Before Jamie Schriner-Hooper became the face of the Old Town Commercial Association (OTCA), she and other soon-to-be Old Towners had already created a community at Moriarty’s pub near Downtown Lansing. That's where Schriner-Hooper worked after graduating from Central Michigan University (CMU).
Schriner-Hooper’s sister, Summer Schriner, now the owner of Old Town boutique Grace, and Aura Ozbourn, now the owner of Old Town’s October Moon, waited tables there, too. And Chica Garcia, now the owner of Old Town’s Mama Bear’s café, was a regular.
Eventually, all four decided to improve Old Town by rehabbing buildings, starting businesses and encouraging community members to take responsibility for their community.
Now Schriner-Hooper works for the state as an organizational specialist, traveling across the state to teach other communities how to use the Main Street program and vigilant volunteerism to rehabilitate their downtowns.
Capital Gains sat down with Schriner-Hooper to get her perspective on Michigan, Lansing and community service.
Capital Gains: What drives downtown revitalization?
Schriner-Hooper: You have to have community involvement. It can start with one or two people who really want to make a change. Then more people get involved, and once they all come together and you get people excited about the area, that’s what flips things.
CG: You and your husband, Al, have invested heavily in this community, rehabbing the Dart building, the Career Quest building and now the Temple Club. When did you decide to invest your own money in the community?
SH: I’ll be the first to tell you it’s scary. He really had to talk me into it because we were investing everything we had and were really going out on a limb to make something happen.
When we did the Dart building, I thought I’d worked a lot at my regular job, but then I went to the building until 11 p.m., 12 a.m., 1 a.m. It was crazy. I’m glad we did the first building because it gave us the opportunity to do the second one in South Lansing — the Career Quest building.
Now we’re moving onto the Temple Club. It floors me that after four years of begging people to fix it, no one was ever able to make it happen. After going through one of the Main Street trainings about community initiated development, which talks about taking the big white elephant building in the downtown and learning to develop it as a community, Al came home and said, “I think we should do the Temple.” So we are.
Our partners are Emily and Aaron Matthews. Aaron was my board chair and we got to get to know them through their community development here. It’s about forging relationships and taking risks and hoping like hell that those risks pay off.
CG: How did you address absentee property owners when you were at the OTCA?
SH: Its very hard, but every town deals with that. One of the ways we dealt with it was asking the permission of property owners to do something with their buildings.
The building that sits by Gone 2 the Dogs was in sorry shape. We tried to get the then-property owner to so something with it, but he didn’t have the ability to do it. We waited until O’Leary Paint had their annual paint sale, bought all of their $2 exterior paint and mixed it in a big bucket. There was a business that had professional painters and we said if you guys give us some time, we’ll give you some pizza. Al and I bought a paint sprayer and another community member had some scaffolding and we painted the 2,500 square foot building for $48.
Maybe a year later we talked to the owner and he was at a point where he trusted us and he sold it.
It’s a matter of finding a way to make things happen. If you don’t have the money, you have to get creative.
CG: How would you address the criticism that the City of Lansing has abandoned every area of the city but Old Town?
SH: It probably appears that the city spends a great deal of energy in Old Town because a lot of projects have happened in Old Town, but I don’t think that’s the case at all.
The Lansing Economic Development Corporation (EDC) has been very supportive of projects in Old Town, just like they have been of other projects that have gone on in the city. It looks like they’ve focused on Old Town because of the sheer number of projects that have gone on there.
There’s a big misperception that the work being done down here is being done by the city government. The city’s been very supportive and when the initial changes started to happen in Old Town, they made an initial investment in the infrastructure like the streets and sidewalks. But the citizens did a lot of work, too.
CG: Is Michigan making a greater effort than other states to revitalize its downtowns?
SH: I think 44 states in the country have Main Street programs, so I wouldn’t say there’s necessarily more of an effort. What we are seeing is that Michigan’s program is growing where other states are cutting back. Michigan is seeing the value of promoting and revitalizing downtowns.
There’s a big conference every year and this year, some states were asking us how we were growing our program.
I think Michigan’s realizing the future is in small business, entrepreneurship and tourism.
CG: Do you see many incubators in the state’s downtown areas?
SH: We don’t have a lot of them in the downtowns we’re working with. It’s kind of a big topic of discussion with the downtowns. A downtown, as a whole, kind of acts as an incubator. They have low rents and good support systems through the Main Street community. We don’t see buildings sectioned off and marked as incubators, but when you’re surrounded by other creative business owners, the community as a whole acts like one.
CG: You say people are starting to move back to downtowns. Does that include Baby Boomers?
SH: That’s really interesting because you might not think that Baby Boomers would be the ones living in downtown lofts, but I would say it’s pretty even. Even in Old Town it’s probably 50 percent younger generation and 50 percent Baby Boomers.
You’re seeing a lot of people who are deciding they don’t want the big house. They don’t want to make the big drive and they want to walk in their communities. They’re moving back to the downtowns.
Ivy Hughes is the Managing Editor of Capital Gains.
Dave Trumpie is the managing photographer for Capital Gains. He is a freelance photographer and owner of Trumpie Photography.
Photos:
Jamie Schiner-Hooper talks with Capital Gains in Old Town
All Photographs © Dave Trumpie