Grass Valley Downtown Association

In 1981 some members of the Grass Valley Retail Merchants Association canvassed the area in preparation to ask the City Council to form a (BID) Business Assessment District. The attempt to form the assessment district was successful and it was named the Grass Valley Downtown Association and AB 1693 was established by the City of Grass Valley, with annual assessments of $20,000. The monies collected were then put back into downtown promotions and improvements. This was the start of revitalizing our downtown. In 1984, the Grass Valley Downtown Association decided to pursue the “Main Street” approach to downtown revitalization and took part in the Main Street teleconference. In 1985, the GVDA adopted the Main Street program as the program they would pattern their downtown plan after. This comprehensive approach uses the four points of downtown revitalization: Organization, Promotion, Economic Restructuring, and Design. With a Business Improvement Assessment District (BID) already in place and the City of Grass Valley ready to commit additional dollars, the association started to gather letters of recommendation, develop a budget and establish a nonprofit status. In 1986 we were recognized as an official National Preservation Main Street City. Over the last 26 years, the Grass Valley Downtown Association, has experienced the value in using the four point approach. When the program was first adopted we were at a 1st floor vacancy rate of over 15% to less than 1.5% today and second floor vacancies going from about 35% to less than 5%. There have been over 30 public improvement projects with a value of $6,445,500 and 188 private design projects with a value of just over $17 million.