Kaylee Roberts, Staff Writer 

Greensboro’s “Downtown in a Decade” plan, also known as Thrive35 and GSO35, will soon be put into motion. Specific targets, aggressive timelines, and behind-the-scenes efforts aim to turn long-standing hopes for a livelier city center into significant results. According to Amber Lake, a reporter for WFMY, what community leaders call a ten-year strategic vision aims to remake the heart of the city into a place that draws residents, jobs, and visitors, while also maintaining the recognizable downtown space locals have grown to love. 

As Scott D. Yost reported for Rhino Times, the plan centers around clear, numeric goals. By 2035, downtown Greensboro hopes to create space for roughly 5,000 residents, offer nearly 3,000 new jobs, open and expand more than 100 ground-floor businesses, and attract over $1 billion in private investments. Those numbers give the project both ambition and accountability. 

Planners also aim for a boost in foot traffic, looking to redevelop key blocks around the downtown area. Data provided by Unacast Inc. shows foot traffic is crucial to businesses on a strategic and performance level. Bettering the sidewalks in the downtown area not only boosts sales but allows businesses to increase the quality of their advertisements and operations. 

According to the GSO35 website, recommendations call for more mixed-use housing near transit and the Greenway, streets that prioritize pedestrians and ground-floor retail, cultural programming to increase nightly and weekend activity, and strategies to reduce long-term vacancy along commercial corridors like Elm Street. The plan also emphasizes public art, water features, and events that make downtown a destination beyond work hours. According to a conference presentation by Shelley Poticha, an expert in urban solutions, community and connection serve to strengthen a midsize city’s center. 

A news release from Downtown Greensboro explains that the visioning effort drew thousands of local voices through surveys, workshops, and stakeholder sessions. A deliberately community-driven approach aligns the plan with everyday priorities like walkability, better green spaces, and economic opportunity for small businesses. GSO35 is not completely brand new, however. Organizers framed the work as building on earlier planning documents, including the 2030 Strategic Vision. Rather than replacing it, Thrive35 folds long-standing goals into a sharper 10-year strategy. 

Of course, translating a plan into reality will hinge on money and coordination. A report published by WXII12 explains that funding for this planning process came from “various donors,” including community members, city government, and the Downtown Greensboro Inc. corporation. However, full-scale implementation funding for the entire 10-year project has not been locked in yet. This leads to potential concerns about the continuation of the project. As stated by Bent Flyvbjerg, an expert in megaprojects, nearly 92% of large-scale projects go over schedule and/or over budget. 

What will be most interesting to watch is how the plan handles decision-making. Having measurable goals gives elected officials, developers, and neighborhood groups something concrete to decide, such as which projects will get prioritized and how each success will be reported to the public. If Greensboro can stay committed to its funding and goals, the next decade could deliver a downtown that finally matches the city’s size and creative energy. If not, the plan could end up as another well-intentioned document on a shelf. 

Either way, the “Downtown in a Decade” effort potentially marks a significant turning point in Greensboro’s history. Greensboro has moved from imagining its future to specifying it. The challenge now is execution: doing what some might consider impossible and turning a decade of ideas into a downtown that feels both new and genuine for everyone. 

You can view and download the full plan from the GSO35 website.