About Our Organization
Gastonia Downtown Development Corporation is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation designed to restore the Downtown as a viable marketplace and the center of community activity. Gastonia Downtown Development Corporation receives no state or federal operating funding. Gastonia Downtown Development Corporation is funded in part by the City of Gastonia and local property and business owners through a Municipal Service District, a self assessed tax district.
 

 
 
 
(click map for printable pdf version)
     
 
Interim Executive Director, Missy Turney
As the Executive Director of Gastonia Downtown Development Corporation, I look forward to our continued revitalization efforts with City, County and State Governments; the Gastonia Downtown Development Corporation Board of Directors; Downtown merchants and interested parties county wide to regain Downtown as the symbol of community caring and establish the "sense of place" Gastonia desires. As a group we must work to build support for the integration of preservation projects into the revitalization of the whole community. One way to build that support is to assure that historic preservation is inclusive. The intent of our work is to include, adapt, and change attitudes to better equip Downtown Gastonia for the future. In the words of William Murtagh, we are "engaging the past in a conversation with the present over a mutual concern for the future."
   
 

Downtown revitalization does not take place within the limited confines of Downtown Gastonia. It takes place in the universe of the local community, Gaston county, South-central North Carolina and most importantly in our community planning and economic development strategies. Courthouse restoration, individual building rehabs, new businesses, the completed restoration of Unity Place and Central School and others are a few projects all integral to the puzzle we are now assembling--the revitalization of Downtown Gastonia. The efforts of no single person or organization can build this puzzle. We as an organization, community, city, county and region must work together to complete this puzzle.

The revitalization must capitalize on reshaping the experience of the urban environment, not only in physical appearance but more intently the sociological fabric that builds and holds communities together. Gastonia and its surrounding environment are ever changing, not existing in a vacuum. Social, political, economic and physical forces affect us. Therefore, if opportunities present themselves, we must step back and evaluate the situation pertinent to our plan. Collaboration and cooperation are essential. There is probably no other organization structure that is quite as collaborative on such a large scale as a successful Main Street Program.

I congratulate all on the hard work and many hours put into our revitalization efforts and events. I am confident that the demonstrated determination and enthusiasm will endure, and as a community we will accomplish the task at hand.