Downtown Brunswick Revitalization
Authors: Courtnee Cobb, Tyler Parks, Harrison Gleaton, Jamaal Rhodes, & Jasmyne Honeywood
Faculty Supervisor: Heather Farley, Ph.D.
Abstract:
For our service-learning project, we are focusing on the revitalization of the Downtown Brunswick Area. Revamping this area would be a great opportunity for the community to see some added growth and development for Brunswick and the Glynn county area as a whole. This project is important because it would be a huge revenue booster for the community. Not only that, but it brings in job opportunities for locals and could be a large factor in reducing crime in Brunswick. One of our main focus is the building of a convention center. A convention center would be a great contributing factor to the revitalization of this area because it is a place that can hold various events and functions. Not only that, but this could also prove to businesses that Brunswick is a viable location to set up shop. The idea of this project is to show how a largely unused and failing area can be turned into a healthy and thriving environment. From our research, we have discovered that there were already talks of revitalizing the Downtown Brunswick area with plans of a convention center and improving some of the parks that are already in place. One of the biggest setbacks to these efforts is funding. Constructing a convention center would be a huge improvement to the downtown area because it would allow the city to benefit from a good portion of the business it misses out on. For example, the College of Coastal Georgia conducts the spring graduation on Jekyll Island. Being able to host graduations in Downtown Brunswick would be mutually beneficial to the community and to the college in this case as better way to cut costs for families driving all the way to Jekyll for graduation. Also, this allows the area to form a relationship with the college that would allow for long term revenue coming from the college, which would also be a driving force for third parties to bring their businesses to the area. In many cases, people who aren’t familiar with the area have never even heard of Brunswick. By developing a plan to revitalize downtown, we aim to change the reputation of this area. We based our idea on the downtown areas of cities like Savannah, GA, Wilmington, NC, or Jacksonville, FL. We believe that Brunswick has the same potential for growth, opportunity and revenue drivers as these other cities. Brunswick is growing constantly, and with the influx of youth and tourism it would only make sense to give people a place to really enjoy the city of Brunswick, instead of having to drive to St Simons Island or Jekyll Island. We would like for outsiders to come to Brunswick FOR Brunswick.
