Pottsville moves forward with revitalization plan
Centre Street, downtown Pottsville. (Photo courtesy: Pottsville Continued Progress Project)
(Harrisburg) — Pottsville is entering the second phase of a plan to revitalize its downtown.
Unlike some other midstate cities, it already has a huge asset for bringing in tourism dollars in the Yuengling Brewery.
Over the past year, the Pottsville Continued Progress Project has worked to fund a revitalization study and create a strategic plan.
Savas Logothetides, executive director of the Pottsville Area Development Corporation and chairman of the project, says now the work can begin to achieve the goals of the strategic plan. Those include filling vacant store fronts, and making the area more attractive to both residents and tourists.
Logothetides says the city already attracts about 35,000 tourists each year because of the Yuengling Brewery, but most just stay for an afternoon.
“People come downtown every day from that tour and they’re looking for things to do. So the foot traffic is there, we just have to capitalize on it now.”
Logothetides says the trick will be to get tourists to stay for an entire weekend.
In the coming year, a hotel feasibility study should be completed along with an effort to attract a new hotel.
The group also hopes to hire a part time marketing director to promote the city and recruit new businesses.
A collection of interviews, photos, and music videos, featuring local musicians who have stopped by the WITF performance studio to share a little discussion and sound. Produced by WITF’s Joe Ulrich.
