One Block At A Time: Jackson’s Downtown Improvement Grant

Written By Olivia Bell

“Downtown is the heart of every city. Improvements bring attraction, and for businesses, that’s make or break. To me, I thirst for it. I want to see more. Any improvement to downtown is an improvement to the heart of the city,” Karen Caldwell, property co-owner of James Shoe Hospital, ComeUnity Cafe, and owner of The Hughie airbnb downtown, said.

In the fall of 2022, Jackson Downtown Development Corp (JDDC) applied for a $70,000 Improvement Grant to be used for facade improvements on main streets and downtowns across Tennessee from the Department of Economic and Community Development. Since then, with the help of Prosper Realty Group’s 25 percent local match, five businesses and buildings on Church and Main Street have received upgrades including new patio furniture, bike racks, fresh landscaping, pressure washed sidewalks, and refreshed and painted building exteriors. The grant was also used to install crosswalk art on the corner of Church and Main.

“We applied to concentrate our efforts on Main Street and Church so that we could see a greater impact. We felt like with the money we could get we could make a big impact in that little corner. It just needed some cleaning up and some beautification,” Beth Ann Simpson, Downtown Jackson Director and manager of the grant, said. 

The application for businesses to be considered for the use of the grant money was opened to property owners on the two streets where they were instructed to list their needs, what work they needed done, and if they could contribute anything to the project. The volunteer-based design committee through JDDC (which will be helping with future grant projects) ultimately decided which businesses would receive aid based on need and how many projects the grant budget could take on.

James Shoe Hospital and Turntable Coffee Counter on Main street were two of the businesses that received new paint jobs and cleanup, while Turntable and ComeUnity Cafe received new outdoor seating areas with sustainable products that should last for years to come. The Nine Oh Six also had a new sign made along with some beautification. 

“The installation of my sign, power washing of the building and sidewalks, with the addition of flowers in planters, improved the exterior of the shop to match the intentional quality on the inside. These impactful changes added curb appeal that encourages customers to come inside the store to shop,” Lakyn Bowman, owner of The Nine Oh Six, said. 

Along with simply beautifying Jackson’s downtown main streets, one of the other primary goals for the grant was to increase the walkability of the downtown area.

“We also added a bike rack at Turntable. We were hearing that folks really wanted to be able to bike. We’re encouraging walkability and bikeability and if we are expecting people to come over from the farmer’s market on Saturday to Turntable, then we need to give them a place to sit and put their bikes,” Beth Ann said. 

Installing crosswalk art on one of the busiest corners of downtown was another solution for increasing walkability in the area. After submissions for the artwork closed last August, the grant’s design committee chose Callie Wright’s “Rockabilly Walk” art installation for the crosswalk on the corner of Church and Main. 

“We decided to do the crosswalk art installation to just slow traffic there. When I think of the crosswalk art, it’s temporary, it’s not something that’s going to be permanent. But I think it brings attraction and it slows people down to pay attention and to notice and to appreciate art and to come walk it and snap a photo,” Beth Ann said. “Those moments matter downtown. If it gives you a reason to park your car on the fringe and walk through, those are important experiences even if they’re a few years in the making and then you move on to another area.”

While downtown Jackson seeks to benefit from the crosswalk art, so does Callie, the artist herself. 

“As a recipient of an art commission funded by downtown improvement grants, I can say that they have kick started my business completely and changed my life. Participating in this project has helped me leave my mark on downtown Jackson as an artist, and enabled me to support other artists and local businesses as well,” Callie said. 

While taking the time to improve downtown with tangible upgrades is important, so is strengthening the community itself. Because of this grant, individuals, departments, and organizations from around the city came together to help with the various projects taking place.

“This grant, what I didn’t realize on the front end was going to do, really allowed all these partnerships to form. The city maintenance department came out and on their own time and dime and they pressure washed every sidewalk downtown. The street department came out and prepped our street for the crosswalk art. Everyone was a team player,” Beth Ann said. “And then I got to call on community volunteers through the crosswalk art installation. I think it just helped build some community around that block because we were all working together on this project.”

Now that these partnerships have formed and the community has come together to work toward enhancing downtown Jackson, the hope is that these improvements continue, with or without a grant.

“Across the way someone painted their building. A block over someone did some new signage. We can’t obviously fix every facade with these grants but we can motivate and hopefully it will be a catalyst for other improvements… I hope that the businesses feel like by cleaning it up, making it more attractive and walkable, and improving some of those facades and your walk along the way, that that increases their traffic and business. I mean that’s the goal. We want to drive economic development.” Beth Ann said.

Karen echoed that sentiment.

“Economic growth is important to every area that has business. Attraction and revitalization bring growth and people to the area. As it relates to business, that’s the number one. That’s what keeps the lights on,” Karen said. “Change is inevitable. We are all going to pass, the facades will fade, but I don’t think the heart of downtown will ever fade. As long as people continue to love downtown and improve downtown, there will always be a downtown.”

This summer, JDDC will be applying for another grant to hopefully move these developments into different regions of downtown. College Street, Royal Street, and West Main Street are some of the areas being considered for further grant improvements.

“We’re excited to keep going with this grant because we think it’s worth our time. It is work to manage a construction or facade grant but I feel like it’s worth it for the impact for downtown,” Beth Ann said.