State agrees to help boost business on Jos. Campau in special program

The state is now offering a helping hand to boost Hamtramck’s main business district on Jos. Campau, and it will commit to assisting the city for five years in developing the district.

By Charles Sercombe
Hamtramck businesses in the heart of the city’s business district is getting a helping hand from the state.
This week, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced that Hamtramck’s is one of 22 business districts in the state to be a part of the Select Level Michigan Main Street Program.
The program offers five years of “assistance revitalization strategies designed to generate activity through new retail businesses and events, fostering pride in this culturally diverse and historically significant Southeast Michigan community,” according to a press release.
Hamtramck Community Economic Development Manager Isabel Allaway said she has been working to be a part of this program “for years.”
“Through the leadership of our DDA and city, we will fully leverage this opportunity to usher in a new era of investment, beautification, and long-term stability — building on the current momentum in our downtown,” Allaway said.
“Hamtramck is a place known for giving newcomers to Michigan and the U.S. their start, and that spirit positions us to turn challenges into opportunities through innovation and education. The Select designation provides critical support to help the seeds we’ve already planted grow…”
The program will focus on the Jos. Campau business district between Holbrook and Caniff.
Allaway said there is currently a 20-percent vacancy in storefronts in the area, “which is too high.”
“A healthy rate is 5 percent,” she added.
Hamtramck’s Downtown Development Authority, which is supported by property taxes, and focuses on the business district in the entire stretch of Jos. Campau from Carpenter to Hamtramck Dr., will also play a part in helping shape strategy in revitalizing the district.
Milo Madole, board chairman for the DDA, said the Jos. Campau district is a prime candidate for the state program.
“It’s one of those few quintessentially American streets that has remained true to its roots,” said Madole.
“Through several stormy decades of shaky public finances and intermittently encroaching blight, Hamtramck’s historic core rode the waves and served as a continual source of employment, recreation, and pride for the community. …”
The state said the program has proven to be “a catalyst for job growth, private investment and community engagement.”
Money-wise, Allaway said her goal is to get at least two businesses to qualify for $50,000 grants that could be used for any number of things, including renovation or façade improvement, among a list of options.
Hamtramck’s Jos. Campau business district had its heyday in the 1940s through the 1960s, when it was bustling with shoppers. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, however, the district experienced instability and the closures of many longstanding businesses.
Mayoral and city council candidates have long run on campaigns to revitalize the business district – none of which ever came to fruition.
Gov. Whitmer said the aim of the Michigan Main Street Program is “to create jobs, grow small businesses, and make our communities vibrant places to live, work, and play.”
Posted March 6, 2026