- Video shows renovated and in-progress interiors of small Downtown Jackson buildings
- Small developers are getting in on Downtown Jackson's revival
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
Mixed use developments and adaptive reuse are seen as keys to reviving dormant downtowns. In Downtown Jackson, small investors are getting into the game.
"I've always loved Jackson. Always thought it was underrated and had a lot of potential," says Jackson native Jack Cross, who is bringing a business and a passion to downtown Jackson's Beffel Building.
"After a lot of conversations with the City and the State, this building popped up and it was perfect for us, for our business to operate out of the back," says Cross.
But it's not just a business that this building can hold.
A quarter-million dollar grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation is helping to transform the upper floors into residential space.
This story isn't unique here in Jackson.
Tuesday I also visited Mechanic Street, where Jennifer Spencer bought her building during the pandemic.
"Ceilings were collapsed, the floors were buckled…," recalls Spencer.
Spencer has turned the old Costlow building into two retail spaces — one of them — her own candle store.
Upstairs is her personal residential loft.
"We love mixed-use," says Beth Kuiper, Executive Director of Jackson's Downtown Development Authority. She notes that developments like these are key to downtown revival. "We are always looking at really adding to the vibrancy of downtown with emerging developers and adding to that economic aspect."
A trend that these business owners are jumping into head first, encouraged by the potential they see.
"I think that potential has really been flourishing over the last few years," says Cross. "So, yeah, it's been really cool and it's kind of solidified our desire to be downtown."
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