Downtown gets massive boost

StateGazette.com
August 14, 2008

$722,918 grant approved

The revitalization of Dyersburg's Downtown area recently received a boost of nearly three-quarter-million dollars in spite of reduced spending by the state.

State Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris confirmed Wednesday morning a grant for $722,918 will be awarded for enhancement to Dyer County's Courthouse Square, known locally as Veterans Square.

A delegation representing the Dyer County and Dyersburg city governments and Main Street Dyersburg will travel to Nashville on Aug. 20 to officially receive the grant from Gov. Phil Bredesen and Tennessee Department of Transportation representatives.

City and county governments applied to TDOT in 2007 for two grants, each to be coordinated by Main Street Dyersburg.

Together, the grant requests totaled more than $2 million and addressed overlapping sections of the Courthouse Square.

"This is a big deal," said Norris, who met in March with officials in the Dyersburg community who have been working on the project. "I wrote the Department of Transportation in April ... and got a note yesterday that the county's application had been approved. I'm excited about it."

The grant will allow officials to move forward with the project with plans to reapply for the second grant in the next grant cycle.