VISION & PLAN SUMMARY

Overview

“We have a blank slate to work with, and we need a bold, visible change.”

That quote from Mayor Chris McBarnes early in the planning process set the stage for this report. The quote is based on the premise that downtown can play a much bigger role in Frankfort than it currently does. It can house more people, offer more opportunities to eat and shop, attract more events and lure more visitors.

In other words, downtown can do more of what it was designed to do. Like many of Indiana’s small downtowns, Frankfort’s central business district is underperforming as a cultural and economic hub. Unlike other towns, Frankfort has set itself up to succeed in revitalization - both the framework and the groundwork are already in place.

The framework is the attractive and ready-to-grow courthouse square. It has few empty storefronts and none of the crumbling sidewalks or other signs of neglect that stand in the way of revitalization elsewhere.

The groundwork is the up-and-running support system offered by city hall, the chamber of commerce, redevelopment commission and the Frankfort Main Street group.

For these reasons, downtown Frankfort has the capacity to reinvent itself, but the road back will require not only careful and sustained planning, but a unified vision.

Vision For Downtown Frankfort

Frankfort has to work with its strengths. It cannot completely reinvent itself, for instance competing with Lafayette for tourists or shoppers’ dollars.

Instead, the city should focus on improving its quality of life, building the parks, trails, streetscapes and overall amenity infrastructure detailed in this plan to create a place attractive for investment. For downtown specifically, it can create a greater sense of overall design and promotion.

How will this vision unfold? A natural progression might be:

1. Continue building a seamless system to aggressively attract entrepreneurs and new business expansions. This includes everything from offering façade grants to creating a local investment group that can quickly acquire key properties.

2. Work to create downtown housing. This can be on a small scale, such as a local building owner who adds a few lofts or second-story apartments. It could also include bigger housing units. Before it was sold to a local couple, a developer said the local market would probably support converting the old cigar factory into mixed-use housing. A key player during this step will be companies operating out of the industrial park, which now rent rooms for temporary housing for visiting employees in the Lafayette area. They might be induced to partner on plans for new downtown housing.

3. Create “a bold, visible change.” With steps one and two underway, review the Implementation Plan in the last chapter for ideas about large-scale, physical change downtown. Recruiting unique new shops or restaurants are important in revitalization,