Taking Care of Business
Not resting on its recent laurels, Silver City's award-winning MainStreet Project takes on a million-dollar theater venture.
Story and photos by Donna Clayton Lawder
It's a rare day that Frank Milan can't take a phone call or make the time to talk. As the manager of Silver City's MainStreet Project, the man does a lot of talking — listening to the concerns of local business owners, getting ideas, building connections, spreading his own genuine enthusiasm over Silver City's historic downtown.
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Silver City MainStreet Project manager Frank Milan in the Silco Theater,
which he hopes will be a catalyst for downtown growth. |
"Well, we're in the final preparations of getting ready for the Taste, but I saw it was you, and I can spare a couple of minutes. What do you need to know?" he asks pleasantly. The "Taste of Downtown" is one of MainStreet's four major annual events — along with an awards banquet, the Celebration of Spring and the piece-de-resistance, the Lighted Christmas Parade on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. At the Taste of Downtown event each September, merchants sign on to give away tastes of their own wares — or those catered by local purveyors — to ticket holders, drawing customers into galleries and shops, and highlighting the local eateries that provide the food.
But these days Milan has more on his plate than MainStreet's usual annual events. With the acquisition and ongoing renovation of the Silco Theater on Bullard Street, the organization is moving from being a cheerleader for downtown development to being a player itself. Milan sees the historic former movie theater as a catalyst for growth in Silver City's downtown. When he talks about it, you can practically see the smiling, chatting theater patrons strolling out into the warm Southwestern evening, some of them heading this way for a late dinner, others that way for a post-performance gelato.
Milan has a little bit more to smile about himself now, following a September Silver City Town Council meeting that adopted a resolution supporting MainStreet's grant application for funds to purchase the Silco. After all, although MainStreet has taken possession of the theater and already made strides toward renovation, ultimately footing the bill has remained something of a question mark. The hoped-for $300,000 grant from the state MainStreet program would go a long way toward erasing that question mark.
"MainStreet is very pleased to have the town of Silver City as a co-sponsor of the grant application. We are hopeful it will be approved," Milan says, meting out his words a little more slowly and carefully than usual. He pauses, then laughs. "How's that for an official statement, on the fly?"
Silver City's 22-year-old MainStreet Project is one of 18 active programs in the state of New Mexico, but one of only nine (also including Las Cruces) to be nationally accredited. To win accreditation, the program has to meet a number of criteria, MainStreet manager Milan says, including having a fulltime manager and a certain number of active committees, as well as satisfying stringent reporting requirements.
Mike Morones, recent past president of the MainStreet board of directors and owner of Morones & Knuttinen LLC, an accounting firm on Bullard Street, says, "We're kind of the poster child of the state MainStreet Project. Even other states look to us for example, because we've been so successful."
The state MainStreet awards celebration held in August in Las Vegas, NM, confirmed that "poster child" status. Representatives of the Silver City MainStreet Project came home with a carload of trophies, including several related to the Silco Theater: Excellence in Business Development, Excellence in Fundraising for the Silco "Chair-ity Auction" (run by Desert Exposure creative director Lisa Fryxell), and Community Service for Volunteering, also won by Fryxell for her hours devoted to the Silco Theater project. The Yankie-Texas Arts District, a concentration of galleries at — where else? — Texas and Yankie Streets, won an award for Excellence in Marketing. Isaac's Bar and Grill, at the corner of Broadway and Bullard Street, won an award for Excellence in Preservation, recognizing the business' massive restoration of the old Isaac Cohen building.
This month, Oct. 10-12, Silver City's MainStreet will get to show off for the entire state, hosting up to 100 people for the state MainStreet Project's Fall Institute.
Nationwide, more than 1,500 small towns, cities and urban districts participate in the Main Street Program, a loose network coordinated by the National Main Street Institute (www.mainstreet.org). The program is an offshoot of the National Trust for Historic Preservation — hence its interest in rehabilitation and renovation of historic structures like the Silco, along with economic revitalization. Rather than grow one strip mall and "power shopping center" at a time, ever outward into the exurban frontier, Main Street urges communities to strengthen their core. Many of its member localities are small towns like Silver City, where the downtown has historically been the heart of the community. Main Street programs work to build the vitality of these historic downtown business districts — through marketing and holding special events, helping business owners secure funds for infrastructure improvements, and recruiting new businesses to the historic downtown commercial district.
From the birth of the national program in 1980, more than 1,700 communities have participated, totaling $17 billion in public and private reinvestment in physical improvements. Nationwide, Main Street boasts a net gain of 57,470 businesses and 231,682 jobs, while helping to rehabilitate 93,734 buildings. For every dollar used to operate a local Main Street program, $40.35 is generated in the community.
