News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Storefront properties in downtown Alpena sit vacant on Thursday. The downtown has a number of vacant properties that the Alpena Downtown Development Authority would like to see developed and others they would like to see spruced up to make them look better.

ALPENA — The Alpena Downtown Development Authority has appointed a pair of its committees to research why there are so many vacant business properties in the heart of downtown and to come up with ways to fill them.

The committees will also brainstorm how to help improve properties downtown that are beginning to look worn and rundown.

Anne Gentry, DDA executive director, said the vacant storefronts, especially on 2nd Avenue, cast the downtown in a somewhat negative light. She said the empty buildings, coupled with buildings that are suffering from disrepair, don’t paint a good picture for visitors and also impact nearby businesses.

“A lot of business owners, individually, have brought up their concern about the vacancies right now and how it hurts their businesses that are open and are investing,” she said. “Some business owners have told me that they have had customers from out of town ask why so many businesses are closed, empty, or look run down. We want to take a look at all of that and try to work together to find solutions.”

Gentry said over the last couple of years, a string of different businesses have closed and a new business would open. However, sometimes the new businesses struggled to stay open and eventually were forced to close too.

There are several reasons, Gentry said, why she believes there are numerous vacant business fronts in the downtown. She said some property owners want high amounts of money to sell or lease their buildings and some don’t want to do either and just choose to leave them as they are, empty and unused.

Gentry said high interest rates, inflation, and increasing labor and construction costs may also present challenges for existing business owners who want to expand or for investors who are considering investing in downtown.

Despite the vacant shops, Gentry said the downtown is still in good shape and propped up by many of the long-standing businesses that are popular. She said people still flood the downtown during the day and around dinner time to shop, eat, and maybe catch a movie. During the weekend, downtown is a popular place for people to go, especially if there is an event taking place.

“It’s not all gloom and doom and there are still a lot of great things happening,” she said. “There are a lot of people still interested in downtown.”

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 or sschulwitz@TheAlpenaNews.com. Follow him on X @ss_alpenanews.com.