Nearly 50 Main Street American professionals from city across the United States participated in a hands-on workshop in Waukegan last week, as day two of a three day intensive workshop. The day spent in town concentrated on the economic impact of real estate development in revitalization. Donovan Rypkema of PlaceEconomics, an internationally renowned expert in real estate and economic development, led the instructional sessions focused on various modeling, analyses and tools used to evaluate and predict the results of new incentives in specific conditions, determine feasibility of real estate acquisition and development of historic properties, and drive strategic decisions for vacant property.
The group toured the downtown, calculated the cost of an empty building and participants were given advanced tools and strategies to address complex revitalization projects and initiatives with a strong emphasis on Economic Vitality. Emphasizing the importance of partnerships and collaboration, this format provides a learning environment that draws upon the experience and expertise of both the instructors and the participants.
The group enjoyed lunch and a post-workshop networking session at 17 North.
Waukegan is a longtime Main Street community. Main Street America has been helping revitalize older and historic commercial districts for more than 35 years. Today it is a network of more than 1,600 neighborhoods and communities, rural and urban, who share both a commitment to place and to building stronger communities through preservation-based economic development. Main Street America is a program of the nonprofit National Main Street Center, Inc., a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
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