You throw 50,000 people around Harlem and Appling, it just changes things. This is where all the people who are trying to escape, so to speak, urban sprawl. This is the last frontier. Unless you’re going into McDuffie County, this is the last frontier. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. HARLEM CITY MANAGER C. BRETT COOK which occupies the former Harlem Woman’s Club building the city purchased in 2017. The civic club, formed in 1925, now meets in the Harlem public library. “They couldn’t keep the property up,” Cook said. “We said you can meet there (in the library) for free and we’ll buy your building. Take the money and use it for scholarships and such. We told them we’re not going to demo it, we’re going to find a way to keep it for public use.” SMALL STREETS, BIG IDEAS Over on New Street, a side street off North Louisville Street, officials envision an “artist’s row” studio-and-residential neighborhood on property currently occupied by the city’s public works department, which the city hopes to relocate next year. New Street also connects to a 4-acre parcel where a 40-unit townhome development with a public park has been proposed. New Street is No. 2 on the list of side streets with the most potential to become an expansion of the city’s downtown corridor. No. 1 is Hicks Street, which is occupied by an idle pecan shelling and processing plant that nobody has figured out how to redevelop. The 3.5-acre tract at the corner of Hicks and North Louisville streets is in the hands of Texasbased San Saba Pecan. The company acquired the property in 2010 from the Tracy-Luckey Co., a pecan supplier that was a Harlem family-owned enterprise for nearly a century. The property and its 90,000 square feet of buildings has been on the market for years. While the city owns or controls much of the prime real estate in downtown Harlem, it simply lacks the funds to purchase the entire property – listed at $1.9 million – although it did acquire the 750-square-foot building that was used as a product showroom as a way to control future use of the frontage space. “There is a lot of multi-use development potential there. You could almost have a little village in there, “ Cook said. “I’m shocked nobody has bought it.” Regardless, the city’s property tax base increased 40 percent during the past three years, largely from new home construction but also increasing downtown property values, Cook said, adding that additional funds are used to make improvements in the central business district. Increased population also results in Harlem receiving a bigger share of county sales taxes, which are allocated based on Census data. “Forty years ago we might have been 10% of the county. Now we’re like 2%,” Cook said.”But over the last few years, we started growing again.” Aside from the subdivisions under development in and around Harlem city limits in the northern section, Cook believes many new residents will seek housing in the city center to be close to the revitalized central business district. “Harlem can be densely populated, but it can still be Harlem – you can still recognize it,”Cook said. “For us its taking the residential development and triangulating it on downtown.” Projections estimate 50,000 people living in western Columbia County during the next 30 years. That makes Cook’s job downtown revitalization and protection efforts even more crucial. “You throw 50,000 people around Harlem and Appling, it just changes things,” Cook said. “This is where all the people who are trying to escape, so to speak, urban sprawl. This is the last frontier. Unless you’re going into McDuffie County, this is the last frontier. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.” 60 | <strong>1736</strong>magazine.com 1117_T_54_AM____.indd 60 10/25/<strong>2019</strong> 12:35:14 PM
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