By: Deborah Johnson Wood
Last year, the City of Whitehall received a Cool Cities Blueprints for Michigan’s Downtowns award that set the city on a five-year course to develop and implement a strategy to spur the local economy. A consulting firm hired by the state developed economic strategies based on surveys and feedback from residents, business owners, and city officials.
Because Muskegon Area First, a county wide economic development corporation, was involved in some of the strategy decisions, the City of Whitehall asked the group to help with implementing the master plan.
“We are facilitating three committees of local Whitehall people,” said Dan Rinsema-Sybenga, Muskegon Main Street Manager at Muskegon Area First.
Those three committees are in charge of promoting the downtown, making physical and design improvements, and business development and recruitment.
Several initiatives have already been implemented:
- A downtown Whitehall web site www.downtownwhitehall.com.
- A facade improvement grant program that awards matching grants up to $5,000.
- A flea market to draw shoppers and tourists downtown.
- Determining which types of businesses to recruit—restaurants, specialty food shops, and specialty retail—to fill vacant storefronts.
Other ideas are being researched or are underway:
- A downtown Whitehall tourist brochure and map showing businesses, shops, parks, and marinas.
- Establishing an historic business district.
- Facade design services for businesses that receive facade improvement grants.
- A program that will utilize the talents of Baker College design students to help businesses create cost-effective window displays.
Source: Dan Rinsema-Sybenga, Muskegon Area First
Deborah Johnson Wood is Development News Editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.