According to the National Main Street Institute, "The underlying premise of the Main Street approach is to encourage economic development within the context of historic preservation in ways appropriate to today's marketplace. The Main Street Approach advocates a return to community self-reliance, local empowerment, and the rebuilding of traditional commercial districts based on their unique assets: distinctive architecture, a pedestrian-friendly environment, personal service, local ownership and a sense of community."
This four-point approach combines design, economic restructuring, promotion and organization. Although it's paid off in communities large and small, urban and rural, the national group cautions, "The Main Street approach is incremental; it is not designed to produce immediate change. Because they often fail to address the underlying causes of commercial district decline, expensive improvements, such as pedestrian malls or sports arenas, do not always generate the desired economic results. In order to succeed, a long-term revitalization effort requires careful attention to every aspect of downtown — a process that takes time and requires leadership and local capacity building."
In Silver City, Milan says, that approach has meant focusing on four main goals and objectives:
To that end, Silver City MainStreet has its hand in a variety of projects, from nuts-and-bolts tangible infrastructure projects — like sidewalks and streetlights — to marketing assistance and fun events like the Taste of Downtown.
MainStreet provides free design assistance to local merchants. More than 25 businesses have received advice on facades, signage, and interior improvements. The A.S. Goodell Warehouse facade on Yankie Street was preserved through MainStreet — a landmark achievement, as the building owners agreed to the first preservation easement in New Mexico. MainStreet worked closely with the Town of Silver City and the Silver City Museum to create the Historic Overlay Zoning identifying four adjoining historic districts in town.
MainStreet also is active in beautification, endeavoring to make the downtown a place people will want to visit and spend time. Over the years, MainStreet has planted more than 200 trees in historic downtown. The program contracts for groundskeeping for downtown, around the Visitor Center, and in Big Ditch Park. MainStreet also coordinates the Adopt-a-Median Program of over 25 medians inside the town limits.
It's not unusual for Main Street programs to rescue old theaters or even to make them the focus of downtown rebirth. In Westfield, NJ, for instance, a "Save the Rialto" campaign became the centerpiece of a downtown revival, which has brought 29 new retailers and 25 restaurants to the town of 30,000 outside New York City. But Westfield's Rialto Theatre was ultimately purchased and renovated by a private investor. In Silver City, the MainStreet Project has taken an even more active role in rescuing and rehabbing the Silco Theater, built in 1923.
Milan, who now splits his time between an office in the Visitor Center and one in the Silco, says he's "obviously very pleased with the vote and the Town Council's support," but that leaping this hurdle doesn't quite take a load off his mind. With the town's backing, MainStreet has applied for a $300,000 grant from the state-level MainStreet fund toward purchasing the Silco building. The town of Silver City would actually own the theater with, Milan hopes, a long-term lease being given to MainStreet.
"I think we've got an excellent chance of getting this grant. We've gotten funds from this entity before," he says.
But while the Town Council's nod is an encouraging green light, there's still the matter of a one-to-two matching fund stipulation. That means MainStreet must come up with the additional $150,000 needed to buy the structure. Milan predicts the theater's appraisal will come in between $425,000 and $450,000. The whole budget for the project, including renovation and rehabilitation of the building, is around $1 million, he adds.
MainStreet does have some money for the Silco project already, which has paid for the extensive renovations the building has already undergone. These funds have been raised from a group of local investors dubbed "The Silco Players" who have each made a loan for $5,000 to MainStreet. Other cash and financing paths are being explored, and volunteer hours directly related to the Silco project also are given a dollar value and figure into the picture, as well.
Milan says he should know by mid-November if local MainStreet has secured the grant funds from the state group.
"We would like to purchase the theater by the beginning of January 2008," he says. Rita and Jim Sherwood have owned the building since 2002, operating it as Repeat Boutique until about two years ago.
Milan allows that, in their efforts to build a thriving downtown commercial district, not many MainStreet projects take on the firsthand responsibility of a real estate rehabilitation project. "It is rare," he says.
He admits that he thinks of the Silco Theater project as part of his "legacy" as the program's manager. "It's a downtown cornerstone," he says. "Having this stable, thriving entity gives stability to our whole downtown.
"I see the Silco as similar to the Plaza Theater in El Paso," Milan goes on. "That project is changing the cultural landscape of that town. I think the value of the Silco will eventually be seen in the same way."
