Using data to understand, shape Downtown Spartanburg growth

Published: July 31, 2019, 6:11 p.m.

b"If you're a longtime City Podcast listener, you've heard us talk for years about the growing momentum in Downtown Spartanburg. Those of us who spend our working days and leisure-filled evenings walking Main Street have been noticing the increased company for a long time now, and even a cursory glance at the storefronts in our central business district would show you that this isn't the Downtown Spartanburg many of us remember from 20, 10, or even 5 years ago.\\xa0 The thing is, all that personal experience is just that, personal. Anecdotes from those of us who frequent downtown don't amount to much when trying to land the next developer to tackle a high profile project or when trying to convince current downtown business owners that some of their assumptions are outdated when it comes to who frequents down and when they are here. Luckily, now we've got a couple of useful tools to put some hard numbers to those perceptions. Today on the podcast, we're talking with Jansen Tidmore, Executive Vice President of Corporate and Urban Development with the Spartanburg Area Chamber of Commerce, about the data and tools that are changing the way a lot of people think about Downtown Spartanburg."