The Durango Business Improvement District enters 2019 with a new focus on an emerging part of our local economy, the North Main District. BID has several projects in the works for property and business owners in the corridor.

Many people do not know that BID works for north Main businesses, as well as for downtown businesses. North Main businesses produce about 20 percent of BID’s annual funding, which comes from a small mill levy (2.0 mills) on about 400 commercial properties in downtown and on north Main.

Now that the city of Durango’s character district plan is complete for north Main, BID will begin doing its part to implement the vision.

First is the name for the area. After receiving a ton of input, BID decided to stick with what locals currently call the area. From this point forward, BID is using the “North Main District.” We have a logo, URL and logos that will be available soon.

This new look for the corridor will be adopted by businesses, and hopefully, local media too. BID plans to roll it out to the community in mid-April during the second annual North Main Clean Day and the second annual The Main Event. We have something special, and are very excited, to reveal that weekend which will begin to make the North Main District a place, rather than just something you drive through to get somewhere else.

BID’s vision for the North Main District is built from the city’s character district plan for the corridor. That plan envisions redevelopment occurring all along north Main. It is hoped that much of this redevelopment will be mixed-use projects, which combine housing and retail. One such property already exists in the North Main District, the property at 2855 N. Main Ave. just north of Starbucks. This three-story building has retail and office on the ground floor, then residential units on second and third floors.

In addition to mixed-use buildings, the city’s character district plan calls for walkable nodes along north Main Avenue. Each node would be centered around a key set of developments within a two- or three-block area. The Main Event last year in April showed that this concept can work. That event activated an area from 26th Street to 30th Street, and the 500 people who attended walked around the area to the various activities that businesses provided. A temporary crossing of Main was created with the help of the city and CDOT, which really allowed for people to get around the area.

Imagine at 30th and Main Avenue, the new restaurant Bird’s where KFC was located, a new Zia Tacqueria, and something to replace Durango Brewing Company. Imagine motels converted to workforce housing. Imagine a redeveloped fairgrounds, with commercial and residential included.

To keep up with information about downtown and the North Main District throughout the year, sign up for BID’s weekly E-News. The E-news is a short, accurate and timely information piece published every Wednesday morning. To sign up, go to DowntownDurango.org and click on the “I Want To” tab.

Tim Walsworth is the executive director of the Durango Business Improvement District. Contact him at timw@downtowndurango.org.