New identity, public improvement part of plans for Main Street

A newly unveiled “urban” look for Columbia’s Main Street will be accompanied next year with nearly $650,000 in city-funded streetscaping.

Some 80 banners that proclaim “Main Street District” or “The Heart of the Capital City” were hoisted this week on decorative poles between the State House and Elmwood Avenue.

The branding campaign by City Center Partnership also placed the new logo on 43 trash cans, 14 utility boxes and, next week during a formal launch, banners will be placed across the five city parking garages within the 36 blocks around Main. An updated website designed to help with recruiting businesses – mainstreetcolasc.com – is part of the plan.

“We wanted to distinguish ourselves from the other entertainment districts – something that says we really are the heart of the city,” CCP’s recruiter Jenna Bridgers said Thursday. “Nobody else can really claim that.”

Downtown’s two other entertainment districts, Five Points and the Vista, have their own identities, said Bridgers and businessman Sean McCrossin.

“Maybe it is time to give Main Street its own identity,” McCrossin, who owns Drip coffee shops on Main and in Five Points, said. “It’s probably a good time for highlighting the (Main Street) area a little bit more.”

Main Street continues to be enlivened by student and young professionals who live in the area as well as new businesses to serve them. Bridgers said eight eateries will open within six months. McCrossin said he is looking forward to the bowling alley and wine bar soon will join the parade of businesses.

The campaign cost $48,500 and was paid from taxes that property owners in the 36-block area pay to improve their district, Bridgers said.

Main Street’s new look precedes plans from City Hall to upgrades the blocks along Blanding and Laurel streets to match street improvement completed in 2004 on blocks closer to the State House.

Matching mast arms that will hold traffic signals, landscaping and other beautification will be part of the upgrade that will start next year, assistant city manager Missy Gentry said.

A combination of city money, federal funds and cash from the county’s penny sales tax will be used to pay the $649,000 price tag for the two-block upgrade, Gentry said.

The campaign is designed to celebrate the new businesses and residents and to help attract even more newcomers, Bridgers said. The campaign kicks off formally Oct. 6 during that month’s First Thursday event. City Center Partnership will be giving away T-shirts and drink koosies to a couple hundred people.

The plan also calls for licensing Main Street merchants so they can sell items with the logo, she said.

Using local companies, CCP settled on the look it wanted. “We did not want it too look like an old-timey Main Street,” Bridgers said.

This story was originally published September 29, 2016 at 6:03 PM with the headline "New identity, public improvement part of plans for Main Street."