Lure Businesses To Your Downtown -
By Making Life Easier For Them
By DOLORES P. PALMA & DOYLE G. HYETT
Most communities today would welcome business
prospects who are interested in "setting up shop" in
their downtown. So much so, that many communities
have put into place aggressive, pro-active business attraction programs. Business owners who are being
courted, however, often have a variety of locations to
choose from besides downtown. These might include locating along a commercial "strip," along a highway, in a
shopping center, or even in the next town, township or
county.
So, how can communities successfully lure business
prospects to downtown locations? Many community
leaders have learned that attracting small, independent
business owners can be accomplished by making life
easy for them - and that financial incentives from the local government are not necessarily what business
prospects want or need. In fact, many communities have
found that strong, successful, well-capitalized, independent business owners - the kind most are trying to attract - are more interested in a location where they can
get their business opened quickly and make money,
rather than in financial hand-outs.
The communities highlighted below are operating
comprehensive downtown business attraction programs. As part of these programs, they are removing
obstacles, cutting "red tape," providing business information and helping business prospects open their doors
to the buying public as quickly as possible. This, they
have found, is an equation that equals success.
Morris, IL - Market Analysis
A realistic market analysis is an economic tool that
developers of shopping malls, retail centers, outlet
malls, etc., would not do business without. Today, community leaders find that having this tool for downtown
- a downtown market analysis - enables them to sell
good businesses on a downtown location. The reason
for this is simple: the downtown market analysis shows
how much money can potentially be made by businesses operating in downtown. Business owners are
more likely to consider a location if they can be shown
that its market potentials are strong.
Understanding this, the Morris Downtown
Development Partnership undertook a market analysis
for its downtown. The market analysis allowed the
Partnership to take a bottom-line and business-like approach to downtown's enhancement. The market
analysis did this by defining and quantifying:
• Current customers;
• Potential customers;
• The types of businesses these customers and potential customers want today;
• What types of businesses they will want tomorrow;
• Which of those businesses could flourish in
Downtown Morris; and
• How the Partnership should go about attracting
those businesses to downtown locations.
This gave the Partnership the information necessary to target those specific business types most appropriate, contact owners of those businesses, and lure
them to downtown with solid economic data.
Miamisburg, OH - One-Stop-Shop and Vendors
Community leaders have found that, for downtown to be a business prospect's investment location of
choice, the local government must be pro-business.
This means revising regulations that make it hard to
open a business in downtown. And, being pro-business
also means streamlining government processes (codes
planning reviews, permitting, etc.) so that business
owners can go into business as quickly as possible.
While being pro-business is essential to a downtown success, it must go hand-in-hand with being pro-quality. This means that local government should not
and must not be pressured to forego quality in order
to attract investors. Instead, City Hall and the down-
About the Authors
Dolores P. Palma and Doyle G. Hyett are the founders of Hyett
Palma, Inc., the only national consulting firm specializing in the economic renaissance of older business districts. Based in Alexandria,
VA, the firm has served hundreds of business districts from throughout all 50 states. The firm's work has been featured in many publications, including The New York Times, American City & County
Magazine, Public Management Magazine, and the magazines of numerous state municipal leagues.
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November 1996 / Illinois Municipal Review / Page 17
town business community must jointly convey the clear
message that downtown welcomes quality business
owners - those who will operate quality businesses and
reinvest in their business; and that the local government is ready and able to be aggressively pro-business
for such investors.
Miamisburg, Ohio, has furthered its downtown's
enhancement by creating a "one-stop-shop" in City
Hall. This involves having the City's employees who
deal with planning, development, building codes and
fire codes work together as a team. The City's "one-stop-shop team" means a business owner, property
owner, or real estate investor need only go to one location in order to obtain all required City permits and
approvals. This pro-business stand has sent a clear message that Miamisburg welcomes quality investors with
open arms. And best of all, it has caused Miamisburg
to be named the most business-friendly city in the entire Metro-Dayton region.
As part of Miamisburg's overall downtown enhancement strategy, City officials have also decided to
allow a small number of vendors to locate downtown.
The vendor initiative stipulates specifically where vendors can locate and gives serious consideration to the
type of products that will be sold by each applicant.
This is a form of business recruitment that can be used
to help prospects test the market and determine
whether or not an in-building downtown location is
right for them.
Traverse City, MI - Customer-Friendly Parking
When considering a location, business prospects
often want to be assured that convenient parking will
be available for their customers and clients. Many communities find that while they may have enough parking
spaces, the public still perceives downtown parking to
be difficult to find. To address this issue, the Traverse
City Downtown Development Authority (DDA) - the
City's marketing and development agency for downtown - has made several major improvements that
have made downtown parking convenient and accessible for the buying public. These include the following:
• New signs - all having the same logo and coordinated colors - have been installed to better identify parking areas and to direct motorists to those
parking areas.
• A welcome packet is given by the DDA to all new
downtown business owners and includes a description of the parking permits which are available to
downtown employees, an illustration of where employee permit parking areas are located and an explanation of why employees parking in front of a
business is bad for business.
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New signs help the DDA assure business prospects that
Traverse City's downtown parking is customer-friendly.
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• The DDA started