HAMLET — The City Council on Tuesday approved a plan to bring new street trees and other small improvements to downtown Hamlet. City Manager John Terziu said the low-cost projects are intended to improve downtown’s appearance and support future business development.
“One of the things I’ve been working on, along with the assistant city manager and our economic development director is downtown revitalization efforts,” Terziu said. “From my understanding, the downtown used to have really nice street trees, but they were the wrong types of trees that were having a pretty detrimental effect onto the concrete, and more specifically the sidewalks downtown.”
The first step will be planting the “right” trees.
“We could do that at a very cheap cost, but we need to put in the right street trees in that don’t have the widespread root systems that end up destroying our infrastructure downtown,” Terziu said.
Other upgrades on his list include adding more decorative lighting, benches, and flower planters the city already owns. Sidewalk repairs will come at a later time. “One of the things that I’ve been working with our team is trying to restore the pride back in our downtown so that we can get people where they’re interested in bringing in the businesses and renovating some of these empty buildings that we have,” he said. “In order to do that, I think we need to start with small projects that have their low cost and high impact.”
Half of the city’s downtown storefronts are currently vacant, and some are in disrepair. Terziu said attracting new business owners will take visible improvements and renewed community interest.
“We want a downtown that’s thriving to where people can come down and have coffee or have dinner, or go hang out or go shop or have a drink downtown,” he said. “With Amazon Web Services coming here, I think it is the right time to start looking at these small things and do these small, low cost projects that have high impact.”
Using AI-generated mockups, Terziu presented possible visuals for downtown, noting the images were not exact but offered inspiration. He suggested white or pink crepe myrtles or plain nonflowering trees, assuring the council that Public Works and the horticulture department could manage cleanup.
“Trees cause a mess. We have a horticulture department that would be responsible for coming in and blowing off the streets and keeping those clean and our Public Works department that comes with the street sweeper to clean up,” he said.
Terziu also expressed interest in collaborating with business owners on renovations and noted that a friend is exploring the idea of restoring three adjacent buildings for a rooftop bar and restaurant.
“The city’s part on this is really just some flowers, and some trees and planters,” he said.
Another project under discussion is the restoration of Hamlet’s historic opera house.
“There’s little to no asbestos in it from the initial look. We are working to get somebody that’s actually certified in there to validate what was told to us when we walked through it,” Terziu said. “We have this great building that we can partner with a nonprofit with the grant funding and then turn this back into a destination just through the opera house. Which would ultimately lead to the renovation of the inside.”
For now, the focus will be on Main Street before expanding to Hamlet Avenue. No additional funding was requested, as the city has money available in the current budget.