In the first part of this series, I gave an overview of the vast potential our downtown has toward once-again becoming a major retail destination. The pieces of this puzzle are scattered all over the floor, waiting for the right people and events to carefully set them into place.
As stated before, one of downtown’s biggest problems is our collective attitude problem. In this installment, I hope to allay a lot of our inherited negativity and highlight how all the advantages of downtown can be lined up to show how retail can prosper here again.
I talked to Justin Wells, an architecture student at Portland State University, who has a keen sense of urbanism and how cities function. He has traveled to cities all over the world and witnessed the rebirth of retail in a number of American downtowns.
iThe most important thing that people don’t realize with bringing a downtown back to life is what makes it successful,i he says. iIf you talk to an older person who lived in the 1940s America, they will recall a far more vibrant, urban cityscape filled with people. Of course, the people is the key. A revitalized downtown is not about buildings or retail, its really about bringing people into the city, whether they live there or not.i
Justin discussed with me 12 conditions a downtown needs to adhere to in order to revitalize its retail sector. They are in bold type. Below each selection, I elaborate, relative to Buffalo’s condition:
1) increase residential density in and near the downtown area. These people will tend to want stores & businesses nearby to spend their dollars at. If these people own their homes and are not renting, they will have a very real vested interest in keeping the area nice, as well. (Hint: think condo towers!)
This is slowly starting to happen in DT Buffalo. New loft conversions had resulted in the beginnings of a downtown population. More of these will begin to add up enough to a point where basic convenience retail becomes commonplace, which will stimulate regional-oriented businesses to set up shop.
2) Don’t allow (or limit) big-box retail on the outskirts of the city to compete with downtown retailers (like Portland, OR). Less competition is good for downtown businesses.
Big-box retail on the outer periphery of the city is now a common sight along the northern limits. It would be prudent for the city to put a moratorium on new stripmalls. Even more of this type of development will lead to the further suburbanization of the city.
3) Eliminate any parking requirements for downtown. Coupled with #5, this will allow people to get around without a car – and will allow developments without expensive structured or underground parking.
Arguably, there is enough parking downtown. Way too much urban fabric has been eaten away by surface parking lots. A huge part of an iurban experiencei shopping environment is a tight, human-scaled fabric of continuous buildings. Parking lots create sterile, empty spaces, discouraging people to walk farther and explore other blocks.
This is not to say that addressing auto access concerns doesn’t play an important role in getting more people downtown on a regular basis. Luckily there are a few large parking garages within a quick walk of the Main St. core. In the early phases of bringing retail back, it may be a good idea for parking in these ramps to be free on evenings and weekends. Free Parking will help eat away at the ihasslei perceptions of coming downtown to shop. With all that said, the current parking situation doesn’t seem to hinder people from attending street festivals, TATS, Theater-going, and drinking on Chippewa St.
4) Allow mixed-use developments, office, retail, residential, and hotels all together in the same area. This combined with relaxed governmental zoning regulations will allow developers to more easily respond to the market – making it more likely they will build. And a dead downtown often needs to be rebuilt!
Check. The city has become much better at permitting mixed-use development. Though, one thing that really needs to be done is putting a STRICT MORATORIUM on suburban-style development downtown. We’ve had too much of this crap plopped over the years, making the streets cold and unfriendly. No more convention centers. No more Elm-Oak Arterials. No more Channel 2-style studios. No more gas/service stations.
5) Better mass-transit access to downtown for suburban dwellers. Coupled with not expanding freeways in the burbs, eventually driving to Wal-Mart may be less convenient than taking the subway to downtown and shopping at a department store.
Check.
On this item, Buffalo actually has a leg up. Metro Rail provides comfortable and easy access to downtown from city neighborhoods like, Allentown, Midtown, Hamlin Park, Parkside, Central Park, and University Heights. Suburban communities in portions of Tonawanda and Amherst have quick iPark-N-Ridei access to the train. Nearly all the above-mentioned neighborhoods are middle class an affluent areas with significant spending power.
Let’s not forget that the rail line connects the entire on-campus populations of UB and Canisius seamlessly to the downtown core. A striking number of college/university students don’t own cars and will definitely shop in places that can be reached without them, not to mention the young and energetic will seek out places that are authentic and unique. The banal sterility of UB’s North Campus surely makes plenty of students crave real urbanism. So many students there come from the NYC metro area. A a downtown retail environment that reminds them of home will certainly be a hit!