For these reasons, the Silco Theater hit him as a unique opportunity. "MainStreet decided to enter into a lease/purchase of the Silco to create a multi-use facility for the downtown," he says. "It's a cornerstone venue. . . and it being an historic building of such significance is absolutely one of the reasons we are interested in it specifically."
When the theater is fully operational, he says, it will be self-supporting and provide an income stream for MainStreet. Already more than 60 events, bringing in over 5,000 people, have been held in the Silco since July, when it was partially renovated to the point of being useable by the public.
Groups and individuals can rent the entire venue or just the lobby, for anywhere from $70 on weeknights to $350 for a whole weekend or on holidays. Theater seating, on-site staff, folding tables and chairs and stage platforms are included in the deal, along with some event promotion and marketing. The hall and lobby together can hold up to 150 people, non-seated, or 100 seated.
In addition to renting and some in-house events, Milan says there are plans to run a Silco Theater Costume Shop, a throwback to the building's Repeat Boutique days. Back then the Sherwoods ran the town's biggest Halloween costume-rental business, always well-patronized in this town of admitted "big kids" who like to dress up.
The Silco building, in addition to housing a small MainStreet office, also has a retail space with windows fronting onto Bullard Street, a main throughway for the downtown commercial district. The space first was rented out to the short-lived Silver Confectionery, a culinary, gardening and gift business. That business folded in about six months. An island-themed gallery and gift shop opened in the spot, but closed after just two months. Then a small group of entrepreneurs signed on to open a cooperative business — featuring art, eco-friendly products, gifts and possibly therapeutic services. That deal fell through in the planning stages, leaving some in town muttering aloud if the space would ever rent successfully to a financially viable business.
Milan is pleased to now have Two Spirit Gallery, owned by Ron Hanson, whom he calls "a successful businessman from California," ensconced in the retail space.
Hanson says he's proving that a retail business can indeed thrive in the Silco spot. "It's wonderful," he gushes. "Being on Bullard Street is extremely perfect. I'm in the center of downtown, in this beautiful, historic building. Foot traffic is very good, not only with tourists but locals, too."
The rent, he says without quoting numbers, is comparable to other storefronts downtown, and a bargain compared to what he's used to. "It's less than half what I paid in Palm Springs!"
His business, featuring ethnic art, artifacts and antiquities, has gotten off the ground strongly, Hanson says. "For a new gallery? I'm very pleased." The vibrant local arts community, attracting a good tourist trade, has been a boon for his unique product line, he says.
Morones, who was president of the MainStreet board of directors when the Silco opportunity crystallized, credits Milan with "great vision" in seeing the potential of the theater.
Morones is a Silver City native who left town to start his professional career in Tucson. He returned to his roots several years ago and became active with the MainStreet board right away, serving as treasurer his first year, then putting in two years as president up until June.
"I was born and reared here, and came downtown to shop," he says. "This is where I did my back-to-school shopping, where I went to movies. My family did our business downtown."
Morones says he really believes in the work MainStreet does, "promoting downtown and keeping things vibrant." Though he thinks there is a place, and enough room in Silver City, for a few "box stores," he doesn't like to see good commercial space like that downtown go underutilized. "Yeah, you can build new stuff out in the open spaces, but look at all these commercial buildings, great old buildings, right in the downtown," he says. "They're ready to go!"
He adds that MainStreet events, like the Taste of Downtown and Lighted Christmas Parade, "are great for business not just because they bring in out-of-towners, but also because they remind the local residents just how nice the downtown is, so maybe they remember to come back for their shopping."
Morones is definitely upbeat over the MainStreet Project's chances to secure the Silco Theater. "It's a great grant proposal, very strong," he says. "We are positioned well. We have a good number of successes under our belt, a very strong track record with our other projects."
He mentions the progress of the Streetlight Project, through which MainStreet has installed acorn-style streetlights throughout the downtown. That project has gone through a couple of phases, he notes. "It gives aesthetic appeal and unifies the downtown. On a purely practical level, they give better, more consistent light, which I think benefits the businesses that stay open late, particularly restaurants."
This month, Frank Milan begins his sixth year directing the Silver City MainStreet Project. He is a fulltime manager, and the program also employs two fulltime workers through the AmeriCorps/Vista program, Silco Theater venue manager Mike Mulhall and assistant venue manager Glenn Henderson. Milan has no office staff, save a small stable of volunteers.
The Silco project aside, funds come into the program through varied means. Membership — with levels from individuals at $25 up to Partners at $2,500 — provides a steady income stream, from individuals and local businesses. Though those acorn streetlights are paid for by grants, individuals and merchants can symbolically "adopt" a streetlight for $1,500 and have their name or business entity noted on a brick at the base, basking in the soft glow of "their" streetlight.
