The plan, developed with the help of Boulder, CO-based consultant Winter & Co., suggests the downtown area would benefit from a conference center, new residential and retail developments, a government component and open spaces. The plan has been presented to the city council and is now in the public comment stage.
Georgetown, the fast-growing county seat of fast-growing Williamson County, is responding to the developments along Interstate 35 that will bring big box retailers to the city. Rivery Towne Center, now under construction, is a 205,000-sf project anchored by a Wal-Mart Supercenter and a Home Depot store. Its developer is Dallas-based Weber & Co. The other, more massive center is a development called Wolf Ranch, which will bring 830,000 sf of retail and commercial development.
Georgetown was one the first Texas cities to participate in the Main Street program, which emphasizes historic preservation for revitalizing downtowns. Officials of the statewide program use Georgetown as a model of how it should work.
The downtown centers on the Williamson County courthouse. The surrounding historic buildings house specialty stores, professional offices and restaurants. To a large degree, the downtown has remained the center of Georgetown even though residential growth has spread away from the core. Activity, however, diminishes beyond the blocks facing the courthouse.
"So many of the central Texas towns have virtually lost their downtowns," says Renee Hanson, vice chairwoman of the Downtown Master Plan Steering Committee. "We saw ours drifting toward an office district rather than a retail entity. We're trying to find a niche in the market for keeping our downtown viable with retail and housing and office."
The master plan seeks to maintain the downtown as the center, with a stronger economy and more diversity in its offerings. It should be a site for specialty shops, restaurants and entertainment as well as business and government. "We can't compete against a Wal-Mart and other large chains," Hanson tells GlobeSt.com. "We can do unique things down here."
There are several properties that can be molded to the plan. The former Draeger auto dealership, for example, offers several blocks for redevelopment with a conference center and hotel.
The city is developing a master plan so that projects are cohesive and are prioritized. "We can show people, 'Look, you can come invest in our downtown because our city has invested in our downtown,'" Hanson says. City council is considering tax increment financing as one option to pay for the changes imagined in the master plan.
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