The 21st Century -

Sanford's Heart is Still Beating

In the early 1980s community leaders, just as they had during the Depression, realized that public intervention was necessary or downtown would be lost forever. After being selected into the NC Main Street Program, a new federal program designed to help downtowns pull themselves up by their bootstraps, in 1984, the city established an impartial board to oversee the future growth of its downtown, and created the Downtown Sanford Redevelopment Corporation, a 501c(3) non-profit. Initially, Downtown Sanford Redevelopment Corporation, had a promotional and historic preservation approach to accomplishing its mission of revitalization through sponsoring special events, printing a local newsletter, and advocating local businesses through paid advertisements, and placing the Downtown District on the National Historic Register.

In 1997, however, the Downtown Sanford Redevelopment Corporation realized that downtown had lost its pulse and that it needed to find its heart beat again. The beat would come in the form of an urban park built at the original site of the rail crossings made over 133 years ago. Designed to be constructed in two phases, Depot Park is to be the heart of downtown representing the cultural, communal, and economic center of downtown. Phase I of the park, with a performance bandstand, is complete, and Phase II began in July 2003. Phase I of the park has already aesthetically improved the area, but it has had even a more dramatic economic impact on downtown. Several new restaurants and businesses opening have occurred as a result, particularly west of the tracks on Moore Street and Steele Street. Many of these new business owners credit the development of the park as an example of the commitment from the City and the community to the revitalization of the downtown. The City of Sanford hopes that once all phases are completed, the park will act as a downtown anchor, a pedestrian link between the proposed Little Buffalo Creek Buffer/Greenway project, and a draw to potential businesses. The thought is that by redeveloping the core, history will repeat itself, and downtown Sanford will once again be a thriving business district.