Main Streets marks 20 yrs. of business improvements
City officials, business boosters gather at Strand Theatre
In the early days of the Main Streets program, the organization’s work of revitalizing neighborhood business districts was challenging. In Dudley Square, much of that work revolved around fighting for services.
“Getting all the utilities into the Dudley area was a big thing,” recalls Fred Fairfield, a longtime Dudley Main Streets board member and property owner.
In one meeting with a Boston Edison official, Fairfield, a master electrician, and Ken Guscott, an engineer, outlined very clearly the electrical upgrades needed to properly power the buildings in the area.
“He said we were asking for a Cadillac system for a Buick neighborhood,” recalls Dudley Main Streets Executive Director Joyce Stanley.
The Boston Edison official was fired, and upgrades were made to the electric, gas, and water and sewer systems, thanks to the persistence of the merchants, area residents and other stakeholders who came together under the leadership of the Dudley Square Main Streets organization. That was 20 years ago.
The Main Streets program, an initiative of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, focuses on revitalizing commercial districts. Then-Mayor Thomas Menino, who had helped Hyde Park secure a Main Streets designation from the Historic Trust, entered into a partnership with the organization, which led to the creation of Boston Main Streets.
Each Boston district has an executive director who helps businesses collaborate on improvements, coordinate promotional events and securing resources from state and federal government organizations.
Last week, the Dudley Square business boosters joined representatives from the other 19 Main Streets organizations throughout Boston at the Strand Theater to celebrate the 20-year anniversary of the program’s roll-out in Boston.
More than 400 people filed into the Upham’s Corner theatre building for the celebration, during which Mayor Martin Walsh and Citizen’s Bank Massachusetts President Quincy Miller announced the bank’s $100,000 grant to the Boston Main Streets Foundation. The foundation will distribute the funds to Main Streets organizations for promotions and marketing.
“This $100,000 award from the Citizens Bank Foundation reflects our belief that the strength of our company is directly tied to the strength of communities we serve,” said Miller. “Our investment will help build on the achievements the Main Streets districts across the city have made in fostering small business development and making our neighborhoods more vibrant.”
Dudley businesses look back
Few Main Streets districts in Boston have seen more momentous changes than those that have swept through Dudley Square over the last 20 years. Back in 1995, when Joyce Stanley opened Dudley Square Main Streets, the square had few ground floor vacancies, but the upper stories of many of the major buildings had long been shuttered.
Then, as public investment rolled into Dudley, including millions in funds from the city’s Enhance Economic Empowerment district, major buildings came back to life. Fairfield tapped the federal funds to rehabilitate the long-vacant former Roxbury Boys Club building, which now houses federal offices. On the other side of Roxbury Street, the upper floors of the Sargent Prince building were converted into studio apartments, Paladio Hall’s upper floors became office space and the Dartmouth Hotel was renovated into apartments.
In Dudley as in Boston, the efforts of Main Streets organizations have paid off, according to Stephan Gillman, program director for Boston Main Streets.
“People see more of a community in Main Streets districts,” he said. “The businesses themselves are part of a community. Many of them used to think they were out by themselves. Now they see themselves as working together. And the Main Streets directors are a catalyst.”
The improved districts have brought in more shoppers, and in turn, more businesses, according to Gillman. City-wide, the main streets districts now have a 95 percent occupancy rate – a far cry from the 50 percent vacancy rates many districts had 20 years ago.
Still, as is the case in Dudley Square, where beauty supply stores and discount retailers have long dominated the streetscape, bringing in the optimal mix of businesses remains a challenge.
“You have to convince the landlords that certain businesses are better for the district,” Gillman said. “You want folks to be able to walk out their door and get what they need in a two-to five-block radius. That’s the ideal.”
