FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, July 17, 2014

Main Street New Jersey to Hold New Jersey Downtown Revitalization & Management Institute Workshop

Workshop Teaches How to Use Economics of Place to Guide Design



BRIDGETON, N.JRegistration is still open for the New Jersey Downtown Revitalization & Management Institute (DRMI) workshop hosted by the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs’ (DCA) Main Street New Jersey program. This day-long workshop, themed “Designing Downtown: Using the Economics of Place to Guide Design,” will teach participants how to identify and refine solutions for reusing historic buildings.  This workshop will take place on Wednesday, July 23, 2014 in Bridgeton, NJ.

This workshop, taught by Kennedy Lawson Smith, one of the nation’s most foremost experts on commercial district revitalization and development and independent main street businesses, will explore the relationship between successful “places,” best practices for economic analysis and making the most of historic assets. Smith will share her most challenging recent assignments to explore solutions and brainstorm strategies for preserving and reusing historic commercial places.

 

Participants will also learn the trends that are likely to affect community and economic development in the years ahead, changes in the marketplace that affect how to predict market demand, and some of the new tools that are helping communities reach their economic development and historic preservation goals. 

“The Downtown Revitalization Management Institute offers educational resources and key take-a-ways that towns and businesses can use as a road map as they revitalize their downtowns,” said DCA Commissioner Richard E. Constable, III. “These workshops serve as excellent way for communities to learn good design, economic success and best practices.”

The DRMI workshop will be held on Wednesday, July 23, 2014 from 8:30 a.m. – 4 p.m., at the restored Ashley McCormick Center in Bridgeton, New Jersey’s largest historic district and a Main Street New Jersey community since 1991.This workshop is pending 5.25 credits from the New Jersey American Planning Association.

The DCA Main Street New Jersey program, which was established in 1989, is a revitalization program that promotes the historic and economic redevelopment of traditional business districts in New Jersey. The Improvement District program helps businesses and property owners of a community to organize as a single entity, raise funds for activities that enhance or expand upon municipal services, and manage themselves to become a more effective destination for commerce.

Promotional partners for the workshop are the New Jersey American Planning Association, Downtown New Jersey, Classic Towns of Greater Philadelphia and Transit Village Initiative.

For more information and to register for this workshop, please visit http://www.designdowntown2014.eventbrite.com.