Main Street Warsaw’s downtown development Director Terry Sweeney points out a building downtown that was constructed in 1883. Downtown is often the oldest part of a community and, as Sweeney describes it, “the front door to the city.”

Text and Photos
By Lilli Dwyer
InkFreeNews

KOSCIUSKO COUNTY — “The downtown is the heartbeat of a town, and, I like to say, the front door to the city,” said Terry Sweeney, the new downtown development director for Main Street Warsaw.

Indeed, the downtown is often the oldest part of a community, around which other developments spring up over the years. It functions as an economic, civic and cultural center for a town.

In recognition of the downtown’s importance, Main Street Warsaw was first formed by a group of business people as the Warsaw Community Development Corporation in 1980. Common concerns of the time were vacant buildings, dilapidated storefronts, parking and traffic flow. Since then, downtown development has been a continuous process.

“Development and revitalization is never done,” explained Sweeney, whose hiring was announced by the Kosciusko County Chamber of Commerce earlier this month. Before coming to Warsaw, he had worked in downtown management in Indianapolis, Lexington, Ky., and Corpus Christi, Texas.

When it comes to plans for Warsaw, Sweeney said, “anything that will come about as we move forward will have basis. Some will have basis in the recently completed HyettPalma plan, as well as portions of the Critical Corridors plan.”

HyettPalma, Inc. conducted a study on the downtown area in 2002, then again in 2023 to look at what had been accomplished and what could be improved. Some main points of the recent HyettPalma study include attracting businesses, encouraging mixed use of buildings, adding multi-family housing, refreshing the streetscape and improving parking.

“The county’s looking at a parking garage. I think you’ll see some really significant steps taken here over the next 12 to 24 months that will change how downtown operates from a parking perspective,” said Sweeney.

A comprehensive outline of the study and its vision for downtown can be found online at warsaw.in.gov.

Warsaw is not the only town looking to improve. Elsewhere in the county, Syracuse is in the process of starting its own Main Street organization for next year. Town Manager David Wilkinson explained the reasoning behind this interest in downtown revitalization.

“Years ago, the development of towns and cities left the downtown and became part of what they call ‘urban sprawl.’ People moved out into the suburbs, away from the downtown, and then all the stores followed them and built on the outskirts of town. Shopping destinations became periphery to the town centers and so town centers, the local shops, were suffering as a result. There was a revitalization awhile back trying to restore the downtowns, that’s kind of where the Main Street organization came from,” Wilkinson said.

The small town of Milford, population 1,614 at the 2020 census, is embarking on its own downtown journey. In April, a special committee of town officials and a few Main Street business owners formed to discuss using Office of Community and Rural Affairs grant funds to revitalize the downtown.

“Some of the ideas were beautifying the downtown with trees, making it very nice and inviting,” said Milford’s Clerk-Treasurer Tricia Gall, a member of the committee. Members have also discussed improving storefronts through a potential facade grant. Gall, who has lived in Milford for 20 years, mentioned she would like to see more inclusive and family-friendly eateries set up shop in downtown.

All three communities have discussed sidewalk improvements, namely making them wider and more “pedestrian friendly” for walking and biking.

“That’s a more modern interpretation of how sidewalks should be. They used to just be pathways and now they’ve become more functional,” said Wilkinson.

“People like the idea of being able to walk. And you want to see that activity — walking, shopping,

Pictured is a way-finding sign that points people in the direction of downtown Warsaw and other noteworthy destinations. Other communities, like Milford and Syracuse, are looking to implement these for better navigation to and around their own downtown areas.

sightseeing,” said Sweeney.

Milford and Syracuse are also looking to improve navigation to their downtown areas by adding way-finding signs.

“One of the main issues is getting people to your downtown, no matter where it is,” Gall said. In Milford’s case, SR 15 runs through the town, leading some non-residents to believe that SR 15 is their Main Street. Their downtown, featuring the town hall, post office, library, auto parts store and two bars, is in fact a few blocks off the busy highway.

According to Wilkinson, Syracuse’s downtown features many restaurants but fewer retail stores. By adding more retail, improved sidewalks, better parking and navigation, the goal is to entice more people to stop and spend time in the downtown.

“If your downtown’s dead, your town is dead, essentially. … You can get your big box stores and make money but that leaves a lot of dead spaces and dead buildings in the heart of the community. That does not bode well for people wanting to live there or shop there or anything else. Then, that cascades around to other taxing units, like schools,” Wilkinson said.

While downtown development has its enduring principles, it has also changed over time.

“It used to be that people followed jobs,” Sweeney recalled. “Jobs follow people now because people are so mobile. … In a remote, post-COVID economic world, it’s even more so. So, having an asset like a downtown that really has that sense of place, opportunity, entertainment, gathering space, cultural destination, is really important. How do you create that so you’re the first choice, not the second or third choice?”

As downtown development continues, communities will keep asking these questions.