Main Spotlight: Breaking Barriers to Acquiring Commercial Properties
Creating real change in business ownership starts with local communities leading the way, backed by strong partnerships and collaborations.
Historic buildings before and after rehabilitation. © Main Street Middletown, MD Inc.
Main Street Middletown, MD Inc. was established in 2009, and when I started working here in 2011, I felt like most new Main Street Mangers feel — overwhelmed! So, what did I do? I returned to my roots: historic preservation. Through my passion for preservation, our organization successfully saved two iconic downtown buildings to create a Main Street office and a Downtown Welcome Center.
Identifying and Protecting our Historic Assets
Middletown, Maryland, has a fantastic collection of historic properties that line the Old National Road (our Main Street, also known as the ‘Road that Settled the West’). We have a lovely linear district that showcases over 250 years of architectural history along a three-mile stretch. We began promoting Middletown as a great place for tourists to visit and experience the lovely architecture and soak in the history of the area.
A set of two small buildings have taken on a particular significance in our community. The larger building was constructed about 1873 and was originally used as a harness shop. The smaller of the two was a shed that was moved to its present location prior to 1900, according to several historic images showing the pair together. They now exist on a combined parcel. Both buildings contribute to the National Register Middletown Historic District.
When we learned that the owner was getting ready to retire and that he wanted to sell this iconic downtown Middletown property, we knew we had to take action. The small lot size and the condition of the buildings put them at high risk of demolition, and our Board immediately recognized the opportunity to protect these important structures. We decided to transform them into a Main Street office and a Welcome Center to encourage people to slow down and explore the downtown instead of simply driving through.
Downtown Middletown, Maryland, in the early 20th century. © Main Street Middletown, MD Inc.
Challenges and Lessons Learned
Securing funding and purchasing the property were the easy parts. With excitement in high gear, we thought it would be easy to gather people to work on the buildings. The reality turned out a bit different! We learned a lot through this process, and we encourage other Main Streets to consider these challenges before they embark on their own property rehabilitation projects.
Start with a Plan
Purchasing a historic building is a major feat for smaller nonprofits, and it generates a lot of excitement within the Board and in the community. It is tempting to jump ahead and just start painting! However, it is important to slow down and have a plan in place before you start working on the building. There are a lot of decisions to make.
We knew we were going to rehabilitate the exterior. We started with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation. While they provide guiding principles for decision making, we found that there were many other things to consider. For example, it was very important to our Board to use local contractors as much as possible, and to select a rehabilitation approach that would maintain the historic integrity and rustic vibe of the interiors while also creating a professional appearance required for contemporary uses. We also needed to have a professional inspection for lead paint and asbestos before we could begin working. All of this required extensive planning before any work could be implemented.
We also knew that with such a small space, we would need to be strategic with the content we want to share in the Welcome Center. We hired a former National Park Service employee to create a Visitor Experience Plan, which examined the many expectations that visitors have when they enter the space and they ways we can address them, from creating exterior signage and different types of exhibits we may need to include to printed materials and small gift items that we can sell.
Having these additional goals and plans in place helped us keep our minds not only on how the exterior would look, but how the interior would function. This planning work helped us prepare tourism products as we entered the later phases of the rehabilitation. As a bonus, it helped with fundraising goals!
Don’t be Afraid to Pivot
We created a Building Committee within our Board that brought in folks from the Design, Promotions, Economic Revitalization, and Organization committees. After careful consideration, we decided to hire an external general contractor, who started by addressing the repairs to the foundation. This work was exciting and eye-catching — and it earned us more donations and made the evening news! Although the foundation work was a huge success, we realized during this process that we did not want to continue with this general contractor. It was an intimidating decision to change course, but the Board determined that it would be better for our project to find, hire, and work with local contractors directly and act as our own general contractor. Our takeaways from this experience: don’t be afraid to make changes, listen to your gut, and focus on gathering a team that you know you will enjoy working with.
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Fundraising for the project. © Main Street Middletown, MD Inc.
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Working on the buildings. © Main Street Middletown, MD Inc.
Budget, Budget, Budget!
Creating a capital budget felt like an impossible task. We knew the general items we would need (like wood, flooring, doors, labor to repair windows, paint, and new light fixtures), but putting all these elements together was daunting. We decided to base our budget on the estimates we received from several general contractors, but the quotes we received varied significantly. To make matters worse, the construction industry was still reeling from complications due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We decided to set some spending limits, and if an estimate came back that was more than 10 percent or more than $1,000 higher than our budget, the Committee would bring this up to the Board for a full discussion. This was tedious, but it helped us navigate a time when prices and labor were in such an unusual state of fluctuation and availability.
Although we are now successfully working in the rehabilitated buildings, we continually find additional items we wished we included in the budget, like rugs, a vacuum cleaner, and other supplies. Make sure to keep a contingency budget, and make sure to budget for “after-the-construction” incidentals.
Communication is Key
Be prepared to communicate often and answer a lot of questions! I did not realize how weather delays, contractor delays, and other scheduling issues would cause a ripple effect. To stay on top of communication, we implemented daily text messages and weekly progress emails. The daily text messages were critical for the Building Committee and the weekly progress reports kept the full Board up to date.
Pace Yourself
I am a historic preservationist and a die-hard Main Streeter, but the rest of the Main Street Board did not always share my exuberance for a hands-on historic preservation experience. My idyllic vision of my Board and volunteers working together on Saturday afternoons to pitch in was not a reality. Our Board members have families, jobs of their own, and while they are all-hands-on deck for a clean-up day or two, they did not want to spend every weekend working on the Main Street building. In addition, we still had to keep up with the rest of the Main Street mission-driven work that we do on a scheduled basis — monthly business mixers, writing e‑newsletters to the Main Street business owners, writing our monthly blogs, coordinating ad placements, attending the monthly Burgess and Commissioners Workshop, grant management, attending conferences, and creating and implementing promotional events. I had to learn to be more even keeled about the rehabilitation project and to continue to show equal enthusiasm for all our projects, even though the rehab was the most exciting for me!
Timing
There is never a good time to add a large project like rehabilitating two small buildings into a Main Street work plan, but there is never a bad time either. Sometimes we must respond to a need in the community. When you are done, you will be forever proud and will have made a lasting impact and investment in your beloved Main Street. It is worth it!
The completed building rehabilitations have brought new beauty and energy to the downtown. © Main Street Middletown, MD Inc.
We have already seen the impact this project has had in our community, and we encourage other Main Streets who are considering building rehabilitation to go for it. We hope you can learn from the challenges we shared to have a smooth and successful project as you save cherished downtown spaces.
Redevelopment Resources, a Main Street America Allied Member, is this quarter’s Main Spotlight advertiser. For more information about the services they provide to Main Street organizations, click here >
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