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City leaders work to build up downtown Hastings




(11/02/2009) By Rachel Lake - At one time, the downtown area served as a community epicenter.
Busy and vibrant. But over the years that has changed. Businesses have moved out and gravitated towards strip malls and more and more people are going to big shopping centers instead of small mom and pop stores.

Tonight in a special report called Building Up Downtown, News 5's Rachel Lake tells how the city of Hastings is working to revitalize its downtown and why city leaders say the area is so important.

Just take a walk down Second Street and you can see how much the downtown has grown over the years.

"Downtowns are the heart of any community. If your downtown is strong the rest of your community will be strong," said Randy Chick.

And that is why the city is working to draw new businesses to the downtown area - businesses like the clothing store–Climate. Owner Jason Schreiner plans to open his store here sometime this month.

"I think our store just fits in real well. I think the location across from the movie theatre, next door to a couple of restaurants, a couple of coffee shops I think the traffic patterns are gonna be really nice for us," said Climate owner Jason Schreiner.

John Chrise and his partner–Eric Gammill relocated their advertising business Infuze Creative in the downtown area 2 years ago.

"We wanted to be somewhere that was a cultural center. We knew that the block we were on was pretty much the clientele that we serve. We knew that this was really the place for us to be," said Chrise.

And as more businesses decide downtown is the place for them; the city benefits financially.

"Those local businesses reinvest by donating to various causes throughout the community, they live here, buy homes here, rent here so that money turns over several times in the community if it is spent here local," Chick said.

And during these tough economic times, a healthy community is something we all need.

Randy Chick said a restaurant owner is considering Downtown Hastings as a location spot. He would not reveal the identity of the restaurant.

Attached Files: 1102downtown.jpg 


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