Mayor Perry, "Midland Looking to Revitalize"
By: Jamie Kuras
Updated: October 28, 2011
MIDLAND -- A healthy and vibrant downtown boosts economic health and quality of life in a community.
That's why the city of Midland is looking to revitalize it's downtown area. And let's face it, downtown Midland is in need of an overhaul. And it needs someone to take on that responsibility. Like a downtown development coordinator who Mayor Wes Perry hopes to hire by the end of the year.
"One of the biggest hurdles we've had is someone that has enough time and energy to really follow the plan," said Perry.
That plan is for more businesses to move downtown. But there's a problem.
"We need to have more office space without a doubt," said Perry. "We're at 100% occupancy of the full buildings."
But with a strong economy in the area, the Mayor believes they can fill the buildings that sit vacant.
"All of a sudden those other buildings, the ones that are vacant currently, could become.... they could have life again. So that's a good thing."
And it doesn't stop there.
"Some other things are obvious. People want to have downtown activities and they typically want nightlife. And that is more restaurants, more places like bars."
The Mayor is hopeful that with the right people in place, that could become a reality soon.
He says that the key to getting downtown Midland turned around is advertisement. He says they need to get the word out to the world that Midland is one of the few places that has a great environment to bring an office or business.
That's why the city of Midland is looking to revitalize it's downtown area. And let's face it, downtown Midland is in need of an overhaul. And it needs someone to take on that responsibility. Like a downtown development coordinator who Mayor Wes Perry hopes to hire by the end of the year.
"One of the biggest hurdles we've had is someone that has enough time and energy to really follow the plan," said Perry.
That plan is for more businesses to move downtown. But there's a problem.
"We need to have more office space without a doubt," said Perry. "We're at 100% occupancy of the full buildings."
But with a strong economy in the area, the Mayor believes they can fill the buildings that sit vacant.
"All of a sudden those other buildings, the ones that are vacant currently, could become.... they could have life again. So that's a good thing."
And it doesn't stop there.
"Some other things are obvious. People want to have downtown activities and they typically want nightlife. And that is more restaurants, more places like bars."
The Mayor is hopeful that with the right people in place, that could become a reality soon.
He says that the key to getting downtown Midland turned around is advertisement. He says they need to get the word out to the world that Midland is one of the few places that has a great environment to bring an office or business.
