Challenge

After decades of decline, the historic Borough of Flemington, N.J. – located 60 miles southwest of NYC – wanted to shine a light on its plans for revival and attract new investment. After becoming N.J.’s only rural winner of a $100,000 Opportunity Zone grant award, Flemington leaders hired global downtown development experts, Stantec, to reimagine its downtown core in 2019.

The borough is redeveloping its famed Union Hotel (circa 1814), the historic Courthouse Square (200+ units & 20K SF of retail/restaurant space), along with America’s first outlet mall, Liberty Village. And despite COVID-19, 16 retail businesses opened in the 1-square-mile borough in 2020.

Working with the Flemington Community Partnership, Violet PR’s goal was to shine a light on Flemington’s assets for investors, business owners, and professionals from across New Jersey.

Solution

The Violet PR team developed a series of news announcements in late 2020 and early 2021, focusing on Stantec’s downtown redevelopment plans, new hotels, retail and restaurants, and small business openings during COVID.

In just four months, we generated three dozen feature stories about Flemington’s revival in news outlets across New Jersey, including NJ.com, NJBiz, and ROI-NJ, as well as economic development and real estate publications, reaching hundreds of thousands of people across the tri-state region.

Secured