Metro Rail is an existing asset that should definitely be factored into the demographic projections of doing business downtown.
6) Huge subsidies to downtown businesses and developers. Businesses in the burbs typically receive huge subsidies to develop, why not downtown? Leveling the playing field – particularly the fact that downtowns are more expensive to maintain (to a higher quality than a strip) will help businesses out and make them more attractive to shoppers.
Subsidies should only be used in the beginning as stimulus mechanism, not abused on a long-term basis. During surgery, patients are given a lot of drugs. When they are healthy again, they obviously shouldn’t be taking them anymore. The same can be applied to getting an ailing downtown back on its feet.
Part of a trial-period or ipilot phasei for new downtown retail should include tax abatements and drastically reduced rents. How about creating an iEmpire Zonei to include all of downtown? Subsidies should also be used to renovate retail spaces into acceptable move-in condition. Getting nationals at first to locate downtown will be a challenge.
Why not offer low-risk opportunities to existing local retailers to open a second location downtown? Besides a lot of great merchants already in the city, there are plenty of good stores (who sell products geared toward a regional market) located among the older, aging iforgotteni strip plazas in the inner suburbs. New ipower centersi in more affluent suburban commercial areas are forcing the aged stripmalls along roads like Sheridan, Harlem, and Union to empty out fast. Some of these marginal retailers may get noticed much better downtown. Big boxes have over- saturated the suburban market. The new frontier is downtown!
7) Metered parking. Don’t allow people to park all day in scarce downtown parking spaces; these should be utilized by as many shoppers as possible in a day!
Check.
8) Don’t allow employees to suck up all the scarce parking in downtown! They want the job, let ’em ride the bus! These people will spend money on their lunch break downtown anyway, regardless of how they got there.
Check.
A job is a job, employees will be the least likely to complain about parking. Besides, new stores downtown will offer opportunities to residents of lower-income neighborhoods, many of whom don’t even own cars. In addition to the train, thankfully almost every bus line converges downtown.
9) Invest in parks, plazas, and program them with entertainment in downtown: give people a reason to go besides the stores!
Check: TATS, Chippewa drinkin’, the Theater District, or just hanging out at Spot Coffee. Downtown is already a destination!
10) Attract unique stores, including national & independent retailers. However, the more unique a downtown is, the more attractive it will be for people (as long as its an active place). Anyone can find an Olive Garden or Applebee’s on any random freeway exit; but downtown should have the chic authentic Italian restaurants (you know, the ones actually owned by Italians who don’t speak English!).
Mark Croce’s iRestaurant Rowi along Franklin St., fulfills this requirement well, despite a somewhat lacking sense of sound urban design. We could use some more iauthentici places to eat. This part of North Downtown (or NoDo) should be marketed to inquisitive restaurateurs looking to expand.
11) Limit structured parking: downtown needs to be a place for people, not a parking lot. In order for streets to be active and inviting, they need to be full of activities – aka restaurants, stores, hotels, etc – and not blank walls or rows of cars.
City planners and grassroots organizations should be putting together a comprehensive plan for iinfillingi the many gray belts of surface parking that splinters downtown’s urban fabric. Once broken streets are weaved into coherent wholes, that ireal cityi feel will dominate the landscape. People will love downtown even more and make the region as a whole look much better off. Looks say a lot!
12) Hit crime hard. Crime in struggling downtowns can kill off businesses just as easily as Hurricane Katrina can. This includes annoying panhandlers who intimidate people. Particular attention should be made towards women and how safe they feel downtown – since men tend to dominate politics and architecture, they tend to forget that women have a huge problem being victimized and are very vulnerable once outside of their cars.
This is indeed a very important issue that people often forget!
Cops should be getting out of their cars and patrolling downtown streets on foot, bike, Segway, motorcycle, scooter, and horseback. This more ipersonali police presence will make people feel much safer and keep excessive panhandling (and other forms of anti-social activity) in check. The more people that feel safe, the more people that will be walking around DT period! Larger crowds of people will lead to an even greater perception of safety. I’ve never felt unsafe walking around Manhattan or Chicago’s Loop.