Palmetto’s Main Street has ‘untapped potential.’ Will it be heartbeat of the city again?
Imagine a thriving shopping and business district in downtown Palmetto with a mix of modern and historically significant buildings, wide sidewalks and plentiful parking.
Attractive park-like features would efficiently collect and purify storm water runoff that would otherwise flow into and pollute the Manatee River.
Under this scenario, the corridor along 10th Avenue West — Palmetto’s original Main Street — would regain its position as the heartbeat of the city, a pedestrian-friendly destination for shopping, dining and entertaining as well as a popular gathering place for special events.
But it is more than a scenario or a pipe dream. Palmetto officials have been working for the past decade to update, adapt and transform what Samuel Sparks Lamb started when he moved to the area in 1868.
The state of Florida recognized those efforts this week by announcing that Palmetto is now a participating community in the Florida Main Street program, along with other new participants Opa-locka and Goldsboro.
“I look forward to their future successes and achievements,” Florida Secretary of State Laurel M. Lee said in a press release.
As a participating Main Street community, Palmetto becomes eligible for technical assistance from the Florida Main Street program to support local revitalization and historic preservation efforts.
The Palmetto Main Street District — stretching from Ninth Avenue West to 11th Avenue West and from Riverside Drive to 10th Street West — overlaps the Palmetto Historic District, which was named to the National Register of Historical Places in 1986. The Main Street area includes several buildings more than 100 years old.
The Palmetto Community Redevelopment Agency, under the direction of Jeff Burton, is overseeing the Main Street program. One of the next steps will be to establish a citizen oversight board to help transform the street, while protecting its history and safeguarding the environment.
The view from the street
Melissa Burns, owner of three businesses on 10th Avenue West — American Traditions, American Traditions Mens and Lace Buckle — is a strong supporter of the Main Street program goals.
“It all comes down to the atmosphere, the history and the look of the buildings,” Burns said. “We have a great street and I can’t wait. I would love to be involved.”
Burns recently spearheaded starting a Saturday morning farmers market in an empty field on the east side of 10th Avenue West and citizens have turned out in encouraging numbers, she said.
John Wright, and his wife Cory, are also strong advocates for Palmetto’s Old Main Street. In 2015, they purchased two early 20th-century buildings in the 400 block of 10th Avenue West.
Those buildings are now home to Cory’s art gallery, D’s Breakfast and Burgers, and Seagrape Seafood, along with several apartments.
“Palmetto city officials and businesses are working together to bring more people downtown, and are very passionate about this community,” John Wright said. “There are amazing people making a concerted effort to take this historic district from what it has been to what it can be.”
Clearing the decks
To assist in revitalizing the Old Main Street area, the CRA has been purchasing Brownfield sites — land with underlying contamination issues — and paying to have the property remediated, or cleaned up. Recently, the city received a $100,000 grant from the Florida Brownfields program.
One of the properties the CRA acquired had been occupied by Slicks Garage, DSG Plastics and Higgins Apartments. All of those buildings have since been razed.
Among the surprises was a pipe found just below ground level that led to a 1,200-gallon kerosene tank. Burton believes the tank, which was empty, had been used to store fuel to heat the apartments that were once on the site.
Also found was a vat that was used many years ago to dip cattle to rid them of ticks before they were herded onto steamers on Palmetto’s wharf and shipped elsewhere.
The dip tank and the kerosene tank were both removed along with any contamination.
The CRA now owns, and has cleared, most of a city block along 10th Avenue West. It’s a prime site for development of modern, multi-story buildings surrounded by parking and 14-foot wide sidewalks to complement what is already in the area, Burton said.
Development along 10th Avenue West would also encourage development along the side streets with the same attention being given to parking, and environmental protection, Burton said.
Like the more than 2,000 Main Street programs nationwide, Palmetto’s program focuses on revitalization of the community’s historic commercial center. The program is designed to enhance the economic vitality, quality of life and civic pride of the community while countering sprawl and encouraging greater citizen participation.
Over the next few years, a key to success is to staying focused and avoiding mission drift, Burton said.
Mayor Shirley Groover Bryant applauded the Main Street designation, and said that small businesses are important to the well being of a community.
“There is a lot of untapped potential on that corridor,” she said. “It’s only going to get better. I think the businesses that are already in that area are in the catbird seat.”
A little history of Palmetto
When the railroad came to Palmetto in 1902, the center of activity shifted from the Manatee River waterfront, which farmers had use to ship their crops, closer to the railroad depot on 10th Street.
The railroad allowed contractors to import a steady supply of bricks, and to build structures less prone to fire. Many new brick buildings were built, which helped attract new businesses to the waterfront.
Palmetto founder Samuel Sparks Lamb had great foresight, donating land for a cemetery, three churches, a library, the Woman’s Club and a park. It was through his vision that Old Main Street is so wide.
Lamb intended to have a fine avenue stretching all the way between the two entrances to Palmetto, the wharf on the river and the train depot.
His vision is reflected in the exceptionally wide, pedestrian-friendly Old Main Street where early Palmetto history lives and hope burns bright for a better future.
