Aurora, Neosho live the DREAM

“We had undergone several programs to try to revitalize and improve the downtown area over the last five or six years,” said Noelle Harmon, Aurora’s mayor pro tem, pointing to a Community Development Block Grant, streetscape revitalization and a revolving loan program for downtown projects. “We were still seeing businesses closing up and buildings becoming vacant, and we needed to do something.”

So when the state of Missouri announced the Downtown Revitalization Assistance for Missouri, or DREAM, initiative in 2006, the city gathered all the information it could find in hopes of participating.

While it wasn’t one of the 10 cities chosen in 2006, Aurora reworked its application and was accepted in 2007.

Harmon, now leading the city’s DREAM efforts, said she’s hopeful that the program will lead to great things for the city. The city’s investment of roughly $48,000 for information gathering and planning has turned into $250,000 of assistance from the three state agencies involved with the program – the Department of Economic Development, the Missouri Housing Development Commission and the Missouri Development Finance Board.

Sallie Hemenway, director of operations for the state DED, said Aurora, like the other 19 cities in the program, met the selection committee’s criteria.

“Generally, we are looking for Missouri communities that have developed, or will develop a viable plan and execute the same for the renovation, rehabilitation and revitalization of the downtown,” Hemenway said via e-mail. “We also want communities presenting a comprehensive approach to downtown revitalization, rather than single-project events … and communities with the ability to attract and maintain private investment.”

The 10 inaugural DREAM communities collectively have benefited to the tune of $32 million in public investment, which has created $174 million in private investment, according to a DED news release.

Harmon said the recognition can be parlayed into DREAM-specific grant programs from other organizations such as the Missouri Arts Council; Aurora officials plan to apply for a MAC grant to bring a winter festival to the downtown area this year.

“As far as specific buildings or new programs, that hasn’t yet been determined, but I would imagine in the next six to eight months, we’ll have a better idea of what we’ll need to be successful,” Harmon said.

Aurora can look 40 miles to its west for reassurance of the program’s potential.

Neosho, just south of Joplin, was one of the original 10 cities selected for the program in 2006. Several projects are under way due to private investment, including the renovations of the Newton Hotel and the Sterling building, to go with $1.1 million the city has spent on parking improvements, streetscapes and building acquisition and demolition.

Desiree Bridges, the city’s communications manager, said the fact that many private investments go further in DREAM cities is attractive to potential investors.

“Say for example, an investor invests $100,000, and the DREAM matches that. Now they’ve just doubled the possibilities of what they can do,” Bridges said. “We’ve seen major projects on the square … and had that money not been available through the state, I don’t think they would have happened.”

Harmon said Aurora already is reaping the benefits of participation in the DREAM program.

“What we’re seeing so far is a lot of interest in the downtown area,” she said, “both from people who currently own buildings or are purchasing buildings, and also from outside people who have contacted us with an interest in developing properties for businesses to thrive in the downtown area.”

2006

Cape Girardeau

Excelsior Springs

Hannibal

Hermann

Kennett

Neosho

Sedalia

St. Joseph

Washington

West Plains

2007

Aurora

Caruthersville

Chillicothe

Clinton

Kirksville

Maryville

Mexico

Poplar Bluff

Sikeston

Trenton