KipCulver: Caring for the Downtown District

By: Linda Gross

Cities outgrew them long ago and towns have over looked them in a rush to attract box stores and strip malls. Yet memories of a time when the main streets of our childhood literally held the lifeblood in the community is one reason why nearly 30 years ago the National Trust for Historic Preservation developed a program to put the emphasis back on Main Street. The Program was designed to retain that elusive quality lost in Suburbia; community character, and to bring back an economic framework which would reinstate Main Street as a valuable player in a community’s future.

Globe’s own Main Street program began in 1986 when it’s eight-block commercial district was designated a Historic District. Today, it is one of just 15 Main Street communities in the State and 12,000 in the country. The success of these programs can be seen in the numbers; Since 1980 there have been 199,519 buildings rehabilitated, 82,909 businesses added to aging downtown districts, and over 40 Billion dollars invested in physical improvements through private and public sources.

Caring for Main Street

In the last four years, Globe’s Main Street Program has begun to rack up so many small successes that even to the uninitiated the Big Picture is taking shape and making itself felt by locals and visitors. The force behind many of these improvements is Main Street Director, Kip Culver who took over the position in 2005, and today heads up both Main Street and the Center for the Arts.

Culver was born and raised in the area, attending both Globe and Miami schools. His grandfather was an engineer for the Southern Pacific and although college and work took him out of the area, he “was never at odds with his home town. “I never was one of those kids who just wanted to “get out.” In fact he kept trying to return. After getting a degree in Broadcast journalism management, he landed a job in LA where he worked for Entertainment Tonight and a film company producing short films. However, finding it hard to eek out a living in LA, he returned to Phoenix where he eventually became a property manager and personal assistant for a family who had properties here and in Washington DC. He actually traveled back and forth with them. It was his travels around the country in which he would run across a small community and say “Oh that’s like Globe… Or you’d see the potential in what could be for a community like Globe.” He was always thinking back to his hometown, but the need for work kept him from living here. Culver later oversaw spec home developments in Pine, and for a time he was also helping out an aging parent in Globe and shuttling between Pine, Globe and Phoenix in managing properties and papa.

It was that kind of super-charged multi-tasking that prepared him for what lay ahead.

First he was asked to be Co-Director of the Arts Center which evolved into a full time job when co-director, Frank Balaam, left to start a gallery. Even at full-time, the $6/hr salary was hardly live-able and if it hadn’t been for attorney,Tommy Thompson who hired Kip to do some  work for his law firm, Culver may have had to leave town to find a real job.

Luckily for the health of our downtown district and the Arts Center itself, Culver found a way to make it all work and remained with the Center. It was a short time time later that the position opened up with Main Street. Sort of. Connie Teague, the current Director was leaving. At the time the program had struggled along for years and while they managed to sponsor events like the Light Parade and Halloween, and steer some local merchants through the matching-grant process, there was little support in terms of resources, money or interest in the program by the time Teague left. In fact, there was talk of closing Main Street in June of 2005.

It was the steady influence of Culver and his ability to enlist friends and volunteers to help paint over graffiti, renovate the Old Freight Office, sponsor fund raisers and go after grants that the program began to perk up. Which is why, by 2007 during Globe’s Centennial Year, that local historian, Donna Anderson and others went into action when they heard that Miami was going to offer Kip $30,000 to come run a program. At the time, Kip was making approximately a third of that amount in running the Main Street program for Globe. Donna says she went to the City and discussed the need to find $35,000 in the budget for Main Street so Kip could continue doing what he has always done best; work on behalf of the downtown district of Globe. She emphasized “This Year.” And the City agreed and found monies for the program.

Under Culvers’ direction the hopes of many for a vibrant historical downtown district have been revived. He has earned his stripes many times over as a volunteer and in the process garnered the support of a dedicated cadre of local volunteers who have almost single-handedly given a new face to Downtown. When asked to jump on board another undertaking… they do. Again and again. They have rented lifts and put on work gloves and volunteered their time to re-paint store fronts, strip windows and floors, repair cornices, cover over graffiti and muck out old buildings all in the interest of making downtown a better place. And it shows.

Just look at the buildings which Culver has taken under his care. After 25 years, the Arts Center has a fresh coat of paint on the cornices which ring the building (except for the south side where rain and lack of equipment ran them off), and fresh paint job on the interior complete with a trompe le oile sky in the entryway, graphite ceilings and copper detailing to enhance the artwork of local artists which line the walls of the Center. There is new electrical service to the building thanks to a grant from the Heritage fund and many fund raising events put on by Kip and his volunteer army to raise the $14,000 matching grant money. This new electrical upgrade will allow the Center to add central heating and cooling to the third floor which houses the theater, and creates opportunities to put the upper floors into better use. Even an elevator is now a realistic goal for the Center. An important element when you consider how many senior citizens we have and how many community events take place on the third floor of the Courthouse.

