ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Suburbanization tends to blur the lines between municipalities. It takes creating a sense of place, retaining specialized shops or becoming a unique destination for a community to really stand out in a competitive regional economy. With nearly 500 different businesses within Hanahan, employing over 12,000 people, Hanahan has a diverse and strong local economy. Despite this, the Town Center currently remains underutilized and often overlooked. According to the Town Center Master Plan (TCMP) Community Survey, residents do not hold the Town Center in high regard as between 50 and 70% of respondents either disagreed or strongly disagreed with statements regarding whether the Town Center is: welcoming to people from out-of-town, welcoming to locals , a place that makes me proud, and gives City of Hanahan a strong sense of community.
Hanahan has several unique local businesses such as Blackwell’s, Ye Olde Music Shop, La Tapatia, Tideline Aquatics, Doscher’s, and Theory Collective, located within the Town Center that provide a range of services to residents and visitors. These charactercultivating businesses are the foundation of the Town Center; however, most do not provide the desired shopping and dining services that residents want locally. According to the TCMP Survey, approximately 90% of respondents rate current shopping and dining options in the Town Center as either poor or very poor. There are several successful shopping-dining destinations in the region such as Shem Creek, Avalon in West Ashley, Downtown Charleston, Park Circle in North Charleston and Summerville’s historic downtown that demonstrate that while reinvesting in an older downtown area is challenging, it can be fruitful. It is through targeted economic policies, lobbying businesses, economic incentive programs, regional collaboration efforts, and reinvestment in existing infrastructure, that the Town Center can have a resurgence of economic prosperity. A prosperous Town Center benefits residents, investors, proprietors and visitors.
Comprehensive Plan
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