Business View Magazine | March 2020

368 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE MARCH 2020 community and maybe work here, as well.” Franklin has recently experienced a dramatic revitalization of the downtown area. Many people come in from out of town on the weekends to enjoy the atmosphere and the locals do their weekly shopping. It’s become a destination location with charm in abundance. The historic courthouse stands in the middle of the square, surrounded on four sides by heritage buildings. For quite some time, several of those buildings sat empty and dormant, but over the last five years, Renaissance Director, Amy Ellis, has done a tremendous job of spearheading a revitalization project. Today, well over 90 percent of the buildings in the downtown area are occupied and operational. “Every one of those businesses have updated and upgraded their building,” says Powell. “It’s very impressive to visit the downtown merchants and see what they’ve done.” Tourists visiting Nashville from throughout the U.S. and beyond will make the short drive over to shop, dine, and enjoy the old world atmosphere. Along with the Renaissance initiative, the city and local tourism office work hard to promote the downtown commercial and heritage areas.” As Barnes explains, “What’s definitely unique about us is that, being such a small and close- knit community, the tourism, the chamber of commerce, the Industrial Authority, the Renaissance, planning and zoning, and our parks system are all joint efforts of Franklin City government and Simpson County government. And we’re currently enjoying one of the best cooperative efforts we’ve seen here in a long time. We’ve been able to accomplish a lot of good things because of that cooperation.” Powell admits, “When we’re recruiting industry, we’re competing across the country. But the city and the county are in partnership with the industrial authority, so we’re all on the same page; all working to lure good companies here. We may be small but we’re still able to 109 South Main Street, Franklin, KY 42135 270.586.4477 www.f-sindustry.com