St. John’s Episcopal Church has a new roof thanks to a grant Kip secured through the Heritage fund. A church which is well over 100 years old with it’s original stained glass windows.  A church, whose coffers from a small, but loyal congregation was no match for the money it would take to repair a roof and save an icon of the community.

The Freight Office, and Depot, once aging buildings on their way to obsolescence have become anchors to Broad Street and a vibrant hub of activity for both tourist events and community gatherings. (See the TRAIN story for the full story on how these buildings were saved from obscurity on a wing and a prayer and lots of volunteer hours!)

The Globe Cafe, once on the verge of demolition was not only saved but restored to a multi-use building for the 21st century while retaining his historical charm. It is back on the tax roles, and is now an anchor for other development on the block, instead of being a liability.

The work done in the Old Jail, which now houses the Main Street office includes researching and showcasing famous local stories and memorabilia which continue to fascinate both locals and travelers when they stop. In fact, the jail has been converted from a hulking old building to one rich with history, ghosts and local lore which make it a favorite stop for visitors of all ages!

IN THE BEGINNING

Kip Culver remembers taking a walk-about in June of 2005, when it was decided that yes, the Main Street program would remain. At the time there were some new faces in the group, including the Rooneys,who are busy restoring the 12-bedroom boarding house on Sycamore. “We did a walking tour of downtown to assess the strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities. And from that, it was a very home grown grassroots effort.  Since resources were still virtually non-existent the question we asked ourselves is what CAN be done.” he said.

Remember this was before the Pioneer Fire (July 2005) and so the group identified The Globe Cafe as an “opportunity,”  The Depot as “worth asking about” since up to that time it had been in a logger-jam circumstances involving an unmotivated user and long distance owner.

There was the center block of Main Street on the East side in which building fronts had been sheared off in the 50’s when ADOT widened the road. These buildings , unfortunately would forever more be considered by SHIPO  to be too compromised for any matching grant monies for restoration. Even though each contain punched tin ceilings and interior wood work reminiscent of the early 1900’s when they were all constructed.

“Other buildings were crossed off the CAN DO list because of unmotivated property owners. These were areas where nothing could be done – so the group continued to ask themselves where CAN we put our energy and resources,” Culver said. “The Globe Cafe was one area we felt with the right elements, could be saved.”

It was at that time hanging on a prayer, with a crack running through the entire back wall and threatening total destruction, Culver went to his friend and former employer, Tommy Thompson, and with the City considering demolition the out of town owner dropped the price dramatically and Thompson stepped in to rescue it from becoming another parking lot where-once-a-historic-building-stood, and repaired the back wall. Next, an investor was found who was interested in completely renovating it for a multi-use purpose. James Dowly and Jim Ohl recently completed this project and the building is now home to traveling medical personnel working in the area, and a future cafe.

As Kip admits, it was a combination of the right timing, a bit of serendipity, and of course a motivated seller and buyer. But it helped that Culver was stirring the pot and making the connections, assisting the progress.

Was the Globe Cafe a master plan for that block. No. But within a year the block had two other motivated new owners working on their own improvement project. Tracy Quick, purchased the old neighborhood bar, The Huddle. She stripped off the old smoke stained paneling, put in big flat screen tvs, added a patio out back, and new signage out front, and the place is now a hopping place to catch year round Sports sports, and share a beer with your friends. Just a few blocks down, Sarah Berstein opened her signature “women’s spoils store,”  Simply Sarah’s, in the old Cubitto building and brought light and elegance into the building almost over night. This summer the store will be  featured in an Arizona Highways special on the area.

The challenge of Culver and his fellow Main Street directors is to foster the kind of synergy involving motivated property owners, political leadership, funding sources and volunteer efforts which are required to make both immediate and long-lasting improvements to the Main Streets’ of their community. When even one of these elements is missing, you can see the writing on the wall. Just look at the positive statement a newly renovated Globe Cafe now makes as an anchor for the 300 block of Downtown Globe. And then compare it to the other building at the opposite end of the same block which has boarded up windows, broken glass and cracked walls. It stands empty, even though there is a “for rent” sign out front. What kind of tenant do you attract to these kinds of buildings? The statement both buildings make about the “community,” “contribution” and “local investment” speaks volumes.

As Culver says of his approach in cultivating projects which enhance downtown, “It’s not so much about  ‘let’s attract more tourists.’ It is I want to live here! What do I need to do to make it a place that you and I want to live.”

Main Street Directors are like a bit like gardeners. Without them, weeds tend to grow unchecked in our own back yard. With them; flowers. Just look around and see what’s happening in Downtown Globe and you’ll find a place you want to live.

In the Nov 4th edition of the local  SilverBelt, there was an article on Main Street Director Kip Culver and what he has meant to the downtown district. It included nearly 20 testimonials from community leaders, residents and visitors who acknowledge Culver’s contribution to the on-going development/revitalization of our Historic Downtown District. This article is a re-print of one done last year in GlobeMiamiTimes and is posted here in order to include it in an archive with all posts on the revitalization of our Downtown District.

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