Holly Springs Gains Main Street America Program Designation

HOLLY SPRINGS, GA -- The city of Holly Springs has been designated as an accredited Main Street America™ program for meeting rigorous performance standards set by the National Main Street Center.

Each year, the National Main Street Center and its Coordinating Program partners announce the list of accredited Main Street America programs in recognition of their commitment to preservation-based economic development and community revitalization through the Main Street Approach®.

“The city of Holly Springs’ Main Street Program had a great first year, and we are looking forward to
what 2016 and beyond holds for our program,” said Main Street Director Erin Honea. “We are of course
proud of the ever-growing special events that the city offers throughout the year for residents and visitors
of the city, but we are also proud of the 13 jobs that were created in 2015 just within the Main Street
District."

Honea added last year brought brought sanitary sewer to the downtown, area and residents and visitors can expect to see the completion of sidewalks and streetscapes soon.

She also said the city will soon kick off the construction of a revitalized downtown area, which will include a new civic building, event greenspace, as well as office, retail, residential and dining options.

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The organization’s performance is annually evaluated by the Georgia Main Street Program, which works in partnership with the National Main Street Center to identify the local programs that meet 10 performance standards.

Evaluation criteria determines the communities that are building comprehensive and sustainable revitalization efforts and include standards such as fostering strong public-private partnerships, securing an operating budget, tracking programmatic progress and actively preserving historic buildings.

“Once again, we are thrilled to recognize this year’s nationally accredited Main Street America communities for their outstanding work,” said Patrice Frey, president and CEO of the National Main Street Center. “We are experiencing an exciting era for America’s cities and towns, with a growing recognition of the importance of strong local enterprise, distinctive character, engaged residents, and sense of place. These are things that Main Street America programs have been working to protect and advance for years, strengthening the economic, social, and cultural fabric of communities across the country.”

Main Street America has been helping revitalize older and historic commercial districts for more than 35 years. Today, it is a network of more than 1,000 neighborhoods and communities, rural and urban, who share both a commitment to place and to building stronger communities through preservation-based economic development.

Since 1980, communities participating in the program have leveraged more than $65.6 billion in new public and private investment, generated 556,960 net new jobs and 126,476 net new businesses, and rehabilitated more than 260,000 buildings. Main Street America is a program of the nonprofit National Main Street Center, a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

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Image via city of Holly Springs