Terry Lorince feels Downtown’s momentum is growing.
New spots like Sweet Pete’s are drawing crowds. Hemming Park is being utilized after more than a $1 million investment. The upward-ticking economy should mean more businesses, more people coming to the core.
Downtown’s momentum is part of the reason she thinks it’s a good time to leave.
The longtime Downtown Vision Inc. executive director announced her resignation Friday, with plans to stay another three months or until her successor is named. She’s been in the post for 14 years and said she’s seen both the best and worst of times for Downtown.
Bustling growth in the early 2000s. A Super Bowl in 2005. A decline thereafter punctuated by the Great Recession.
Back in an upswing, she says, “it’s all really coming together.”
Lorince called her departure a personal decision and said she’s ready to pursue other opportunities in town. She’s leaving DVI at a high point, during a time when a new strategic plan is being formed.
Yet, when news broke Friday, Lorince said many people asked her why she’d leave when momentum was swinging back.
“It’s really a great time for a new executive director to come in and take the ball and run for this chapter of Downtown,” she said.
Lorince has been a key part of the organization’s story so far.
She began her leadership of the not-for-profit in 2001, a year after the agency was created at the request of Downtown commercial property owners.
Back then, she said, many didn’t know what the organization did. Or, they told her what it should be: A sole focus on Downtown physical improvements, filling in dead space or simply marketing were all suggestions.
Most people might associate DVI with the orange-clad ambassadors who walk throughout Downtown. Or Art Walk, which brings thousands to the urban core the first Wednesday of each month.
It’s more than that, though, she said.
Early in her tenure, she said much of the focus was simply showing Downtown. Interest was there from developers and marketing was a big focus.
After the Super Bowl, interest died down and the organization responded by shifting focus from marketing to putting on events.
One constant has been Lorince’s drive to keep the area “clean and safe,” a demand from business owners that also helps with changing the public’s perception of the area.
Oliver Barakat, a DVI board member and chair of the Downtown Investment Authority, said in a statement he “can’t think of anyone who has been able to do more with less” for the urban core. Much of her work was done behind the scenes to keep businesses Downtown, he went on to say.
Michael Munz, a former DVI board member, said he appreciated the effort Lorince spent determining Downtown business owners’ needs. But he didn’t always agree with Lorince’s execution, specifically when the focus veered away from marketing Downtown.
Instead, he said, some of the duties DVI performed — watering flowers, cleaning up the streets — should have been handled by the city. Lorince said property owners and surveyed patrons wanted a safe and clean environment, which the organization strived to provide.
Munz said Lorince’s departure will provide an opportunity to re-evaluate the organization and its role.
Lorince said some of the organization’s biggest successes and largest failures in recent years has to do with art. When the economy started tanking, DVI brought artists into vacant retail space as part of its “Off the Grid” initiative. It’s been a way to bring people Downtown and fill in empty storefronts, she said.
Yet, Lorince said one of the bigger failures during her time was that she couldn’t sell property owners on the potential of creating an arts district similar to CoRK.
“It could have been so perfect,” she said.
Debbie Buckland, DVI’s board chair, said Lorince has been a “driving force behind Downtown’s revitalization.”
But now, Lorince is walking away with 14 years of memories. One of her favorites happens during Art Walk when she overhears patrons look around in awe.
“’I never knew Downtown was like this,’” is a common refrain, Lorince said.
While a success, it’s only one night and she admits that isn’t enough. An overwhelming success would be the same crowds three nights a week. It’s progress, though.
Lorince will pursue other interests, but says she’ll miss the job some despite “being a big believer in change is good.”
And Lorince will still have her secret spots, favorite places she’s come to know during her tenure. She wouldn’t divulge their locale — she doesn’t want to spoil her getaways.
From them, she’ll still have a good view of Downtown’s momentum.
@writerchapman
(904) 356-2466