"The Official Historic Downtown Guide & Business Directory," a brochure with downtown business listings and a map, is an informational and promotion piece. Merchants must pay to participate in the guide, which promotes them and the historic business district as a whole.
Other things Milan says the program does to support the downtown district include recruiting new businesses — "I lobbied hard to bring a brew pub to town," he puts in, referring to the Silver City Brewing Company — and providing workshops. On topics like marketing and merchandising, the workshops aim to bring good practices and new ideas to local business owners, helping them become more successful.
Renowned merchandising expert Scott Day gave free evaluations and recommendations to merchants a couple of years ago. Milan says that 13 local businesses took advantage of Day's expertise and "got to pick his brain." Eight business owners participated in a "Niche Marketing" workshop, and 25 took a seminar in grant writing that MainStreet provided, again taught by experts in the field.
And, supporting local businesses in a tangible, cold-hard-cash, show-me-the- money sort of way, the MainStreet Gift Certificates program has brought more than $90,000 into downtown over the past nine years. Individuals purchase certificates in any amount, which are redeemable at participating downtown businesses.
Although certainly the most ambitious and hands-on, the Silco Theater isn't the first brick-and-mortar project MainStreet has tackled. Milan says the program has leveraged approximately $430,000 from the Town of Silver City into $4.9 million of tangible infrastructure improvements in downtown. New sidewalks were completed in 1996. The Visitor Center was completed on donated land in 1999. Renovation and expansion of Big Ditch Park was done in two phases, in 1997 and 2002. The Visitor Center marquee sign was added in 2002, and the parking lot paved in 2004. The first phase of those acorn-style streetlights was completed in 2002 and the second phase on North Bullard was completed in the summer of 2006.
Another sizeable infrastructure-related project is the Big Ditch Park Plaza, a new outdoor performance venue and parking area slated for the area behind Domino's Pizza on Bullard Street. The New Mexico Economic Development Department and the Department of Finance and Administration awarded the program $200,000 for the Big Ditch Park Plaza. Milan says the funding will go toward design plans and development of the project, which will turn three vacant, overgrown lots into an outdoor performance area that will double as parking space.
MainStreet will provide matching funds for the plaza project by purchasing three lots at 7th Street and the old Main Street through the assistance of an anonymous donor and the property owners. As with the Silco, the town of Silver City will actually own the property, Milan says, with MainStreet Project coordinating and responsible for the development and management.
Currently, he adds, the MainStreet Project is figuring out the direction the multi-use plaza facility should take, what elements it should include. "We want to figure out what people will want to do there," Milan says. "What are the things that will draw people and families downtown and cause them to spend some time there? Will they want water they can play in? What about some bronze animals that the kids can crawl around on?"
He notes that the area will be tied in with the walking path from Big Ditch Park down below, the park MainStreet developed in the 55-foot-deep gorge created by Silver city's monumental flood in 1895 that wiped out the town's original Main Street. (Ironically, Silver City no longer has a street named "Main Street.")
"Hopefully the Farmers' Market, if they vote that way, will like to use this space during their growing and market season," Milan says. "It certainly would be great to have them back, with all that vitality the market brings."
Indeed, the popular Silver City farmers' market is another dividend of the MainStreet project, launched in 1989 by then-MainStreet manager and farmer Pauly Walker. MainStreet ran the market for its first two years before turning it over to a growers' cooperative, while continuing to serve as an administrative umbrella of sorts. The opening of the farmers' market was long a hallmark of MainStreet's annual Celebration of Spring.
But the Silver City Farmers' Market moved out to the parking area by the County Administration Building on Hwy. 180. Construction and expansion at the downtown Silver City Food Co-op at first interfered with, then cut down on the space available for market vendors' parking and booths. A brief attempt to relocate the market in the Visitor Center parking lot ended unhappily.
Now perhaps the new plaza will enable the return of one of MainStreet's earliest accomplishments, even as Milan focuses on the Silco as the project's next and most dramatic accomplishment.
He acknowledges that some people have been impatient for the new plaza to take shape and for construction to get underway.
"You know, when people start saying 'You'd better hurry up,' I take the attitude that 'No, I think I'd better slow down,'" he says with a cock of his head and playful smile. "This plaza will serve the town for the next 50 years, at least.
"We're talking about long-term benefit and planning. I just know that we need to get it right, so it serves our businesses, our families and our town for the long haul."
For more information on the Silver City MainStreet Project, call 534-1700. For Silco Theater information, see www.silcotheater.com.
Senior editor Donna Clayton Lawder also writes the monthly Business Exposure column.