About

Accomplishments

2008 Highlights

• 9th Year of Accreditation – Main Street McMinnville achieved its nice consecutive year of Accreditation by the National Trust Main Street Center in Washington D.C. for completing projects in the four points of downtown revitalization and continuing to be a leader in the field.

• Tennessean Travel Section Article – Worked with Travel Writer Ken Beck of the Tennessean in Nashville to write about downtown McMinnville as a feature in the Sunday Tennessean Travel Section.  This was a follow-up story to another story printed in 2007.

• Google Partnership / Google Earth Project - Completed a partnership with Google that modeled over 140 buildings in downtown in 3D and attracted national and international attention and was recognized by TN ECD Commissioner Matt Kisber as one of the most innovative projects in Tennessee.  The project was also part of a grant received from the Tennessee Main Street Program.

• GROW (Growing Retail Opportunities in Warren County) – Assisted the GROW Committee of the Economic Development Board by modeling commercial retail developments and mapping potential sites in McMinnville as a part of a recruiting strategy. The project utilized the modeling learned from the Google Project above.

• Three-Star Program - Assisted City of McMinnville and Warren County Achieve 3-Star Status through downtown revitalization statistics and activities.

• Romance In the City – Created new promotion for Valentine’s Day that promoted the offerings downtown in the shops and restaurants.  The promotion also was designed as an image promotion to promote the positive attributes of downtown.

• Mother’s Day Promotion – Created new promotion for Mother’s Day that again promoted the offerings downtown in the shops and restaurants.  The promotion also was designed as an image promotion to promote the positive attributes of downtown.

• Highland Rim Cycling Classic  - Assisted the Chamber of Commerce with developing a new logo for the event and providing new course mapping through Google Earth and DeLorme Mapping software.  The maps provided assisted riders with better understanding the difficulty of the course and the location.  The project utilized the modeling learned from the Google Project above.

• Main Street LIVE Summer Concert Series - Completed the 4th year of the outdoor event that attracted an average of 1,200 people per night to the 8-week event downtown.  The event is responsible to allowing four other non-profit organizations to raise money for their own projects.

• Pioneer Kick-Off and Tailgate Rally - Completed the 2nd year of the event that partners with 16 school and non-profit organizations in Warren County in an effort to raise money and awareness for their activities.  It is also a kick-off to the school year and the football season.  The event drew an estimated 4,500 people downtown for a three hour event.

• Downtown Daylight Trick or Treat – Completed the annual Trick or Treat with more than 500 children taking part in the annual event downtown.

• A Celebration of Democracy – In partnership with WCPI and the McMinnville-Warren County Chamber of Commerce, MSM helped organize and implement an Election Watch Party that included all every election race in McMinnville, Warren County, Tennessee and Nation.  Held in downtown on Court House Square, the watch party was real American event emulating they way people used to participate in elections.

• Celtic Christmas - In partnership with the Senior Center of McMinnville-Warren County, Main Street McMinnville created a new Christmas event based on McMinnville’s Scottish and Irish Heritage.  The event was celebrated the same day as the Christmas Parade and was developed to attract visitors and residents to town during the holidays.

• Destination Business Marketing - Received a grant that provided scholarships to three downtown business owners to attend Destination Business Bootcamp in Colorado to learn how to improve their business operations and market themselves better.

• New Downtown Website - Developed a new website to promote downtown and the organization, www.MainStreetMcMinnville.org that regularly attracts more than 100,000 hits a month. The site provides information on a number of activities and benefits in downtown.

• Downtown Email Newsletter - Developed monthly email newsletters that go out to more than 400 customers who have signed up to received the news.  The newsletter helps keep people informed with small readable paragraphs of information about new businesses, events, promotions, activities and more.  The email newsletter often links to our website as a way to drive traffic to the site and get more use.

• Business and Property Owner Assistance – Main Street McMinnville has continually offered location, marketing and design assistance to businesses in downtown and continually works to recruit new businesses downtown.
  
  

  New Businesses:

  Downtown Comics, Stan’s Services, Dan’s Appliances, Center for Senior Independence, Middle Tennessee State University Satellite Admissions Office, Angela McCormack Bookkeeping Services

  
  

  Business Expansions:

  City Café, Capalano’s Café, Busy B’s Furniture. New York Grill/Club Manhattan

• Buildings Purchased in downtown – Businesses and Property owners continue to reinvest in downtown McMinnville.
  
  

  Building Purchases:

  101 East Main Street 201 East Main Street 203 East Main Street 207 Sparta Street 203 East Main Street

• Renovations and New Construction in Downtown - Many of the downtown buildings continue to be renovated as part of our revitalization.
  
  

  Building Renovations:

  101 East Main Street 201 East Main Street 203 East Main Street 213 East Main Street 216 East Main Street 207 Sparta Street 101 East Morford Street 111 East Morford Street

  
  

  New Construction:

  103 East Morford Street

• Administers Incentive Programs – Main Street McMinnville plays a pivotal role in incentives for downtown.  Among the incentives offered are the PILOT Real Estate Tax Freeze for renovations and new construction, Low Interest Loans, No-Interest Loans and Design Grants.

• Design Assistance – Using what we learned from our partnership with Google, Main Street McMinnville utilizes Google SketchUp 3D software to create building designs for downtown renovations and new construction projects.  Main Street McMinnville communicates with designers off-site through Google Earth which has all of the downtown buildings modeled in 3D.  This enables the designers to see how the design will affect the buildings around it. The owners can now get a much better idea of what the building will look like before it is built.