Beth Ann Simpson is the director of Jackson Downtown Development Corporation and brought the organization’s annual report to the Jackson City Council during their monthly meeting on March 5.
After showing appreciation to the Council for their support, she gave a synopsis of how business is picking up in the center of town near City Hall.
The area is defined geographically as the area bordered on the north by Dedrick Street and on the east by Royal Street down to the intersection with South Highland, where Royal branches off Highland in a form of a Y formation where Hope Café is. Highland serves as the southern border from the tip with Royal then expands to the west at the railroad tracks that cross Highland just north of that intersection. The western border is Riverside Drive and Johnson Street back to Dedrick.
Downtown has seen 23 new businesses come to the area in 2023 that brought 156 new jobs.
A total of 27 buildings received some level of rehabilitation, and six new housing projects began last year.
With all this work, nearly $12 million were invested into Downtown Jackson in the last year.
There’s also been a decrease in ground floor vacancies in the buildings as more and more tenants are moving in to the buildings, bringing more activity back to Downtown.
The City established an arts district in Downtown last year.
Simpson said that’s a good thing because an estimate of 373,000 people came to Downtown for entertainment, averaging more than 30,000 per month.
“We do plan to work with Visit Jackson TN to better capture attendance going forward at our bigger venues and events,” Simpson told the Council.
Actual business is picking up in the area too.
Twenty businesses are part of the Downtown roundtable discussion group that meet monthly to discuss the resources and needs of the area and what could help it.
The Local continues to help local businesses in their infancy gain traction with low rent for two years before moving into a brick-and-mortar place of their own. The program has been in place for a few rounds of two-year leases, and seven businesses have launched and continue to grow elsewhere in the city after beginning at the incubator space at the corner of Shannon and Lafayette.
Simpson said the City’s plans that have been discussed at different townhall meetings Downtown continue to give a good amount of positive potential for the area as a new partnership with Jackson Arts Council and Our Jackson Home also provides potential for arts in the city to grow as well.
“We appreciate the support of the Council for these initiatives, and we’re glad to align ourselves with the vision of the City’s leaders and other stakeholders in the area,” Simpson said.
Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news
