The once-vibrant Woodlawn central business district is coming back to life and may finally be on the verge of public rediscovery, according to David Fleming, director of the community development organization Main Street Birmingham.
“A lot more people are interested in this community and seeing what’s happening here, and a lot more people are discovering it and seeing there’s great historic character,” Fleming told Weld Local.
“There’s a lot of there there,” Fleming said. “There’s a place there. And you don’t have to recreate it. We just have to inhabit it. So I think that’s what people are really beginning to see.”
Sun shining on the Woodlawn business district, which is showing new life. Photo by Jesse Chambers
Weld Local spoke to Fleming at a block party held near the Main Street offices on 55th place in Woodlawn on Saturday, Oct. 8.
(On Monday, Oct. 10, it was announced that Fleming was becoming the new president of Operation New Birmingham. Elizabeth Barbaree-Tasker will serve as Main Street interim director.)
The party followed a TEDxBirmingham event held at nearby Woodrow Hall.
The party was held in one of the vacant spaces in the new 55th Place Arts incubator for arts-based businesses created by Fleming’s organization in a series of storefronts.
The spaces in the incubator are attracting interest, according to Fleming. “We have one space on the end that someone is going to commit for their studio space, but also some other artist friends are going to have art on consignment there, so it’s going to be a studio and boutique with other local art in it,” he said. “And then I have interest from other musicians and photographers that I think is very strong… So it will be a little creative community, for sure.”
Fleming believes that the incubator can help further boost the level of activity on 55th place, which already features a recording studio, a modeling agency, a thrift store and some other businesses.
“I think the street will really begin to pick up,” he said.
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