Leon Steele: Did you know? Part 3
Did you know the Pride of Kinston downtown revitalization organization has been around since the 1980’s? We belong to the North Carolina Main Street Association which has 88 participating communities. We all belong to the National Main Street organization called Main Street America that was formed in the mid-1980’s to reverse the decline of historic commercial districts across the U.S. by applying a tested methodology associated with design, organization, promotion, and economic development, for which our core working committees are named.
Prestigiously speaking, Kinston was one of the very first communities selected by the national organization to participate in this nation-wide endeavor. This means that Kinston has been in the process of revitalizing its downtown for 35 years.
Kinston’s designated downtown revitalization district is approximately 28 square blocks bordered roughly by Washington St. and Lincoln St., and Mitchell St. and Independence St. That is a sizeable Main Street district considering many small town historic commercial districts are only a few blocks.
The district is referred to as either the Municipal Service District (MSD) of the Main Street District. There is a small, additional property tax associated with the MSD that is collected to help fund Pride of Kinston. It amounts to roughly $43,000 annually, which is obvious not much money, hence our need to fundraise for our many projects and events.
Most reinvestment downtown so far has been on Herritage and Queen Streets. Herritage Street came about from private investment with people buying and rehabbing buildings, then opening businesses. Queen Street’s largest investment of late is the $2.5MM public investment that got us the award-winning redesign.
Original photo credit: Lindsay Corrigan
Although we continue to have many square feet of space to redevelop, our downtown district is far from empty. It is home to a plethora of diverse businesses that includes several clothing stores and boutiques, antiques and home furnishing stores, barber and beauty shops, various auto service businesses, cafes and restaurants, a coffee shop, pharmacy, a brewery and distillery, tap rooms, music venues and clubs, event venues, museums, art galleries and artist spaces, medical facilities, alterations shops, churches, a senior citizens center, a youth self-defense academy, attorneys’ offices, a contractor or two, the County Courthouse, residential lofts and towers, a private investigator, the Chamber of Commerce, tourism office, County deeds and tax office, an exterminator, a liquor store, voter headquarters, Democratic Headquarters, variety store, luxury boutique hotel, a media and marketing firm, an employment placement agency, TV station, radio station office, numerous non-profit offices, a library, dry cleaners, and more.
This is more options than most malls offer. Plus, those businesses employ our neighbors, teens and friends as well as support local organizations and special causes.
That means our downtown Kinston is not only the economic hub of Lenoir County but is arguably also home to one of the largest collection of small businesses in a single district in the region.
