Aiken Board of Realtors SELL Aiken! They are the folks on the front line of making new initiatives in Aiken happen. They hear our dreams and visions every day and help us turn them into realities. Now, they are stepping up to take idea creation to the next level and to help create the conditions so that ideas turn into actions! Join them on Saturday, October 19, at Highfields Event Center during the Aiken City Limits Music Festival activities for an Ideas Collaborative.
The Ideas Collaborative idea (see how that works?) came about through some Realtor brainstorming sessions. They want to provide Aikenites an opportunity to get their ideas heard. But they also want to explore some of the best ones to create action items we can all collaborate on to turn the ideas into actual projects! Economic development begins with ideas that get bought into by investors and the community.
One of our largest economic development opportunities these days is the new Opportunity Zone area that encompasses our parkways grids, the Northside, Six Points, and between University Parkway and Vaucluse Road. There are so many new initiatives that could be championed in those areas. You can read all about Aiken’s Opportunity Zone on the City website here.
Here are some of the ideas that are floating around now.
- Revamping our Light Industrial Zone to be a new Entrepreneurial Zone for small batch manufacturing, warehouse and internet fulfillment, work/retail studios, incubator initiatives, etc.
- Planning our parkways in the Light Industrial Zone to fit with the new brand.
- Assessing the assets in the Six Points area and creating a new entrepreneurial zone.
- Turning the East Richland area into an Arts District and planning those parkways to fit in with that brand.
- Creating an actual “Olive Garden” in one of our parkways by planting olive trees that can survive in our climate and be used for soup kitchens and such!!!! “Olive Garden” in Aiken is what everyone wants, right? Lets do this and quit talking about it!
- Targeting business categories for different areas and reaching out to businesses that would benefit from locating in the new areas. #HelloOliveGarden #WeLoveOliveGarden
- Pinpointing all property for sale in the Opportunity Zone and brainstorming development ideas to promote. #OliveGardenThisPropertyIsPerfect
- Creating new neighborhoods to fulfill community goals on large plats.
- Proactively changing zoning classifications for certain properties to enable the visions developed.
- Redeveloping our gateway into Downtown from the Richland West area around Vaucluse Road.
- So many more ideas..
Everyone has ideas. We talk about them in on-line forums, we query what kinds of businesses we’d like to see in Aiken, we have neighborhood groups working to #connect for common goals, and we are participating in public forums all the time. Join hosts Chris Emmanuel, Jane Page Thompson, Aiken Bella Magazine, Upliff Community, Aiken Blend, and the Aiken Board of Realtors as we kick off a community forum to collaborate and to take both new and old ideas to action in Aiken! There will be mimosas, door prizes, food, a vendor village to start your Christmas shopping, games, and MUSIC! See you on Saturday. #EngageExchangeExcel
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