Lansing named semifinalist in 'Great American Main Street' contest

LANSING — A national group is recognizing Lansing's downtown, naming the city as one of eight semifinalists for the 2024 Great American Main Street Award.

"It's recognizing the hard work of anyone who has been a part of the downtown Lansing community in the past or present," said Cathleen Edgerly, executive director of Downtown Lansing Inc.

She said making the semifinalist list helps to validate the city's focus on fostering and recruiting new businesses, such as Nubian, a jewelry and clothing store specializing in African culture; Capital Hippy, a clothing and accessories shop; and Sweet Encounters, a bakery and cafe. All of them have evolved from being part of the Middle Village Micro Market, an incubator with a half-dozen businesses, into the stand-alone shops in downtown in a little more than a year, Edgerly said.

The recognition is a sign that Lansing's efforts to transform following the pandemic, and the subsequent loss of many government employees in downtown, are showing results, said Mayor Andy Schor.

He said he had just left the opening of a new coffee shop, The Hob Nob, which took over a recently-closed Biggby Coffee location.

Recruiting new and small businesses into downtown is part of the revitalization plan, along with getting more people living and visiting the downtown to eat and be entertained, Schor said.

One of the lynchpins in the planned transformation is a pair of entertainment venues, Grewal Hall at 224 and MSUFCU Ovation.

The main street awards are, Schor said, "recognizing that we’re doing a lot of work with housing, with state employees not coming back in same numbers. We're working on getting more people living here and working and businesses staying open later. Now we have more people moving downtown and there's the art and vibrancy efforts we’re doing. We are pushing downtown as a destination place."

The award entry acknowledges the loss of state workers in downtown and says Lansing "has used walkability, sustainability, and accessibility to create a Main Street that welcomes everyone."

"Before COVID, the downtown area was primarily known as a space for office workers and lunchtime eateries. The pandemic radically altered the business landscape and forced Downtown Lansing Inc., to re-evaluate their revitalization strategy and the district’s identity. They worked with businesses to expand weeknight and weekend hours, developers to bring more than 900 new housing units to the district, and new partners to expand the area’s arts and cultural offerings."

Downtown Lansing Inc. submitted the application to Main Street America, which runs an annual award for downtown main street programs and outcomes. The winner will be announced in a May ceremony.

The awards are based, in part, on "preservation-based revitalization efforts in their historic downtowns and commercial corridor districts."

The other semifinalists are:

• Camas, Washington

• Denison, Texas

• Macon, Georgia

• Madison, Indiana

• Monroeville, Alabama

• Mount Vernon, Iowa

• New Bern, North Carolina

Contact Mike Ellis at mellis@lsj.com or 517-267-0415

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Lansing a semifinalist in 'Great American Main Street' contest