Cook County EDC | Downtown Development Authority: Let’s Improve Adel’s Appearance

Downtown Development Authority: Let’s Improve Adel’s Appearance

By: Charles Shiver

The City of Adel’s Downtown Development Authority is now at full strength. The DDA has as its mission improving the appearance of downtown Adel and the highway corridor all the way from Airport Road, to I-75 Exit 39, and then on east to Bear Creek on East Fourth Street (Highway 37).

The DDA members are Chairman Jerry Connell, representing the Adel-Cook County Chamber of Commerce; Michelle Meadows, Michelle’s Formal Wear; Terry Moore, Retirement Consultants Network; Sharon Harnage, Quick Consulting & Business Services; Susan Griffin, Custom Ag Formulators; Dr. Michael McCartney, Adel Dental Associates; and Lisa Collins, Cook County Economic Development Commission.

So many times when new business or industry prospects come to Cook County, the first location they ask to see is the downtown area of Adel, Connell said. He added that how well downtown properties appear “says a lot about the City itself.”

Several properties have been upgraded in recent months: The exterior of the Sowega Building where the Chamber of Commerce is housed; Quick Consulting; Michelle’s; South Georgia Graphics has relocated to the old Greene Furniture Building; Eric Postell’s building on Fourth Street behind the Chamber, where South Georgia Strong is located; La Dee Dah Art; The Blarney Cup; two buildings owned by Robert and Mary Kugler from Miami, Fla., on the west side of Burwell Avenue where the thrift store is located; and Country Financial - Cory Bromlow. Some other buildings are also being fixed up in the downtown area.

In addition to an overall plan for downtown improvements, with the cooperation of local businesses, the DDA would like to enhance the streetscape of more than a mile from Exit 39 into town, Connell said.

He explained that he is looking at the Nashville, Ga., model, where $385,000 in public funds and $615,000 in private investment have been used to enhance the downtown area in a way pleasing to residents, businesses, and visitors to the community. “In the way that Nashville has been creative, Adel can be creative,” he said. “We can improve some of our building storefronts in downtown Adel.”

Connell discussed creating economic opportunity zones which result in tax credits and low-interest, long-term loans being used to enhance deserving downtown properties. He added that Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) funds may be used for infrastructure improvements by the City on the Fourth Street corridor starting at I-75. He anticipates that this major undertaking could be done over the next three years. A designer or engineer could be hired to create a plan for the Fourth Street corridor, he said, adding that the plan could involve looking at such issues as street lighting and sidewalks from Airport Road to Bear Creek.

“We have company coming, and we need to sweep off our front porch,” Connell said.

He noted some figures developed by the DOT on the huge number of vehicles that pass through areas of Adel in just one day: Fourth Street/Highway 41 intersection - 9,000; and I-75, 50,000 during peak times (with a daily average of 35,000 to 40,000; possibly 52,000 on holidays).

The DDA would like to offer facade loans to help businesses to fix their exteriors.

The DDA has collected money from the sale of the old Adel Auto Parts building on South Hutchinson Avenue and previously from rental of the space over the years. The sale helped fund the revolving loan fund that will be used to assist other businesses in the downtown area.

Another part of the DDA’s role is to improve signage in the downtown area. All signs in the downtown area are permitted through the Building and Zoning Office. Applications are available from and must be approved by the DDA, in care of the Chamber of Commerce on South Hutchinson Avenue. "The DDA is undertaking a program to improve the signage in downtown Adel to make it more uniform," Connell said.