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“If you build it, they will come.”

The old adage was to apply to Nicholasville’s streetscape revitalization project.

The streetscape project, which began in September 2010, affected Main Street from Oak to Chestnut streets. It was completed two years after it began, having exceeded both the budget and the timeline.

The empty storefronts, however, remain. We’d hoped these would be filled in a post-streetscape downtown revitalization.

A gem was Main & Maple, a coffee shop and café located in the old Hemphill Pharmacy building. A decent meal and a good cup of coffee made this a destination. A few nights a week, live music would beckon a crowd to the business. The location and character gave Nicholasvillians a gathering place. Though it experienced other issues (all businesses do, especially in the overall economic climate of the day), it was the streetscape improvement project that seemed to sound the death knell for Main & Maple.

Today, that storefront remains vacant.

In fact, it would seem that too much of our community’s “heart” bears either a “for rent” or a “for sale” sign.

What happened to “if you build it, they will come?”

Finish reading my column from last week’s Jessamine Journal by clicking here.

This column originally appeared in the Jessamine Journal
It should not be republished without permission.