Business owners, downtown residents and community leaders write suggestions for what businesses they would like to see occupy vacant properties downtown.

Meridian Main Street officials received valuable feedback Tuesday as they welcomed real estate experts to weigh in on available downtown properties.

The Queen City was one of 18 designated Main Street communities throughout the state selected to receive an assessment after The Mississippi Main Street Association in March was awarded funding for the program through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Community Development Initiative.

On Monday, local economic development leaders welcomed Joe Borgstrom with Place + Main Advisors LLC, which specializes in downtown revitalization and real estate marketing, to tour four Meridian properties. From there, Borgstrom said, he puts together a game plan that can help local efforts to market those properties.

“There’s several things that we do with these game plans,” Borgstrom said. “First and foremost, we do a market analysis. So we take a look at where folks are coming from, where they’re going to, where they’re spending their money, and really get kind of an understanding of the supply and demand in the marketplace for various types of businesses.”

Following the site visits, Borgstrom met with local business owners, downtown residents and community members to get their feedback as well. While data reveals a lot about a property, he said, the community knows Meridian, and that knowledge is a key part of successful downtown redevelopment.

“I’m an expert in market analysis. I’m an expert in real estate redevelopment,” he said. “What I am not an expert in is Meridian, and I’m fortunate because I am surrounded by experts in Meridian.”

Borgstrom and the community leaders visited seven downtown properties with residents sharing what businesses they would like to see or think would be a good fit for each location. Available data is often limited to business categories, he said, and gathering specific business ideas from the community helps when developing the game plan profiles.

Meridian Main Street board members met with Borgstrom Tuesday to hear his assessment and will be able to use the data he provided to guide future marketing and development efforts.