City of Knox to revitalize downtown with new facade program

Empty storefronts, tarnished buildings and a stagnant city life. Downtown Knox is a small town with a big problem.

“We have been so flat downtown that a lot of other storefronts were afraid to put any money into it because a lot of them are vacant. We’ve got some vacant storefronts down there, and if feels like there isn’t any hope of anyone coming in and staying,” Knox Mayor Dennis Estok said.

Fortunately, that hope has now turned, thanks to a new collaboration between Ball State University and the city.

Starting in January 2020, city officials will work together with the university toward a revitalization plan that will include designs for a proposed downtown facade program.

“We were going to do a facade, trying to do a facade program to help stimulate that down there and we were going to have to put that thing together. Well, Ball State came along, and they are actually going to do the design and sketching of it all, so it’s going to be an easier sell,” Estok said.

The program will also focus on improving the overall curb appeal of downtown Knox, something Ball State Professor Michael Burayidi, who is the director and coordinator of the project, says he will be focusing on starting next month.

“On the 16th of January, I will be bringing the students up to the city of Knox, and we are going to do a field assessment,” Burayidi said.

During the day, they will be identifying the assets of the community as well as what some of the liabilities may be in advancing downtown.

And later that evening, they will hold a public forum for the entire community to attend to ask residents what they think should be done.

“We may have the expert knowledge, but we also need the experiential knowledge of the store owners, business owners and the community residents in order to actually produce a plan that is action-oriented,” Burayidi said.

There is no number on exactly how much this project will cost. That will be up to the city on how they decide to budget the project, whether it be through an OCRA grant, city grant.

Officials are aiming to complete a finalized project plan by next April.