By iCorei I mean the Downtown’s old retail heart running along Main St. from Chippewa to Church St.
This stretch has plenty of great things going for it. Despite the fact it’s currently pretty retail-lacking, there the solid streetwall missing from Delaware is ever-present on Main. Since the street has been a pedestrian mall so long now, the resulting lack of automobile access meant few buildings have been torn down for parking lots.
Another positive is that due to the old nature of this stretch being a bustling retail center, plenty of large-floorplate spaces remain for the hungry needs of national retailers. The old AM&A’s building is perfect for a very large anchor tenant. Don’t forget the Main Place Mall. If it can get an owner who actually has the ambition to improve it, this will make a wonderful indoor-outdoor hybrid (considering all the open glass frontage facing main) for mass-shopping. All of this will be a huge advantage, if and when national retailers decide to enter the downtown market.
Don’t forget that iThe Corei is point-blank range from the Metro Rail. Nothing like walking down a few steps and being in the heart of it all. For those who drive, several large parking ramps are only a few blocks away.
There are obvious disadvantages to istarting iti here. Consider that Fountain Plaza, while being a pleasant space, effectively cuts off iThe Corei from the already established Theater District and Chippewa action. Psychological connectivity means a whole lot to people. The multiple ownership of buildings and wildly variable rents pose huge problems toooat least for using this part of Main as an incubator.
The most important impediment I need to bring up is the upcoming years of construction which will return car traffic to Main St. Work will start at the northern end, first with the 600 and 700 blocks and work its way south. It may be 5 years before iThe Corei will actually be finished. This makes trying to attract big retailers very iffy.
Perhaps this is not the best place to start?