DOWNTOWN REVITALIZATION MYTHS
By Dolores P. Palma
Arcada Theater, St. Charles, IL.
Photo courtesy of Stapleton
Photography, St. Charles, IL.
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Today, great strides are being made nationwide as
community leaders recreate and rejuvenate their once
ailing downtowns. The result of these success stories is a
body of knowledge that can be used to guide local
downtown revitalization efforts.
This body of knowledge means "downtown" professionals and advocates no longer have to be pioneers,
no longer have to "reinvent the wheel" in defining revitalization efforts that are most likely to succeed.
The body of knowledge includes myths and secrets
involved in downtown revitalization — commonly held
myths that must be dispelled if local revitalization efforts are to succeed.
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Myth #1: If We Build It, They Will Come
This "Field of Dreams Approach" to downtown
enhancement centers on the belief that a community
only needs to undertake physical improvements for
customers and investors to flock to downtown.
Many communities have proven this to be a myth by
implementing massive physical improvement projects
— including new sidewalks, landscaping, street trees,
planters, benches, facade, improvements, etc. — and,
thinking that their revitalization work was "done,"
waited for customers and investors to return.
Unfortunately, these communities discovered that
physical improvements, made in isolation, do not result
in renewed downtown vitality. Instead, the lesson
learned is that physical improvements must be undertaken in conjunction with economic improvements for
revitalization efforts to succeed. And, in fact, the entire
enhancement effort must be market-driven, rather than
physically driven.
There are now communities that believe so strongly
in the need to make downtown economic improvements hand-in-hand with physical improvements that
they have defined an economic enhancement strategy
and a design plan at the same time. Examples of these
communities include Medford, Oregon, and Garden
City, Michigan.
Myth #2: If We Demolish It, They Will Come
This is the flip side of Myth #1 and is known as the
"Urban Renewal Approach" to downtown revitalization. This myth holds that, if old buildings are torn
down and land is cleared, developers will flock to
downtown. And, unfortunately, there are communities
all across the country that still have vacant land which
was cleared in the 1960s and 1970s as part of this revitalization approach.
Since the days of the federal Urban Renewal program, communities have learned that clearance does
not attract developers to a downtown whose market is
weak. Since that time, communities also have learned
that structurally sound old buildings — no matter how
run-down they might look at the time — can become a
tremendous draw if they are renovated and their architectural character is preserved.
A striking example of this is the recently renovated
Arcada Theater in St. Charles, Illinois. Meticulously
restored by its owner, the historic and once dormant
theater has undergone an amazing transformation.
Since being restored and reopened, the Arcada draws
approximately 5,000 people each week to downtown
St. Charles. And, the building's corner retail space has
been leased to Starbucks, a coffee house that appeals to
movie-goers and adds to downtown's new, bustling
night life.
July 1995 / Illinois Municipal Review / Page 19
Myth #3: If We Complete One Major Project, They
Will Come
This is the "Silver Bullet Approach" to downtown
revitalization. It holds that if a community identifies
and implements one key major project, then "everything else will take care of itself." Examples of communities that pursued the Silver Bullet Approach are those
that build downtown convention centers, festival marketplaces, parking structures, or pedestrian malls — in
isolation. Unfortunately, these communities learned the
hard way that there is no silver bullet. Instead, successful downtown revitalization requires a multi-faceted
effort that addresses all of a downtown's key issues and
problems.
Myth #4: If We Can't Get A Department Store To
Come Back To Downtown, Downtown Will Never
Be Healthy Again
This is known as the "Traditional Anchor Approach." It is true that — except for tremendously
healthy downtowns — the chances of attracting a major, national department store to downtown are very
slim. However, this does not mean that a downtown can
no longer be healthy. Instead, the most successful today
are those that have redefined the concept of "downtown anchors."
All across the country, downtowns are seeking and
creating new anchors. These include the Children's
Discovery Museum in Downtown Augusta, Maine; an
entertainment train in Coopersville, Michigan; the
Aracada Theater in St. Charles, Illinois; as well as art
galleries, live theater, music clubs, housing units, professional offices buildings, government buildings, and
speciality retail shops. Communities are finding that by
promoting and leveraging these anchors, their downtowns can experience renewed vitality, without a traditional department store anchor.
Myth #5: We Can't Get a Department Store to Locate
Downtown, So Downtown Can No Longer Support
Any Kind of Retail Trade
This is the "Big Retail or No Retail Approach" to
downtown revitalization. Again, it is true that the chances of recruiting a major, national department store
today are slim. It is also true that few downtowns today
can be considered to be primarily retail centers. However, these truths alone do not prove that a downtown
cannot support some retail trade.
Today, most if not all revitalization programs operating in this country, contain a retail attraction component. Many of these programs have been successful in
strengthening, and increasing, their downtown's retail
base. This has only been accomplished, however, by
clearly defining downtown's retail niche and implementing retail enhancement strategies that are aggressive and targeted.
A perfect example of this can be found in Plymouth,
Michigan, where a retail attraction program was put
into place after a market analysis was completed. Implemented by the Plymouth Downtown Development Authority, the retail attraction program resulted in
bringing 30 additional small businesses within 2 1/2 years.
