There’s been a lot of talk in recent years about bringing back the long-moribund downtown of Kingman, Arizona, part of which sits on old Route 66.
But Swiss investor Werner Fleischmann and a bunch of artists, hipsters and entrepreneurs may actually get it done, reported the Kingman Daily Miner. The downtown renaissance is happening slowly, but it seems to be happening.
Fleischmann owns these properties in Kingman:
- Hotel Brunswick, which is actually on Route 66. He bought it in 2012, and still is upgrading it to meet building codes so it can fully reopen. A Route 66 Ice Cream and Sweets he owns is next door.
- Beale Celebrations event center, a former JC Penney Co. store, which he’s adding a new roof and awnings
- 432 E. Beale St., home to a real-estate office and salon
- Rental properties at 612, 616 and 620 E. Beale St.
Fleischmann thinks downtown Kingman needs to be more attractive and walkable to road-weary travelers, like Williams, Arizona, is.
His idea is to narrow the traffic, slow it down and create a pedestrian-friendly corridor where people can walk from one shop to another.
“Then of course you have to add additional life,” he said. “You don’t start with tourists. You have to start with Kingman people. Here in Europe, when you’re 60 or 70, you sell the house with all the work and move downtown to a flat or apartment. You have more people, you have more activity.” […]
“You are close to what you should have,” he said. “We have to find a way that Kingman gets back to what it should be. I see some future. Williams had a problem, but they found a nice way with traffic and now they have activity. Go to Williams. You can walk from one side to the other. They have life. They have restaurants and stores. You have to concentrate the traffic.”
Kingman projects that have been developed by other entrepreneurs are:
- ArtHub, a studio and gallery where artists live on the second floor
- Beale Street Brews Coffeeshop & Roasting Co.
- Diana’s Cellar Door wine bar
- Black Bridge Brewery
- Palacio Mexican Restaurant and Cantina
- Mattina’s Ristorante Italiano
- The Garlic Clove Restaurant and Catering
- Sirens’ Café and Catering
- Redneck’s Southern Pit BBQ
- The former Kingman Club, which will reopen by summer as the House of Hops. The owners gained a lot of attention a few weeks ago by renovating the Kingman Club’s neon sign.
A majority of young adults want to live in areas where they can walk from place to place. And you also have a good number of retirees who want similar lifestyles. But you also must have the right array of businesses to draw those types of residents.
I saw the same sort of renaissance happen in downtown Tulsa in less than a decade. It basically began with one entrepreneur who built a destination Irish bar and a few investors who renovated old buildings into lofts. Other entrepreneurs and residential-living investors followed. Now, downtown Tulsa is as burgeoning as it’s been since the 1970s, at least.
Kingman is primed to deliver that.
(Image of the Kingman Club sign in downtown Kingman, Arizona, by Michael Moore via Flickr)