November 17th, 2016

• Realtor Cindy Stevens of Wilson Realty told me that people have been showing a lot of interest in property in our area for the past several months and that in September, she sold $1.2 million in real estate, most in the Crisfield area. That doesn’t count properties sold by owners, like one on Annemessex Ridge that sold earlier this month, and whatever was sold by Tull & Price Realtors, which has also been busy. I can remember hearing a few years ago that a realtor went a whole year with only selling one property. The increase in interest in real estate is a positive sign for the future of Crisfield and seems to be continuing!

• Jay Tawes, GCAC Board member and owner of the Laundromat on Main Street across from City Hall, continues to make improvements to his property. He has also purchased the building next to his and is doing major renovations there. In addition, he is having a rainbow painted on the side of the Laudromat as well as a rainbow, compliments of GCAC, on the building owned by Cary Slipper as shown in the rendering of Main Street. The rainbow represents God’s promises, and we believe it is a sign of the prosperity that is coming and the blessing that is on Crisfield.

• Harvey Blonder, who owns about a half of a city block in the uptown section of Main Street, has a crew of 3 working on three commercial units to make improvements. The foreman told me they expect the work to take 5 months. They are preparing the properties for sale or lease. This could really add to the appearance of uptown and provide good space for three new shops.

• The building in uptown across from Harvey Blonder’s property owned by the City used to be a bank and later was the Charter Cable Company office. The City is going to surplus this property, and it will be for sale in the near future. It would make a great space for a commercial business or an art gallery.

• McDonald’s is in the process of putting in all new landscaping. Nice improvement!

• Bobby Tawes, owner of Tawes Brothers, said he has sold 13 golf carts in the last few months since he  added them to his offerings and expects to sell many more in the Spring as the season approaches and boaters, condo owners, and tourists discover a new way to get around Crisfield.

• There is a new dance studio called “Feet of Fire” across from Subway. They enrolled 75 kids in the first ten days of operation. Great new activity for local kids.

• The Somerset County Developmental Center is considering putting a Training Center next to the Dance Studio on West Main Street. Although ideally we’d like to see every commercial space be used by a business, with most catering to tourists’ interest in shopping and dining, still it will be an improvement to fill another empty space and improve the general appearance of Main Street.