Rome has been chosen as one of nine Georgia cities to illustrate the impact of a growing and vital downtown area.
The Georgia Municipal Association and Georgia Cities Foundation will explore Dallas, Rockmart, Calhoun, Cartersville, Canton, Dahlonega, Toccoa, Duluth and Rome in a three-day bus tour and will be in Rome on April 15-16.
The goal of the foundation is to create partnerships that facilitate, and help provide loans for, the redevelopment and reuse of downtown areas throughout Georgia.
“Rome has received more loans from that program than any other city in the state,” said Ann Arnold, Downtown Development Authority.
Nine businesses in downtown Rome have received loans totaling around $1,844,900, only around 40 percent of the capital invested, Arnold said.
She said the projects have also created around 285 jobs.
In Calhoun, the group will tour the Harris Arts Center, the Gem Theatre and the Babcock building in downtown Calhoun on the morning of April 16.
The intent is to show state agency heads, business leaders and philanthropists the ways in which successful cities are capitalizing on their downtown areas.
This is the second time Rome has been chosen to demonstrate the beneficial effects of revitalizing a city’s downtown area — the tour also came through in 2001.
