By DAVE SCHULTZ
“2022 was a great year for downtown,” Mike Lautzenheiser told the Bluffton Common Council this week.
The numbers, as presented in the annual report of the Bluffton NOW! (New, Old, Wonderful) downtown revitalization organization, bear that out:
• First-floor occupancy of downtown buildings at 94 percent.
• Second-floor occupancy at 71 percent and third-floor occupancy at 73 percent.
• The total number of downtown businesses is 106.
All of those, Lautzenheiser said, are records.
The assessed value of downtown structures was $10,760,300 as of the end of 2022 and the amount of real property taxes is $191,661. Both of those numbers do not include the buildings of the Bluffton Regional Medical Center, which are tax-exempt. As with the other numbers, the assessed value and tax income are records.
The organization has been instrumental in sponsoring a variety of events “that brought hundreds of people into downtown on various days of the week and at various times of the day,” said Lautzenheiser, who is the president of Bluffton NOW.
“When it comes to the exciting part, it’s the overall health of downtown,” he said.
The next step, the report said, and Lautzenheiser emphasized in his remarks, is to keep on keeping on — support downtown buildings, construct the Downtown Pathways project, and grow sponsorship opportunities and the number and type of events throughout the year.
The Downtown Pathways project has a goal of making five alleys in downtown Bluffton into community open spaces. The goal is to raise approximately $900,000 for that to happen, and $691,644 has been raised — about 77 percent of the total.
In addition, Bluffton NOW has a line of credit to cover multi-year pledges to the project, the report said.
Among the 2022 accomplishments cited in the report were five successful Community Re-Investment Program projects, the second year of the downtown concert series and the Parlor City Market, attracting new businesses and residential spaces to downtown, and a new mural in the 200 block of West Market Street. In addition, the sixth annual Brrr Fest and the Chili Walk both were successful.
daves@news-banner.com
