Directions Downtown, LLC consults in the field of downtown revitalization. This includes a wide range of areas, and incorporates the successful and time-tested method of downtown revitalization created by the National Trust for Historic Preservations National Main Street Center. Founder and president of Directions Downtown, Nancy Adams, is certified by the National Center in downtown management.

Directions Downtown has 15 years experience in the field of downtown revitalization including with: redevelopment, Special (Business) Improvement Districts creation and management, public improvement projects, Context Sensitive Design, commercial façade design consulting and advice, promotions and marketing, market analyses, public/private partnerships, local and state government, and business assistance, recruitment, and retention.

Ms. Adams entered this field via her volunteer activism in her home community of Maplewood, NJ. While at home raising her children, Ms. Adams spent over a year lobbying the township officials to give much needed attention to the 2-mile long business district of Springfield Avenue. Her activism eventually led to the involvement of other volunteers, both business owners and residents, who together formed the Springfield Avenue Partnership. This 501-c-3 organization began improvements to the area and went on to become a Special Improvement District with full-time staff managing the district. Ms. Adams work included setting up the organization, its by-laws and structure, which led to improvements that include reinstituting on-street parking on the street and a public improvement project of over $4 million dollars. The Avenue has steadily progressed and has not been as vibrant and successful in 40 years.

This activism led Ms. Adams into her career in downtown revitalization. She worked in South Orange, guiding the public improvement project there so as to aesthetically improve the area, while keeping the needs of the business community and the residents at the forefront of all planning and implementation. She initiated several projects as the Director of Main Street South Orange that included new promotional events and involvement in the design and formation of the towns wayfinding system.

Ms. Adams then moved on to downtown West Orange to take over a very weak and non-productive organization in danger of folding. Using her experience and talents, she revitalized the organization itself and enabled it to take on a new life and importance in the township. She initiated a discount card program to encourage West Orange residents and people who work in town to patronize their downtown businesses. She created several new promotional events that have proven to be successful annual events that regularly draw hundreds of people to an area previously ignored. Her initiative also gained West Orange $2.4 million in Federal funding for a new streetscape project. The township was in danger of losing a grant for design of public improvement project when Ms. Adams took over the project, organized the consensus building, was liaison with the designated engineering firm, and lobbied the towns congressional representatives leading to the federal funding award.

Ms. Adams also worked with the city of Newarks Special Improvement District in its downtown to reorganize and revitalize its downtown management organization. She worked to reduce the expensive scope of work on its public improvements projects by half, making the projects more likely to be completed and more pragmatically designed. Her work there also included revamping many budget items to save the SID property owners substantial dollars and enabling them to move forward with their plans for a district-wide project, the bonding of which would not have been possible without major budgetary changes.

Ms Adams is a licensed Real Estate professional and has numerous contacts with retailers and developers. She sits on the Board of Downtown New Jersey and was appointed by the commissioner of the State Department of Community Affairs to serve on the Board of Advisors to Main Street New Jersey. She is active in her home town as a volunteer working with the township on their current redevelopment plans.

Ms. Adams founded Directions Downtown to bring her expertise, along with the ability to partner with many professionals she has worked with, to more downtown districts. She firmly believes that our downtowns are our social and economic centers of our towns and need to be strong in order to maintain the quality of life desired by NJ residents.

Nancy J. Adams, President
Directions Downtown, LLC
67 Harvard Avenue
Maplewood, NJ 07040
973-762-1873

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