The city of Saline is looking down the road when it comes to planning for its downtown, with city leadership thinking of a new hotel and the attainment of a Michigan Main Street community designation.
In the next couple of months, consultancy group Hospitality Advisors will study the feasibility of constructing a hotel for the city's developing downtown. Art Trapp, downtown director for the Saline Business Development Association, notes, "We get a lot of people who are in town and would like to stay in town and we have no place to do that. And so we end up sending them to Ann Arbor or to Chelsea or to [anywhere] else, but here in town."
No specific site is in mind yet, he adds.
About 20 city representatives have attended a series of training sessions sponsored by the Michigan Main Street program in order to learn the ropes of applying for and becoming a Michigan Main Street Select Level community. The application process is quite intensive, requiring a complete business and building inventory with photos and written descriptions of each. The city will also face strong competition; 21 communities are applying, and three, tops, will be chosen.
If selected, downtown Saline would have access to options not currently available now, such as grants for facade restoration and streetscape enhancements, Trapp says. "The whole idea behind the [Michigan Main Street] Select Community is to have the city and the community in partnership to help bring about a more vibrant and economically stable downtown area."
Saline has about 50 downtown businesses. Openings or relocations in the past six months include Sun Engineering, Quantum Signal, and Mangiamo's restaurant. Nothing else is pending at the moment, Trapp says.Source: Art Trapp, downtown director for the Saline Business Development Association
Writer: Tanya Muzumdar
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