HAGERSTOWN -- Hagerstown's Arts and Entertainment District has been approved for expansion and recertification, Gov. Martin O'Malley announced Friday.
The expansion and recertification will allow the city to offer tax benefits to artists living or working in a wider radius around Hagerstown's Public Square.
"It will allow us to offer more to more people and will make smaller downtown housing more affordable for many people," Mayor Robert E. Bruchey II said. "It's a real feather in our cap, especially as the first arts and entertainment district in the state."
The city first received a state-designated arts and entertainment district in 2001, the same year the program was founded, according to a state press release.