WASHINGTON'S REBIRTH: The eastern N.C. city's main street is seeing a revitalization, making it a popular spot to visit for people from nearby cities.

AuthorBlake, Kathy

With waterfront views, plenty of dock space for traveling boaters and expanding small businesses, Washington is becoming a popular daytrip destination.

"This has been a strategy that the city put into effect many years ago, and little by little we're working toward finalizing that strategy," says Meg Howdy, executive director of the Washington Harbor District Alliance, a Main Street America program whose mission is downtown economic development. "It really has become a destination. Rather than say 'downtown,' we brand it the Harbor District."

Washington is celebrating its 40th year with the Main Street program, designed to assist with business growth and development. "So our support is available to all the businesses within the Harbor District," Howdy says.

The city, located on the banks of the Pamlico River, has seen a slight decline in population since 2010. Home to about 10,000 people according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city relies on visitors and strong local businesses to drive the economy.

"Washington has really been taking this opportunity to work with properties and property owners to revitalize these historic buildings," Howdy says.

One historic building on West Main Street is a three-story former Bank of America office. Nick and Susanne Sanders, seeing promise in the building, purchased the property in 2017.

After refurbishing, the couple opened The Hackney restaurant in January 2019. They've since added an in-house gin distillery and plan eventually to create a 14-room boutique hotel on the second and third floors.

"When I got this building, it was in the hollowed-out center of town, and now all the buildings are being worked on," Nick says. "Washington has history and an amazing waterfront. What it didn't have was the infrastructure to keep people here, and we felt we could be part of that. There were a couple of other restaurants but not a lot. Now there are two or three more coming, and the upper floors of buildings are being renovated into condos. The town is becoming that kind of place where people can be occupied."

Sanders is from London, but his wife originally is from Washington. They met in Chapel Hill, while they were in UNC's MBA program. They returned to London for 24 years, but now in their 50s, Nick says, it was time to come back to North Carolina.

Instead of working for others, they decided to risk business ownership.

"When we came back looking for houses, we started looking for commercial property, and this...

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