The Town of Tryon recently learned from the N.C. Department of Commerce, Community Development Division that its Main Street Solutions Fund (MSSF) application has been awarded $150,000. Tryon Main Street Manager and Business/Tourism Development Coordinator Crys Armbrust submitted the grant application in January.
The application proposed the Tryon Depot Plaza as the project focus site, with detailed infrastructure upgrades proposed based on the Tryon Depot Plaza master plan developed by Brady/Trakas for the Town of Tryon and the Tryon Downtown Development Association (TDDA). The upgrades include sidewalks, lighting, drainage, asphalt and landscaping. Improved connectivity is one end goal. The project is expected to impact jobs creation, an integral part of this grant award.
“The Depot Plaza project builds capacity upon recently completed renovations to the Tryon Depot,” Armbrust said. “Again, private/public investment plays a central role. With the MSSF grant project, Dr. John Hooker’s new building construction on the Depot Plaza provides the required two-to-one match.  That match was exceeded significantly here; the total grant project detailed a $525,000 new building construction as a private match and a $150,000 grant request.”
Armbrust said Tryon’s recent N.C. Rural Center Economic Innovation grant – which, among other items, funded the Depot Plaza master plan – and Tryon’s designation as a Small Town Main Street program both played a decisive role in the MSSF award.
“The MSSF award,” Armbrust said, “will allow us to re-evaluate Trade, Pacolet and Depot streets (the economic heart of our community) with new purpose: to revive its commercial core, to strengthen business opportunities, to spur economic investment and to promote a sense of place and community life in Tryon’s downtown – all of which will produce benefits for businesses, consumers and citizens.”
– article submitted
by Crys Armbrust