Five Questions: Nicole Corwin

Nicole Corwin began her new job Aug. 9 as the Commercial Street coordinator for Urban Districts Alliance. UDA created the position to develop its presence in the Commercial Street district in a similar manner to its work in the Center City district. Corwin knows about downtowns – she comes from San Clemente, Calif., where she was executive director of the San Clemente Downtown Business Association.

Q: What are the responsibilities of your new job?

A: Part of the plan entails having full-time management up on Commercial Street so there is a presence up there. I’ll be … getting to know the community and working with the property owners. It’s a three-pronged approach: there’s the operational end, a strategic responsibility and the event side – because we always need the revenue to fund the operational and strategic sides.

Q: What are the goals for Commercial Street?

A: Part of what we’ll be doing is to sit down and map out the goals and objectives for the next year and for the next five years. In terms of revitalization and economic development, which will be a big part of the responsibilities of both the board and myself, we’ll be looking at the possibility of long-term funding for Commercial Club. We’ll be looking at the feasibility of implementing a (community improvement district) on Commercial.

Q: What’s the commercial appeal of Commercial Street?

A: When I look at Commercial Street, I see opportunity. There’s a great sense of development down there, because you have the city’s support and a lot of wonderful, vested property owners now. Also, the loft portion – the people who are actually living there are greater than the number of businesses. You have this built-in market – you put a restaurant in and you already have patrons because the street is established with renters. That’s a very exciting component of the area.

Q: How does Springfield’s downtown compare to San Clemente?

A: San Clemente is a city of about 60,000, with about 350 businesses in the downtown – both professional and retail. San Clemente has three things – the downtown, the ocean and (Camp Pendleton) Marine base. But there are surprisingly a lot of similarities. … I think one of the reasons you see so many similarities is that downtowns are full of independent business owners, so the mix and the diversity is always the crucial thing.

Q: Part of the strategy for Commercial Street is entertainment. Who’s your favorite entertainer?

A: This might come as a surprise, but I actually like hip-hop. I have two children, so I don’t listen to music as much as the average person – I have to listen to a lot of Disney Channel – but my favorite is the Black Eyed Peas.