Holly Springs Awarded Main Street Designation

HOLLY SPRINGS, GA -- Holly Springs' Main Street Program 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.

“It is a great honor to recognize this year’s 828 nationally Accredited Main Street America programs for their outstanding work to transform downtown and neighborhood commercial districts,” said Patrice Frey, president & CEO of the National Main Street Center. “Main streets are the heart of our communities, and the work they do to create quality public spaces, catalyze local entrepreneurship, and support downtown housing is more important than ever. Across the county, Main Street America programs truly strengthen the economic, social, and cultural fabric of their entire communities.”

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 ten 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.

Holly Springs Main Street Director Erin Honea said the city in 2016 continued making improvements to infrastructure in anticipation of the redevelopment of its Town Center area. Sidewalk and streetscape improvements were completed to improve pedestrian connectivity, and preliminary engineering began on a downtown bypass project, which will give an alternative route to Interstate 575 near Exit 14. Holly springs also welcomed more than 10,000 guests to its community events, and in the Main Street District alone, 12 new jobs were created.

"We are very optimistic about what the future holds for the city’s redevelopment project, and the city as a whole," she added.

The city of Holly Springs was incorporated in 1906 around the busy train depot established by the Louisville & Nashville Railroad. As metro Atlanta has grown over the past several decades, the city of Holly Springs has become more suburban in character with light industry, commercial establishments and numerous residential developments.

Holly Springs has been an accredited Main Street America™ program since 2015. 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 $71.35 billion in new public and private investment, generated 583,869 net new jobs and 131,974 net new businesses, and rehabilitated more than 267,800 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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