Tryon garnered a North Carolina Department of Commerce’s Small Town Main Street Award for a third year running. This year’s winning project is the St. Luke’s Plaza, which received the state’s singular ‘Award of Merit for Economic Restructuring.’

 

Recipients of the award are the Town of Tryon, Robert C. Lane, Brady Trakas Architects, Mike Karaman and Crys Armbrust.

 

Commerce Secretary John E. Skvarla, III and Assistant Secretary Dr. Patricia Mitchell highlighted the award winners and their downtown revitalization efforts at the 35^th annual N.C. Main Street Conference in Morganton, N.C. on Thursday, March 19.

 

“Congratulations are in order for North Carolina’s Main Street programs and their award winning projects,” said Secretary Skvarla. “Their hard work breathes new life into downtowns all across our state for our citizens.”

 

Tryon’s St. Luke’s Plaza project created an impressive $692,820 of direct total investment, involving many individuals and organizations.  Moreover, it recognizes the powerful influence that these efforts have on community building and place making, not to mention community pride.

 

“The key to Tryon’s success has always been its residents—people with a can-do attitude, who, when a need is perceived, band together to accomplish the goal. That generalization is no more evident than in the St. Luke’s Plaza and its developer Bob Lane,” Tryon’s Economic Development Director Crys Armbrust commented.

 

The private-public investment project successfully leveraged $66,000 in grants, including a $50,000 N.C. Commerce Main Street Solutions Fund (MSSF) grant, a $12,000 Polk County Community Foundation (PCCF) Board Initiative grant for the plaza’s stone-faced water feature, a $2,000 Carolina Foothills Chamber of Commerce grant for the visitor information kiosk, and $1,000 each from both the Polk County Appearance Commission and the Tryon Garden Club for landscaping.

 

Local citizens, too, stepped up to the plate donating $10,980 for plaza chairs (with Morris, The Tryon Horse logo), tables and benches.

 

“An innovative approach strategy towards concept, design and implementation; the cooperative spirit of many private individuals and public and non-profit organizations; and a remarkable leverage of private-public investment combined here to accomplish a stunning community asset,” Armbrust concluded.

 

To learn more about the Main Street Awards, visit https://vimeo.com/channels/ncmainstreet2015 to view a short video about each winner.  For more information about the N.C. Department of Commerce’s Main Street program, visit www.nccommerce.com.

 

-Submitted by Crys Armbrust

 

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