Retirement community will energize downtown
Downtown McMinnville has been making steady progress in its bid to return to favorable health. The Main Street business community, once virtually bedridden by financial struggles and store closings, is slowly beginning to walk on its own.
Now that businesses are returning, and the Main Street revitalization project is just around the corner in 2004, who would have thought a retirement community would provide downtown with its most uplifting project in decades?
Central Church of Christ is behind the project and the church plans to devote at least $2 million to construct a three-story retirement village which will feature between 33 and 42 apartments. When complete, the complex will be a tremendous downtown asset and a perk for Christians throughout Warren County.
The intentions are good and the benefits for downtown are even better. For starters, when was the last time an organization announced plans to inject $2 million into our downtown? You would have to go back years and years to find a building project of that magnitude.
The recent trend has been for businesses and organizations to invest money leveling downtown buildings – not constructing them. But with the Farmers Market pavilion, the Chamber of Commerce addition, and now Central’s announced retirement community, downtown structures are finally being erected instead of destroyed.
It’s also promising to note that downtown is where Central Church of Christ members wanted the retirement center to be located. In a congregational survey, members indicated they wanted to be close to the church, and close to all the hustle and bustle that’s beginning to return downtown.
When examining our downtown, it really does have much to offer — a drug store, post office, grocery store, dry cleaner, and several banks, just to name a few. A new retirement complex that offers a Christian atmosphere where seniors can enjoy fellowship and a comfortable lifestyle only adds another gem to the growing treasure our downtown is accumulating.
Central Church of Christ officials should be commended for accepting this monumental challenge. It’s a project that, when complete, will be a great benefit to downtown and our entire community.