Over the years, several projects have been ongoing in Lima to bring new life to the downtown area. That's everything from bringing in new tenants to fixing up old buildings.
Earlier this year, the city saw the renovation of the 43 Town Square Building into apartments and retail space, and still planned for downtown is the extension of Rhodes State College. Those are just a few examples of the projects that have been done and are still in the works for downtown Lima.
As the downtown continues to grow, it brings new opportunities for the city to grow, as well.
"I think there’s a growing recognition that having revitalized downtown is good for everyone - that the more dense our investments, the greater the opportunity to actually grow with that density," said Lima Mayor David Berger.
Just outside of the main downtown area is 207 South Central Avenue. In a recent Lima City Council meeting, a 12 year, 75 percent tax exemption agreement with T.K. Sarno was approved for the renovation of that building.
Tracie Sanchez, who owns 207 South Central and other surrounding buildings, already has a few ideas of what she would like to see that area become.
"Cleaning up this end of town it was important to us as far as Rotary, and then myself as a business owner, we wanted to make sure that the right businesses happen and revitalize that end of town," Sanchez said. "My hope is that we are going to create kind of an arts legacy district and we have some ideas of some businesses that may want to go there."
While a lot of things have been accomplished for downtown Lima, there's still room to grow for both tenants that are running shop now, and those thinking about it in the future.
"If they’re already property owners, we want to ask them to invest; those that come along and either become become tenants or new owners, they can then develop new visions for how those parcels and facilities are part of their business plan."
