A resource team for the National Main Street Center and the Washington State Main Street Program recently toured the Gig Harbor Historic Waterfront district to evaluate and offer tips on how to revitalize the downtown business economy.

The team presented its findings earlier this month during at a public meeting at Anthony’s Restaurant.

Todd Barman, senior program officer for the Main Street National Trust for Historic Preservation, said the group was impressed with what the GHHWA has accomplished so far.

“It’s easy to forget you’re newly designated,” Barman said. “When you look at what Main Street programs are working on, what you’re tackling and the scope of your work is impressive.”

Gig Harbor was designated a state Main Street Community last May.

Barman said the Main Street Approach is an economic strategy based on an area’s assets. One, the heritage asset, which includes built history, like Gig Harbor’s net sheds and historic homes. Another is the human asset, which includes entrepreneurs.

Main Street approaches are different than commercial destinations, like the Uptown Gig Harbor Shopping Center, because they tend to have a higher concentration of mom-and-pop businesses. While planned developments have a leasing agent, and businesses are set up to complement the shopping center, districts like the waterfront tend to have the community take ownership.

Sarah Hansen, program coordinator for the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation, emphatically pointed out that downtown Gig Harbor’s biggest asset is the waterfront itself.

“You have a harbor that’s unique and beautiful,” she said. “Architecturally, you have a great base of buildings with a frugal nature — minimal style and practical. You have 17 net sheds; nobody else can claim to have that.

“Gig Harbor’s visual story is easy to read.”

Hansen had several recommendations for the GHHWA. One was to create financial incentives for building owners and to make sure all stakeholders understand and value what’s already built. She said it’s important to decide what architectural features to preserve and to know what’s valuable.

It’s also vital to work closely in partnerships with the city regarding design and downtown development, she said.

“You need to ask yourselves, ‘What are our assets? What is valuable? What is it about Gig Harbor that we love, and how do we protect that and still move forward and complement what we have here?’ ”

Barman said he could see that, collectively, downtown doesn’t work as a marketplace, although there are individual businesses with “pockets of success.”

“People walk the harbor for exercise but not for shopping,” he said. “We need to encourage people to shop the district as a destination and not just retail. There needs to be an effort put in to creating a more concrete vision for the corridor and not be at the mercy of individual destinations.”

Barman suggested creating a brand image for the harbor is unique, something that isn’t used by hundreds of other cities. Outdoor activities and recreation should be about experiencing the harbor, and events should tie into the area, he said.

“You have your maritime heritage, your boat building and your Croatian heritage,” he said. “You need to have a brand for the waterfront and establish a place within the market. There are a lot of maritime communities on the sound, but the whole idea of a Croatian-American fishing village makes it unique.”

An example would be to put more leverage on the Blessing of the Fleet, which typically takes place on the same weekend as the Maritime Gig Festival.

“I think that has been lost inside the Maritime Gig,” Barman said.

The GHHWA should not develop an isolated plan, Barman said, but “bring in the city and the Harbor History Museum.”

“We’d like to see more formal cooperation with Uptown and Gig Harbor North,” he said. “You’re not really competing, because you’re totally different.”

Hansen said creating an advisory board would be a good way for the GHHWA to engage stakeholders and members of the Gig Harbor Chamber of Commerce.

“Friends” volunteer groups are a plus in attracting interest to certain organizations. Hansen suggested the GHHWA should look into creating a “Friends of the Gig Harbor Waterfront” group and recruit volunteers to work on specific projects.

Barman said it’s vital that the waterfront attract entrepreneurs to open downtown businesses and to reach beyond the local market to bring people in from Tacoma and Seattle. He added that it’s vital for serious businesses to regularly advertise and not just depend on word of mouth.

“To be competitive, every mom-and-pop (business) needs to know who their customers are,” he said. “You would be well-served by creating a business pledge and make guidelines for incentives, such as staying open posted hours.”

Hansen said merchants could take steps on their own to revitalize downtown with little “less expensive” things like signs and window decorations to attract people into their stores.