Bright Ideas Sept. 19, 2016

Countywide Program Revives Nine Downtowns

If Buffalo is a rock and Rochester is a hard place, then it’s Livingston County, N.Y. that’s been caught between them all these years.

Just as big cities’ residents and businesses fled downtowns for the suburbs, rural Livingston County also saw its villages’ business districts become derelict over the past 50 years.

Problem: Downtowns in rural Livingston County, N.Y.’s nine villages had become run-down, losing businesses and residences.

Solution: A public-private partnership that has revived the downtowns.

The county’s Downtown Partnership Program is reversing that trend in the county’s nine villages, most with populations of fewer than 3,000 people. The program’s main goals include preserving and enhancing mixed-use downtown buildings, community development, encouraging entrepreneurship and new business recruitment.

It does this by coordinating grant funding for downtown building improvements while providing technical assistance for business owners and community groups.

The program has generated more than $7 million in new investment in 120 downtown buildings since 2011, helped improve ground-floor commercial spaces and spurred 82 new or enhanced residential units in downtown buildings, according to the New York State Economic Development Council (NYSEDC), which recently recognized the program for excellence in community-based economic development.

NYSEDC executive director Brian McMahon praised the county for showing that “rural communities can be innovative and highly effective in rebuilding their downtown corridors.”

One key to the program’s success is a 12-year tax abatement on the value of improvements to buildings in designated downtown districts, which must be approved by the town, village, school district and county, explained Louise Wadsworth, who runs the program as its downtown coordinator. Taxes are frozen at pre-improvement levels for eight years and are phased in at 20 percent per year in years 8 through 12. 

“Folks didn’t want to fix up their buildings because they thought they were going to get assessed more and their taxes were going to go up,” she said. “So this way they can put the money into the building without being penalized.”

A Livingston County Sign and Facade Improvement Program, funded by private investment — matching grants of up to $5,000 to owners of downtown buildings or businesses — provides another incentive, Wadsworth said. Since 2011, approximately $1 million in public and private money has been invested in more than 100 completed sign and facade improvement projects, program officials said.

In Geneseo, the county seat, the Riviera Theatre is an example of results the partnership has achieved. The building had been vacant for 20 years when a developer bought it. The Downtown Partnership helped him obtain a $150,000 New York Main Street grant from the state to restore the theater.

“Now it’s up and running, completely renovated from the ground up and it’s a community center,” Wadsworth said. It’s being used for movies and events, parties and weddings. The owner has purchased adjacent properties to open a bar and restaurant.

In addition, the downtown partnership has helped to attract about 90 residential units to downtown Geneseo, including 25–30 brand new units created in second-floor spaces that were previously unused.

State University of New York (SUNY) at Geneseo has also been a key player in the partnership; it provides interns who serve as downtown managers in the villages. An adopt-a-business program pairs students with businesses for social media and other promotional assistance. The public university’s involvement also has a private sector link. A builder who renovated 20 buildings in the village of Mount Morris funds the internship program.

The program’s primary cost is for staff: a $65,000 a year salary including benefits for the downtown coordinator. The county’s industrial development agency provides $50,000 per year, and each of the nine participating villages kicks in $4,000 apiece — $36,000 total. The participating villages are: Avon, Caledonia, Danville, Geneseo, Leicester, Lima, Livonia, Mount Morris and Nunda. Funding from the state’s Main Street Program covers administrative costs.

NYSEDC’s McMahon perhaps summed it up best: “Livingston County’s Downtown Partnership Program has attracted businesses and private investment to the downtown corridors and is helping retain businesses and jobs as well.”

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