business owners in their districts and create an environment that is supportive of entrepreneurship.
We are excited to share a recent collaboration with Spark! Places of Innovation, a traveling exhibition curated by the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum on Main Street program.
We are excited to welcome Jenice Contreras to the Main Street America Board of Directors. Jenice has a long record of leadership across community and economic development with deep experience with equitable growth, small-scale development, and cultural preservation.
Join Main Street America experts in Vancouver, Wash., to gain first-hand experience in harnessing transformation strategies to successfully revitalize your Main Street!
We are excited to announce that 862 Main Street programs across the country have earned Accredited status, Main Street America’s top level of recognition.
The MSARP credential is the highest level of achievement offered through the Main Street America Institute, requiring dedication to completing a rigorous curriculum of online courses, readings, assignments, workshops, and a challenging final exam.
Over the course of three days, nearly 1900 Main Streeters from near and far gathered for dynamic educational sessions, immersive mobile workshops, and network-building activities.
Check out our new shop featuring clothing and apparel, accessories, home and office goods, and kids’ and baby items inspired by the Main Street Movement.
Main Street America is proud to recognize John Bry, Program Coordinator at Main Street Oakland County (MSOC) in Michigan, as the 2023 Mary Means Leadership Award recipient.
We’re excited to announce a new suite of resources designed for Main Street! The Main Street Foundations Series provides an overview of each Point through four comprehensive introductory videos, one-page guides, materials from our resource center, and more.
From the ongoing pivots needed to meet changing community needs to the timeless power of place, these are the most popular blog posts we published this year.
At the Opening Plenary at the Main Street Now Conference in Richmond, Virginia, Patrice Frey shared lessons and reflections from her past nine years at Main Street.
Leverage NC, a partnership between North Carolina Main Street and the North Carolina League of Municipalities, hosted a four-part webinar series titled Better Community Planning & Economic Development led by Ed McMahon, Chair Emeritus of Main Street America and a leading national authority on land use policy and economic development.
A series of small, incremental improvements, when taken together, provide momentum for long-term economic transformation and improved quality of life in a community.
The National Main Street Center, Inc. announced the 2017 Great American Main Street Award (GAMSA) during its annual conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The National Main Street Center and the Brookings Institution have jointly authored a response to Mr. Hyman’s piece, The Reality of Main Street, that is featured on Brookings’ blog.
Michigan Main Street Center was the first Coordinating Program to implement the new Main Street approach on a large scale. In this article, they share their robust process and valuable lessons.
Fritz the dog has made his way into the hearts of the residents of LaBelle, Florida, and helped our Main Street Community find a way to make what we do more noticeable.
Back in October 2015, we introduced the three key components of the refreshed Main Street Approach: inputs, outputs and Community Transformation Strategies.
For a lucky few downtowns, greatness may happen effortlessly with a strong sense of place that seems to develop organically and simply sustain itself. For most places, success doesn’t happen by chance.
While there have been over $1.2 billion in public and private investment in Wisconsin Main Street communities over the past 27 years, what really makes it special are the people and places that have been involved.
Although a “beach town,” Rehoboth Beach is open 365 days a year, and with that has the unique challenge of catering to both year-round residents and tourists within a wide range of ages, interests and economic levels
In communities across the country, hardworking business owners and buy local advocates come together to foster an organized effort to reinvent and revitalize Main Streets and downtown districts.
The National Main Street Center is pleased to announce that Cape Girardeau, Mo., Montclair Center, N.J., and Rawlins, Wyo. were selected as the 2015 Great American Main Street Award® (GAMSA) winners.