Share your idea for downtown business development

MIDDLETOWN —

Community leaders are using a “grassroots market research project” to field ideas for the potential use of a vacant building at 1126 Central Ave., known as the Castell building.

Downtown Middletown Inc. and a Miami University business class are partnering to sponsor “I Wish This Was,” a project where people are encouraged to write their ideas for the building’s future use on scores of empty stickers placed on the building.

“This is something we can do in real time to engage the community and find out what people would like to see, and create a dialogue with the community,” said Chamina Smith, a business technology assistant professor with Miami University Regionals.

“We want to find out what would cause you to come and stay here, and spend your dollars here,” she said.

While the project is asking people about what they want in the Castell building, the ideas shared will be evaluated to see what works for downtown, said Patrick Kay, director of Downtown Middletown Inc.

“It’s a way of identifying what the community wants in a particular area,” Kay said. “If they want something downtown and they’ll support something downtown, let’s see if we can give it to them.”

The partnership with Smith’s class and Downtown Middletown Inc. demonstrates that “everyone is working together” to help rejuvenate downtown Middletown, he said.

“The downtown (revitalization) cannot be done by one group or one person,” Kay said.

Larry Lewis, who owns the Castell building with his son, Scott, said they were happy to participate in the project, especially if it could help them land a tenant or two.

“Anything can happen,” Lewis said of the project’s potential outcome. “People have a lot of imagination and interest.”

Smith’s leadership theory class will analyze the responses after this weekend’s First Friday and Second Look Saturday events. They will determine if enough responses have been collected or if the stickers should stay up longer, Smith said.