ED Now

IEDC is accepting submissions through May 30 for the 2023 Excellence and Leadership in Economic Development Awards. The Tullahoma (Tenn.) Area Economic Development Corporation’s Williamson Aviation Historic Hangar Redevelopment won a Gold Award in 2022 in the Real Estate Redevelopment and Reuse category. In 2021 business owner Mike Williamson learned of a neglected 20,400-square-foot World War II hangar at Tullahoma Regional Airport. Constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, it had been used to house B-24 and B-25 bombers and later general aviation aircraft. Already using airport space for his aircraft maintenance and multifaceted manufacturing businesses, Williamson acquired the hangar to house both companies with enough ...

IEDC is now accepting submissions for the 2022 Excellence and Leadership in Economic Development Awards. Take advantage of early-bird pricing and submit your entry by April 8. Please send any questions to [email protected]. The Excellence and Leadership in Economic Development Awards recognize the world’s best economic development programs, partnerships, and marketing materials, and the year’s most influential economic development leaders. These prestigious awards honor organizations and individuals for their efforts in creating positive change in urban, suburban, and rural communities. Winners are recognized at IEDC's Annual Conference. Receiving an IEDC award showcases your achievements and impact in the field. Below ...

IEDC's Accredited Economic Development Organization (AEDO) program recognizes organizational excellence in the areas of internal and external operations, structures, and procedures. This series profiles newly accredited AEDOs, putting some of economic development's highest-performing organizations in the spotlight. This edition: Macon-Bibb County (Ga.) Industrial Authority.

Land banks have proven important to community revitalization – but they require funding that can be hard to come by in the disinvested communities that need them most. Shelterforce recently shared land bank funding strategies that have worked in different places around the United States. Allocate a portion of tax revenues “Ohio is the only state that has meaningfully solved the land bank funding challenge,” according to the article. Ohio allows its counties to distribute up to 5 percent of delinquent property tax collections to its land banks, a policy later adopted in other places. A county in Pennsylvania implemented this method without a state law after spending 3 years convincing 25 taxing jurisdictions within it ...

Empty lots are a common problem for cities, yet creative solutions abound. ED Now has previously covered some placemaking strategies that can help. And programs such as Baltimore’s Power in Dirt and Pittsburgh’s Adopt-A-Lot let residents lease them for community use, often as gardens. Those initiatives require groups of people working together. In contrast, Mow-to-Own programs offer a more individualistic alternative that give residents a pathway to ownership while reducing demand on city resources (Next City). In St. Louis, residents next to a vacant lot can pay a $125 application fee and mow it for two years. After that, it’s theirs. Over that time, the city saves an estimated $4,800 in maintenance costs and collects ...

Vacant spaces can create problems that include unsafe conditions, reduced property values, and lost tax revenue. In “Creative Placemaking On Vacant Properties: Lessons Learned from Four Cities,” the Center of Community Progress shares case studies and helpful takeaways on revitalizing these spaces with the help of local artists. Creative placemaking, as defined in the report, is the strategic shaping of the physical and social character of an area through arts and cultural activities. The report offers advice on building successful partnerships; generating and maintaining momentum with early successes; engaging residents; dealing with regulations; and securing funding, based on the experiences of four American cities. One ...

Vacancy and blight is a stubborn challenge for communities of all sizes and locations. A recent report from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy (PDF) offers strategies that have achieved success in dealing with derelict and underperforming property. First, the report highlights the need for public and nonprofit action to revive markets with high vacancy. It warns against local and state practices that put vacant properties in “legal limbo,” in which it is unclear who is responsible for the property after foreclosure or abandonment. In response, public entities can use spot blight eminent domain (which takes ownership of individual properties listed as abandoned), vacant property receivership, and land banking to redevelop ...

Even the busiest downtowns usually have a few vacant buildings or lots. Just one blighted building or trash-strewn lot can put a damper on an otherwise healthy block. A number of communities have pioneered creative solutions to permanently or temporarily reuse vacant places. Ideally, vacant downtown properties can be filled by a local business. But in the meantime, why not use empty front windows as advertising space (Small Biz Survival)? It’s far more aesthetically pleasing than covering them with plywood, and it supports other community businesses at the same time. This will require cooperative landlords, which the prospect of advertising revenue can help in convincing. In downtown Buena Vista, Colo., several vacant lots were ...