​Downtown Orangeburg Revitalization Association

Based on the focus of Orangeburg’s Community Vision Plan, leaders of the Downtown Orangeburg Revitalization Association understood it was important to show potential investors that locating downtown could reap positive results.

To give businesses a taste of what it would be like to locate downtown, DORA identified a vacant building in disrepair and created a rental-ready space. With the support of several partners and a DORA investment of $10,000, this renovation happened in just eight weeks. DORA also secured a long-term zero dollar lease for the 1,100-square-foot property with the goal of establishing a new business in the building.

During the 2015 holiday season, eight local businesses participated in DORA’s first pop-up shop located in this building. The pop-up shop gave these businesses exposure to hundreds of shoppers who browsed and purchased goods not previously available downtown.

DORA selected the pop-up shop vendors based on business sectors that had been targeted in the city’s Community Vision Plan.

Next DORA plans to work with the private sector to create a cluster of these rental-ready properties and to launch a recruitment plan to fill them with businesses that meet the needs identified in the vision plan.

Contact Jeanna Reynolds at  jreynolds@majorgraphicsllc.com or 803.664.4089.