Downtowns need to be more than just neighborhoods
So I got myself in a bit of trouble recently on a panel discussing the future of Downtowns, when I pushed back against the assertion that central business districts need to refashion themselves into primarily residential enclaves.
Statements like this one, appearing recently in a prominent urban planning publication, capture the consensus that has developed since the pandemic:
“With new patterns of work and life well-established, downtowns may lose some prestige as the commercial engines of their cities, but they’ll have much to gain by looking at themselves as one of many city neighborhoods.”
But in several of our largest Downtowns, visitors from elsewhere across the region and out of town have long been the primary drivers of consumer spending, and it is the sharp reduction in their numbers (along with the preponderance of large floorplates) — and not the absence of nearby residents — that largely explains ongoing struggles with retail vacancy.
To me, then, the recovery in tourism and the reconfiguration of retail spaces represent better uses of precious energies and resources in many cases. After all, it will take a very, very long time — and more than a few new towers (or conversions) — before the residential populations in most of these districts approach the size of their visitor contingents.
I would also suggest that a tenant mix geared largely towards residents – consisting, for example, of grocery stores, dry cleaners, boutique fitness studios and child care providers — would not actually be one which those who do not live there would find all that compelling. When was the last time you patronized any of those businesses on your vacation or even your daytrip from the suburbs? Right… you can’t even remember it.
As for the more destination-oriented fare that excites those from further afield, residents will be motivated by the same forces as consumers more generally, and cannot necessarily be relied upon to stay close to home. They will still, for instance, tend to gravitate to large shopping precincts with wide selection and critical mass, or to dining and nightlife quarters with energy and buzz.
Indeed, while working in the Downtowns of numerous cities, like Chicago’s Loop (IL), Houston (TX), Allentown (PA) and Stamford (CT), I have spoken with numerous stakeholders who have started to question whether such inhabitants are even spending money — or any time at all — in their host districts. We have been assuming that they do, but with the growing skepticism, I for one would like to see some concrete evidence before putting too many eggs in that basket.
Don’t get me wrong: we should keep adding (or converting to) new residential as part of a diversified mixed-use approach. But to effectively give up on any sort of destination appeal in our Downtowns, to turn them into just “one of many city neighborhoods”, smacks of a lack of creativity and imagination, both among private developers and their public/non-profit partners, in coming up with a new post-pandemic formula for restoring their gravitational pull and broader relevance.
Let’s aspire to something more.