Downtown, riverfront & more on the move
Story by Paul South
Contributed photos
Economically speaking, this Coosa River town is hotter than free Taylor Swift tickets in a junior high lunchroom.
Kay Moore remembers not terribly long ago, when Gadsden, especially downtown, seemed to have practically given up the ghost. Back then, she worked at a local bank. The city’s two major employers, Goodyear and Republic Steel, closed. Retail mainstays like Ike Saks, Hagedorn’s and Rutenberg’s tried but did not survive.
But the script has flipped in Gadsden. From downtown to the Coosa riverfront and Noccalula Falls, the city is flourishing. And while others may bill their cities as “comeback towns,” few Alabama municipalities have experienced a resurgence like Gadsden.
For the past 18 years, Kay Moore has served as the director of Downtown Gadsden, Inc., the local arm of the Alabama Main Street program, charged with promoting Alabama cities and towns.
DGI sponsors events, promotes downtown via social media, events and in collaboration with local merchants.
“We all work together to make things happen,” she said. “That’s the most positive part of this whole thing. We’ve got a lot of great people here, and we’re continuing to work together. We’ve come a long way in 18 years.”
She added, “My job is to promote what (merchants) do, both individually and as a group.”
And it’s attracting notice well beyond its borders. In August, Downtown Gadsden, Inc., received three Awards of Excellence from Main Street Alabama:
Excellence in Marketing for its banner project.
Excellence in Building Design in the non-historic division, for the renovation of the Mary G. Hardin Cultural Arts Center, and
Excellence in Public Art for the Pitman Hands mural.
Reimagining downtown
What’s now DGI began in 1972 as the Downtown Action Council. Shopping malls were springing up across the country, hurting downtown merchants.
“Back in that day I was just working a block down the street at what was then Central Bank, she recalled. “They got together a group of businessmen to save the downtown, because they could see what was going to happen.”
Despite best efforts, the larger downtown stores closed. Belk Hudson moved to the mall as did Budd’s Men’s Store, Ike Saks, Rutenbergs and Hagedorns.
“Belk was the center of downtown. And when that huge store left, it left a big hole downtown.”
The building sat vacant for years until the Cultural Arts Center moved in.
“In the mid-1970s when the mall took off, and downtown became pretty much a ghost town, I was thinking, ‘If I didn’t work downtown, I wouldn’t come downtown. There was nothing. The occupancy rate was about 40 percent. Places were boarded up. It was not a fun thing.”
All that has changed. Gadsden’s downtown is on a roll. Moore, a lifelong resident of the city, says the city center is reminiscent of an earlier, prosperous time. Families are coming to Gadsden. While fathers fish for trout at Noccalula Falls or for crappie and bass on the Coosa, moms and their kids shop and eat, or visit Imagination Place or the Gadsden Museum of Art.
“People who grew up here say, it’s like it was a long time ago. And it kind of is … Retail stores are very, very vibrant, and we’ve got good restaurants downtown.”
Those once-empty storefronts are mostly filled with an occupancy rate of about 90 percent, she added. “The ones not occupied are just not ready to be occupied. It’s a cycle.”
A turning point came in 1998 when the city built a downtown streetscape and businesses began to return. First Friday – a mix of food, music and classic cars celebrated on the first Friday of every month – also sparked a return to the city center.
Sylvia Smith, owner of the Stone Market on Court Street, started First Friday in January 2006.
“I give First Friday a lot of credit in bringing businesses and people back to downtown,” Moore said. “(Smith) started it to bring people into her store. Then, the other people on Broad Street started noticing.”
In 2007, First Friday grew, and it took off in 2008.
People aren’t just working, dining or shopping downtown. There are more than 40 loft apartments downtown, with 27 planned in the old Sears building on Forrest Avenue that looks down on Broad Street. Completion of those lofts is expected early next year. An additional 15 apartments are in their early stages. That more than doubles the number of lofts.
“What I’d like to see in the next five years is a huge population of younger people who want to live downtown and bring their friends. They are going to shop, and they’ re going to eat. It’s just a positive impact,” she said. “Young people are wanting to come back. You just see a more vibrant personality downtown.”
