Special By Kyle Kramm, Seguin Main Street program director
(Seguin) — Part of telling the story of downtown Seguin and the Seguin Main Street Program is tracking its progress, which is done by reporting quarterly to the Texas Main Street Program statistics on reinvestment, new businesses, employment growth and volunteer hours within downtown Seguin. 
Seguin Main Street recently compiled the numbers for 2019 and we are pleased to report that it was a great year for downtown. Over $4,175,000 dollars was reinvested in downtown Seguin during 2019. That number includes sold properties, completed rehabilitations of buildings and physical improvements to properties in downtown. 
These projects included small repairs like HVAC upgrades at several buildings, the addition of new restrooms at Soel Venue and new storefront windows at 105 South River. Other large private reinvestments included 10 new apartments in downtown, the expansion of Seguin Brewing with their pizza kitchen and the purchase of the former Hot Spot. In addition to the private reinvestment made into buildings, the public sector also made investments in the public realm like over $300,000 into sidewalks within the downtown district. Other public improvements included windows at the County’s Probation office and the City’s complete rehabilitation of 108 East Mountain that took a vacant building to a beautiful office complex that improves the customer experience. 
Over a dozen new businesses opened in downtown during 2019, including Seguin Nutrition, Tiger Lily and Soel Venue. The new businesses have added to Seguin’s unique sense of place and bring more people to visit downtown. The work of Main Street would not be possible without the support of volunteers who make our projects and events possible. In 2019, volunteers logged 1100 hours for downtown Seguin. This included volunteers who worked the information booth at Pecan Fest, served on planning committees, lined up parade floats for the Fourth of July and many more. 1100 hours equate to a value of almost $28,000.00 in volunteer time. While 2019 was a great year for downtown, 2020 is looking just as bright. Major rehabs are still under way, large infrastructure projects will be occurring and several new businesses have announced their intentions to open in downtown. So come out and join in the fun in downtown Seguin throughout 2020.