Downtown Digest News • Web Extras
March 21, 2019 — Like many small towns, Oneonta, AL, long struggled to bring life and tax revenues to its declining downtown. Unlike most, Oneonta had a downtown property and a plan. The city owned a vacant car dealership, and City Manager Ed Lowe believed that recruiting a college to offer classes on the site…To read more — login/sign up
March 7, 2019 — Economic developers in Dubuque, IA, conduct in-depth interviews with more than 300 employers every year. Their goal is to learn what employers are concerned about, and what challenges they face. The full-court press endeavors to keep jobs from leaving Dubuque — and the hands-on strategy is part of the reason some…To read more — login/sign up
February 21, 2019 — Like many cities, Durham, NC, wants commuters to take the bus, ride their bikes, and generally find ways to get downtown other than the standard solo drive. Unlike most cities, Durham is tapping into the discipline of behavioral economics to change drivers’ behavior. The first strategy, a planning tool algorithm, creates…To read more — login/sign up
Pricey but effective, wayfinding signs are “voice of the city” — Springfield, MA, has seen major new developments in recent months, including the opening of a casino and the rehab of the city’s Union Station. To help guide visitors to the city center, Springfield invested $400,000 in a series of wayfinding signs installed in late 2018. Read the Sign Research Foundation’s guide to urban wayfinding. ...
By focusing on five key themes, downtowns attract millennials — New research from Arizona State University is providing insights into the type of downtown housing that millennials value. ...
Encouraging upper level residential — To spur residential development in downtown Bradenton, FL, the city recently approved two new programs. Click the links below to learn more. • Upstairs Residential Conversion Grant Program & Application • Restaurant and Food Services Incentive Program & Application ...
February 7, 2019 — In Quincy, MA, a redevelopment boom is bearing fruit at precisely the wrong time, at least from a parking perspective. To ease the squeeze, Quincy has implemented a variety of strategies. At one city lot, Quincy more than doubled parking rates before 5 p.m. and offered free parking after 5 p.m. The city…To read more — login/sign up
Parking management plan frees up hundreds of unused spaces — While downtown Quincy, MA, has seen an influx of tenants and traffic in recent years, two aging parking garages became structurally unsound and were forced to close.To ease the squeeze, Quincy has implemented a variety of strategies. Read a report on Quincy's parking plan. ...
Weary of waiting for median construction, business district paints a mock-up on the street — Frustrated at the slow pace of streetscape changes in the Douglas Design District in Wichita, KS, the board decided to paint a mock-up of the median and crosswalks so business owners, residents, and shoppers could get a feel for the changes. See a video of the street painting from the Wichita Eagle. ...
Underpass upgrade beautifies entrance to business district — In St. Petersburg, FL, the downtown business district known as the Deuces has been in a long decline, in part because Interstate 275 cuts through the neighborhood. In an effort to make the area more aesthetically pleasing, the nonprofit Deuces Live pushed to spruce up the I-275 underpass with murals, lighting, and landscaping. See the project video below. ...
“Agrihoods” take root — Real estate developers are marketing “agrihoods,” developments that include community farms. Read ULI’s report on agrihoods....
January 24, 2019 — Downtown Lexington, VA, is home to an ambitious business incubator and makerspace that’s drawing interest from entrepreneurs in surrounding areas. Lexington Collaboratory & Makerspace is a 1,300-square-foot lab that lets startups tinker with their products. The Collaboratory also provides a team of mentors to dispense advice about legal matters, marketing, real…To read more — login/sign up
January 10, 2019 — A few years ago, the Downtown Association of Santa Cruz decided to eliminate big events that attracted large numbers of visitors but also blocked traffic and disrupted business. Downtown leaders in the California city still wanted to bring visitors to the business district, however, so they shifted their focus to smaller…To read more — login/sign up
December 27, 2019 — Every other week we post the summary of an article from Downtown Idea Exchange. Over the course of the year we’ve covered everything from business recruitment to streetscape improvements to placemaking. To wrap up the year, we’re highlighting five of our favorite posts. Creative, informative, and adaptable, they showcase some of the…To read more — login/sign up
Engaging the public smooths planning process — In Delaware, planners have used video games and board games to engage residents in the planning process. The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission’s Dots & Dashes game let residents participate in complex transportation planning. ...
Stimulating residential development — The city of Elgin, IL, has awarded its first grant to install a sprinkler system in a downtown building. See the complete grant program information packet....
December 13, 2018 — A Michigan city is combining three hot trends — recycled shipping containers, pop-up shops, and business incubators — to create an unusual destination designed to entice visitors to its downtown. Battle Creek created BC Cargo, a mini-mall made up of seven shipping containers on a city-owned parking lot downtown. The blue-and-yellow…To read more — login/sign up
November 29, 2018 — South Orange, NJ, had a business-recruitment problem. There was no shortage of tenants interested in setting up shop downtown — but the village’s rules didn’t allow for many of the types of experience-based tenants that are taking space in downtowns nationwide. The municipality’s rules were "very, very restrictive," says Bob Zuckerman,…To read more — login/sign up
