McCormick Arts District

Core Arts District - Front Facades (Phase 1)

Phase 1 changes focus on rendering the businesses more accessible and welcoming to public. Since these historic buildings were once working-class housing, the businesses are often mistaken for private residences from the street. Also, the view of many entrances and important access points are currently obstructed by vegetation. In Phase 1 our intent is to improve lines of sight, direct pedestrian traffic, and install well-placed signage. Our goal was to propose Phase I suggestions that could be implemented by individual business owners at a relatively low cost.

Clear large, distracting vegetation that limits view and access to front facade, keeping heirloom trees.
Encourage well-tended, small to medium sized individual landscaping.
Install a walking path along the front façades of the buildings to promote travel from business to business without requiring public to return to the sidewalk. We suggest a reused material such as urbanite (broken concrete) that can be acquired for free from construction sites.

Standardize signage location. We have suggested three signage placements to be used consistently by each business:

	a)	A large sign with bold font placed over the roof of each porch to be visible from the road.
	b)	a smaller hanging sign extending from each fence post to draw in public walking down the sidewalk.
	c)	a name board mounted beside each main entrance door to communicate business name and type those traveling along the path.

Remove large fences which imply a private space to the general public. To maintain the home-like look that is an essential quality of these front facades, we suggest the installation of short fences (2.5 feet in height, much like that in front of Eye on the Mountain Gallery) to visually tie together the core district.
Place benches in front of each building front for companions to linger while others shop.