Commercial Development Committee
Southwest Partnership
November 24, 2020
Minutes
Attendees
- Laura Dykes, Chair
- Jane Buccheri (Hollins)
- Troy Wilson (Pigtown)
- Nikky Davis (BDC)
- Bill Freeman
- Catherine Neely (USA)
- David McGill (USA)
- Ashley Watson
- Jane Mayrer (St. Luke’s – Education committee & Preservation)
- Scott Kashnow (Franklin Square)
- Bif Browning (USA)
- Curtis Eaddy, SWP
- Tony Scott, SWP
- Keith Robinson, SWP
- Donnell Nance (Hollins)
Introductions – what should be the Commercial Committee’s priority for this year?
- Jane, Troy, Scott: Priority should be Baltimore Street
- Nikky – business attraction
- Bill Freeman – business attraction
- David – promoting businesses
- Ashley – business attraction
- Jane Mayrer – there is an opportunity for reuse of the St. Luke’s church property for community use
Approval of October Minutes – approved with edit to add Jane Buccheri in attendance
Discussion of Committee Goals
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- Board Approved Indicators/Metrics
- Inventory for entire SWP
- Commercial Real estate broker list?
- Traffic count? Pedestrian count – Madison (cellphone receptors?) – location data? Madison will share.
- Board Approved Indicators/Metrics
- Pipeline: What businesses that are ready to scale into a physical space
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- How exactly do we do that?
- connected to “accelerator” programs
- Baltimore Accelerator Space
- Impact Hub
- talk to lenders: BCL
- Stephanie Geller (has list of businesses looking for “homes”)
- The Grid at UMB
- Made in Baltimore
- Pop-up program?
- Baltimore Flea pipeline
- Branding Southwest for certain types of businesses
- Live Baltimore may be a good partner in this
- Making a “popup” kind of area
- warehouse for social distancing
- something packageable to people (financing)
- what’s the sweet point for SW market?
- could be the last step, but inventory has to lead somewhere
- Entrepreneur Conference Idea for consideration
- small business center
- this is great for a marketing plan – Nikky
- home-based business interested in scaling?
- cross-pollination of businesses at the conference? mentoring program?
- Baltimore business lending – Bonnie Crockett
- Entrepreneurship event → popup space
- Interested parties: Madison
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UrbanMain
- Start with the City, but there are resources that SWP can participate in
West Baltimore Street Charrette – Saturday, December 12th from 10-12pm
- Have a unified brand along the corridor
- goal: four different charrettes → graphic designer (99 cent designs) draft them → Summer 2020 final brand
Old Business
- Report from West Baltimore Street Project Manager
- Facade subcommittee update
- Hollins Market Updates
- Pigtown Mainstreet Updates
New Business
- December Meeting will be skipped.