Myth #6: For Downtown to Be Successful, Retail
Businesses Must Keep Uniform Business Hours
During the last years, many downtowns across the
country have included, as part of their revitalization
Page 20 / Illinois Municipal Review / July 1995
efforts, attempts to standardize the hours of operation
kept by retailers. This is known as the "Let's Pretend
We're a Mall Approach." Given the independent nature
of business owners, and the large number of business
owners, this approach has failed overwhelmingly.
Recognizing that a single set of uniform business
hours is difficult to achieve, and possibly not advantageous to the district's retailers as a whole, the most
successful enhancement efforts are promoting
"customer-driven business hours." With this approach,
retail businesses keep hours that best meet the needs of
their targeted customers. By doing this, and by coordinating their hours of operation with each other, these
businesses are able to accommodate and share customers.
Uniform retail hours are almost impossible to
achieve in a downtown setting and, ironically, successful downtowns have found that embracing this as a
measure of success is unwise. Instead, customer-driven
hours, kept and coordinated by businesses that can
share customers, are a sign of success.
Myth #7: Competition is Bad for Business
This is the "Head-In-The-Sand-Approach" to revitalization. The commercial districts — both old and
new — that are the most successful in this country today
are those in which similar and compatible businesses
are located side by side in convenient clusters. There is
example after example of commercial districts which
have proven that the clustering of compatible businesses is actually good for business.
Rather than providing dangerous competition, the
clustering of businesses expands and magnifies the
market that the cluster — and each of the businesses in it
— can hope to draw. This multiplier effect occurs because a cluster of businesses is more appealing to a
customer — in terms of convenience and variety — than
is a single, stand-alone business. Therefore, customers
have a tendency to come to the clustered businesses in
larger numbers, and to spend more dollars once in these
clusters, than they would at a single destination business.
Example of successful business clusters include the
art galleries clustered in the French Quarter of New
Orleans, home furnishings businesses clustered in Old
Town, Alexandria, and antique businesses in Pomona,
California.
Myth #8: We Have to Be As Lenient As Possible With
Developers or They Won't Do Business in Our
Community
— and —
Myth #9: We Have to Be As Tough As Possible With
Developers or They'll Take Advantage of Us
These are the twin "Play Dead or Play Hard Ball"
revitalization myths. Over the last fifteen years, both of
these myths have been proven false by communities all
across the country. It has been proven that developers
will do business in communities that demand quality
projects and that take steps to ensure they obtain such
projects. In fact, quality developers prefer to do business in communities that demand quality projects and
seek out such communities — because they know their
investment will be protected.
It has also been proven that communities that are
unreasonably stringent and demanding of developers
will cause developers to locate their projects elsewhere.
In that sense, these communities are successful in mak-
July 1995 / Illinois Municipal Review / Page 21
ing sure that the development community does not take
advantage of them! However, this attitude also makes
them successful in not attracting quality developers and
quality projects to their communities.
The communities that have been most successful in
obtaining quality development projects in their older
commercial districts are those where a partnership has
been formed between the community, the city government and local developers. These efforts are commonly known as public-private partnerships. They can
be highly successful in providing in a quality project for
the community and an economically successful project
for the developer. The essential ingredient for making
the partnership a success is one of attitude. All parties in
the partnership must agree to cooperate so that a quality project — one that is mutually beneficial — results.
Myth #10: If We Had More Parking, They Would
Come!
This is the "Let's Find a Scapegoat Approach" to
downtown revitalization. This myth holds that all of
downtown's ills stem from a lack of parking. Those who
believe in this myth claim that customers have left
downtown for shopping malls because malls offer customers seas and seas of parking which is often (but not
always) free. Therefore, the reasoning goes, "we need
more parking" — this change will make Downtown's
businesses competitive with the malls and will make
customers return.
Unfortunately, communities that have gone to great
expense in creating parking lots and decks, without
making other needed improvements in their downtowns, have learned the fallacy of this myth. The new
parking facilities remain as empty as our Downtown
stores. In fact, many of the progressive leaders across
the country now say "we need a parking problem in our
downtown" because this will mean that downtown
stores are busy.
In fact, in the vast majority of downtowns where
there is a parking problem, it is one of parking management rather than one of parking supply. This means
that the number of parking spaces available is adequate. However, customers are having difficulty finding a parking spot because business employees and
owners are parking in spaces that are nearest to businesses and that should be reserved for their customers
and clients. This problem can be resolved through better management of the existing parking supply and
does not typically warrant creating additional parking
spaces.
Three years ago, the Traverse City Downtown Development Authority in Michigan took over management of city-owned surface parking lots. It vastly improved downtown parking by changing how it was
managed — rather than by creating more parking spaces. Some of these management improvements included new "user-friendly" signs which identify parking areas, a welcome packet for all new downtown
business owners describing parking permits available
to employees, and a monthly parking award program in
which one employee permit holder is selected each
month — at random — and given gift certificates from
downtown businesses. •
Dolores P. Palma is the president of Hyett Palma, Inc., the only
national consulting firm that specializes in the economic renaissance
of business districts. Based in Alexandria, VA, the firm has served
business districts in all 50 states. The firm's work has been featured in
numerous publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, American City & County Magazine, Public Management
Magazine, Parking Magazine, and Nation's Cities Weekly. In addition, the firm's work has received awards of excellence from the
American Planning Association, National Capitol Area Chapter, and
the Virginia Downtown Development Association.
Page 22 / Illinois Municipal Review / July 1995
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