Other changes are four-way stops downtown to improve traffic flow and make the downtown more pedestrian friendly. Other plans to improve traffic flow are being considered.
One of DGI’s major fundraisers – the 13th annual Sunset Sips – was Oct. 21. There are 300 tickets available at $50 each. Memorial Bridge is blocked off, allowing revelers to enjoy music, wine, beer and hors d’oeuvres as the sun sets on the water. They are encouraged to continue the celebration by dining downtown. The money raised is reinvested downtown.
“We’re just trying to do things that will bring a positive look to downtown,” Moore said.
Riverfront, Recreation and Rebranding
Meanwhile, Coosa Harbor, the multiuse residential/commercial and entertainment development on the banks of the Coosa River, continues to move forward. The city is completing its Federal Energy Regulatory Commission permit and grant applications, which when approved will allow construction of piers behind Coosa Harbor.
It’s hoped that the pier project will be completed by the late first quarter of 2027. Private sources have already invested some $20 million into the project that’s also being boosted by tax incentives from the city. Coosa Harbor is expected to break ground in 2026 and take two to three years to complete.
The city has also partnered with Gadsden State Community College to construct 10 tennis courts behind the Gadsden Sports Complex and a cross-country trail that in part, runs along the banks of the Coosa.
The city is also moving forward with its GROW Gadsden plan, and has invested in a $100 million RISE initiative, Reimagine, Invest, Strategic Planning and Economic Development. The initiative is expected to have a $190 million economic impact and create 2,400 jobs.
A gem of the plan is a new Gadsden Athletic Complex, featuring an aquatic center, 16 volleyball courts and 10 pickleball courts, eight basketball courts, four baseball/ softball diamonds and a walking track. The GAC is expected to be online in 2028-29.
A cobblestone hotel is located near the harbor site, but the city is looking for more hotels to meet the expected demand once the GAC comes online. “We don’t have enough hotels to meet the expected demand,” said John Moore, Gadsden’s director of Commercial Development and Community Affairs in Mayor Craig Ford’s office. “We’re three hotels short right now.”
For John Moore, all of this activity from downtown to the river comes down to one word –energy.
“It’s excitement,” he said. “People actually see the vision that the mayor has, that we are progressing, and that we’re a city on the move.”
That progress has even been noticed in America’s corridors of financial power. Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s provide credit ratings for companies, cities and countries.
“Gadsden is no longer classified as an older city (by Moody’s and S&P),” Moore said. “We’re now classified a new and up and coming city. I thought that was absolutely beautiful.”
Changing an image
Had someone told Kay Moore back in the 1970s how Gadsden and its downtown would be in 2025, they would’ve been met with skepticism and a laugh.
“I would have probably thought you were a little bit crazy. It was so dead. You had boarded up places. Now we have so many people downtown. It’s a great problem to have.”
With this beehive of activity from the river to downtown and seemingly everywhere in between, the bottom line is that the city is poised to improve its citizens’ quality of life, John Moore said, not just in Gadsden, but in Etowah County and in northeast Alabama.
“We are making Gadsden a destination place where people come and spend time with the entertainment we’ll be able to offer, whether its walkability of our downtown or sitting on the Coosa River at Coosa Harbor, or when you’re actually playing night golf over at Twin Bridges once we finish that up,” he said. “There are so many things the city has to offer that aren’t available anywhere else in a 120-mile radius.”
In 2023, the city revamped its seal and logo. Gone are the Emma Sansom Monument, farmland, and the Republic Steel plant, replaced by the Coosa River, Noccalula Falls and downtown. It’s all part of an ongoing effort to create a fresh brand for Gadsden.
“Not only are we changing the culture, but we’re changing the image of Gadsden,” John Moore said. “What I say to our staff is, ‘How do we make the City of Gadsden a cool brand?’ and ‘If the city were a clothing line, would it be a high-end clothing line?’ I don’t know if we’re there yet, but we’re getting there.”
