In 2000, Four Corners Main Street jumped right into market analysis with the assistance of Peg Barringer from OKM Associates. The Economic Restructuring (ER) Committee led this effort, studying the demographics of Four Corners, comparing our commercial strip with adjacent business districts and considering the spending habits of urban ethnic groups.

Soon it became clear that we needed a vision of what we were working toward for the Four Corners commercial district. We hired local urban design firm, Stull & Lee, to lead us through a community planning process. Out of this came our Urban Village Concept Plan, a blueprint for how to direct reinvestment in Four Corners, filling in vacant lots, creating greater identity for the neighborhood and making the street-scape more pedestrian friendly.

Overall, our strategy is to create two dense commercial nodes at the two main intersections that already contain some retail (Erie/Washington Streets and Harvard/Bowdoin/Washington Streets) and encourage infill housing between these two nodes. We have identified over 20 potential development projects for the district, recommended uses for each and prioritized them based on criteria such as, revitalization impact, proximity to node center and time frame.

Currently, we are considering the creation of an implementation strategy and working with the city to move investment projects forward.

To review the final plan, click here