A Best in Practice Case Study in Downtown Revitalization
Lima's Spring & Main Project
On-Line: Thursday, November 13, 2025 10:30 am
A real-world case study in community revitalization. Explore how Lima’s Spring & Main Project leveraged state and local tools to spark private investment, preserve history, and strengthen the regional economy.
Join us for an inside look at Lima’s Spring & Main Project—a bold downtown redevelopment that has turned two early-20th-century buildings into a vibrant dining, entertainment, and office destination. Spearheaded by restaurateur and developer John Heaphy of Good Food Restaurants, this transformational project anchors the city’s southeast quadrant with signature venues, along with new offices for local employers. The result is a lively urban hub linking Town Square to the new amphitheater and energizing downtown Lima’s creative economy.
This session explores how public and private partners used a blend of tools such as state Community Reinvestment Areas (CRAs), the Transformational Mixed Use Development program and JobsOhio’s Vibrant Community Program to make the project possible. Hear directly from the team about coordinating acquisitions, financing, and tenant recruitment to achieve shared goals of economic vitality, job creation, and cultural renewal. Whether you’re a developer, planner, or civic leader, you’ll walk away with practical insights into how strategic collaboration and smart incentives can transform historic assets into engines of community growth.
The Spring & Main project followed on the Central District project which involved major infrastructure investment and a strong public/private collaboration of redeveloping blighted buildings within one-block of the Spring & Main project, All within a corridor of the new $5 million GLR amphitheater too.
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