Meridian Main Street Association is set to welcome special guests next month as experts in real estate redevelopment come to the Queen City to assist with revitalization efforts.

Advisors from the real estate and economic development firm Place + Main Advisors, a firm specializing in revitalization and redevelopment, will be in town Sept. 23 to gather information and meet with leaders in Meridian’s downtown revitalization effort.

Matt Schanrock, director of Meridian Main Street, said he was looking forward to meeting the advisors and getting their thoughts on the local revitalization efforts.

“This is one of the main things that they do, and it’s really cool,” he said. “(I’m) really looking forward to it.”

While in town, the advisors will tour four downtown properties and use their observations and expertise to provide Meridian Main Street with ideas to revitalize and repurpose the buildings, Schanrock said. Currently, he said, the advisors are set to tour The Meridian Star building on 22nd Avenue, the old McKee Glass Service on 19th Avenue and the former Jean’s Restaurant building on Front Street.

“The fourth one, we’re still kind of up in the air on what we’re going to do,” he said.

Meridian is one of 18 designated Main Street programs in Mississippi to be selected for the program as part of the Mississippi Main Street Association’s Mississippi Real Estate Redevelopment Game Plan. The association, in March, announced it was awarded funding under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Community Development Initiative to help communities throughout the state with revitalization.

“Redeveloping under-used or vacant properties is a crucial step in downtown revitalization,” MMSA Executive Director Jim Miller said in a news release announcing the funding. “The RCDI Real Estate Redevelopment Game Plan project will provide each of the participating communities with customized information to identify and redevelop key properties in their downtown districts.”

As part of the program, Meridian Main Street will receive information on current and projected market data, retail leakage, recommendations to improve real estate conditions and customized assessments of the four properties. Schanrock said the information will go a long way in helping the community understand the real estate it has available and which industries or businesses may be suited for each location.

“The (current) Meridian Star location, like that’s perfect. We’ve had multiple conversations with people, and we know that it’s a really good opportunity for someone with the size of it and everything, but we don’t really know what to go after,” he said.

While smaller spaces, such as the old Jean’s Restaurant location, are well suited for an eatery or boutique, it is difficult to know what to do with the larger buildings in downtown, Schanrock said. The Meridian Star, which is planning to relocate to a smaller office space that better suits its current needs, is currently housed in a 32,852-square-foot facility featuring 18,000 square feet of office space and just under 15,000 feet of warehouse space.

McKee Glass Service is also a large space that doesn’t fit the mold, Schanrock said.

“So I think that hopefully, considering the investment in this, we can get some feedback that will point us in the right direction,” he said. “I think right now everyone’s just kind of scratching their head on some of these properties.”

Following the building tours and discussion with local leaders, members of the community will also have an opportunity to meet with the advisors from Place + Main Advisors from 6-7 p.m. on Sept. 23, Schanrock said. More details about the meeting will be announced on social media and publicized closer to the event, he said.