The CRA/City is seeking BRP funding for the Main Street Enhancements Project to continue the redevelopment efforts in the downtown that have proved so successful to date. In 2016, the City of Oakland Park was awarded a $500,000 Florida Cultural Facilities Grant to transform Main Street into a cultural facility. This was the 1st time a street was awarded such a grant. The grant was for the creation of public spaces along Main Street, incorporating sound and streetscapes to foster cultural gatherings and amenities. If successful, this grant will complete the plan to upgrade Main Street from Oakland Park Blvd. to Jaco Park. It is worth noting that in the most recent BRP application process conducted in 2016, the CRA/City was awarded a Broward Redevelopment Grant for the construction of the Jaco Grand Plaza, a public plaza with a fountain and archway, at the entrance of Jaco Pastorius Park, linking the downtown with the park.
The proposed Main Street Enhancement Project is the next phase of constructing public infrastructure to facilitate private investment and economic redevelopment in the downtown. The project consists of linking a sound system along Main Street, public Wi-Fi, a public art project creating a linkage from the anchoring plazas and the fountains, construction of the South Plaza on City owned land vacant lot bordered by the south archway entrance to downtown and the addition of bike facilities to encourage multimodal transportation.
The Oakland Park Culinary Arts District is the linchpin of the Oakland Park Community Redevelopment Agency Plan. Since 2013, Funky Buddha Brewery, Allied Kitchen and Bath, and Koncept Events have joined Big Dog Saloon and other downtown favorites, with multiple new culinary related businesses under development. Public investment in infrastructure and public spaces has been a catalyst to jumpstart private redevelopment.
The grant, if approved, would complete Oakland Park Fountain Way, a half mile area along Main Street, from the Jaco Grand Plaza to Oakland Park Boulevard (a major thoroughfare with tens of thousands of vehicles passing by every day), to attract new visitors and encourage residents and visitors to stroll along the street visiting local businesses, enjoying events the fountains, music and public art. Jaco Park and Main Street are also dog friendly for dog owners.
The CRA has a full schedule of monthly events that bring thousands of visitors and residents to the downtown. A new signature event, Dancing in the Street, attracted five thousand attendees to listen to music, stroll Main Street, frequent local businesses to eat, drink, and shop, and, of course, dance. These events have establish the branding of Oakland Park's Culinary Arts District as a “cool” place to visit and have introduced the area to many new visitors. The CRA has also successfully branded the District with the installation of archways to distinguish the south and north gateways to the District, in addition to colorful banners
Redevelopment success is most successful when accompanied by an investment in public spaces to showcase the viability of the area as a desirable location for businesses and residences.
The Project for Public Spaces (PPS), a nonprofit planning, design and educational organization dedicated to helping people create and sustain public spaces that build stronger communities states:
"Today, cities everywhere are thinking more broadly about how to gain an economic boost. Big ticket items, like sports arenas and lavish performing arts centers, which cities once viewed as the key to reviving their struggling downtowns, are taking a back seat to new, lower-cost, high-impact strategies to foster prosperity. More and more, public squares and urban parks, not expensive mega-projects, are emerging as the best way to make downtowns more livable—and not just in depressed urban cores.
A central attraction of cities throughout the world, public squares not only bring economic rewards but offer people a comfortable spot to gather for social, cultural and political activities. They are the pulsing heart of a community and foster true urban sustainability.”
The CRA/City has proven how our previous public infrastructure investment has brought measurable redevelopment success to the downtown with new businesses and jobs. The City's other successful CRA projects have been featured in the Florida Redevelopment Association “Redevelopment News.” The next phase of the downtown development will build on this success with the additional public infrastructure investment of the Main Street Enhancements.