St. Albans Renaissance Group, Inc.

The St. Albans Renaissance Group, a nationally certified program, is a grass-roots community driven organization using the proven 4-point Main Street approach to revitalizing their deteriorating Main Street districts.

The 4-point approach is a widely successful program. Described below are the four points of the Main Street approach which work together to build a sustainable and complete community revitalization effort. Coincidentally, the four points of the Main Street approach correspond with the four forces of real estate value, which are social, political, physical, and economic.

Organization Committee
Organization involves keeping everyone focused toward the same goal and assembling the appropriate human and financial resources to implement a Main Street revitalization program. By building partnerships among the various groups that have a stake in downtown, the group is able to provide effective, ongoing management and advocacy of downtown. Diverse groups from the public and private sectors (city and county governments, local bankers, merchants, chamber of commerce, property owners, community leaders, etc) must work together to create and maintain a successful program.

Design Committee
Design means getting Main Street into top physical shape. Design takes advantage of the visual opportunities inherent in St. Albans’ downtown by directing attention to all of its physical elements: public and private buildings, storefronts, signs, public spaces, landscaping, merchandising, displays, and promotional materials. Its aim is to stress the importance of design quality in all of these areas, to educate people about design quality, and to expedite improvements downtown.

Promotion Committee
Promotion aims to create a positive image of downtown in order to rekindle community pride downtown in order to attract investors, developers, and new businesses. Promotion seeks to improve retail sales events and festivals.

Economic Restructuring
Economic Restructuring strengthens downtown St. Albans’ existing economic assets while expanding and diversifying its economic base. This is accomplished by retaining and expanding existing businesses to provide a balanced commercial mix, by converting unused or underutilized space into productive property, and by sharpening the competitiveness and merchandising skills of downtown business people.