Seven tools for attracting downtown business.

Downtown revitalization is all the rage in a number of cities and counties across the country. But more and more, they are finding that simply cleaning up the streets and installing new brick and old-fashioned light poles does not constitute revitalization. To truly revitalize a downtown area, local officials must make a commitment to both attract new businesses and keep existing businesses happy.

To that end, they are learning that business owners tend to seek locations that allow them to open their businesses as quickly — and profitably — as possible.

This can be accomplished in a number of ways. And often, commitment on the part of the local government — not vast infusions of money — is the driving factor.

Various local governments have used one or more of the following seven tools in creating viable business communities in their downtowns.

1. One-Stop Shops. These are single locations where business owners can file for, and obtain, all required approvals without going from one city hall department to another in an endless quest to complete all necessary paperwork. Usually located in city hall, the one-stop-shop is staffed either by a single person who guides the applicant through all the municipal departments and processes involved or by a team of municipal staff members from the various departments.

In smaller communities, the one-stop-shop might operate on a part-time basis. Business owners in Miamisburg, Ohio, use a one-stop-shop to obtain all required city permits and approvals.

Created by Mayor Dick Church and manned by employees who deal with planning, development and building and fire codes, the office is designed to send a clear message to the business community that, the city understands that time is money and intends to make it as quick and easy as possible for businesses to open in downtown.

2. Streamlined Processed. Business owners often perceive planning and review processes to be an interminably long obstacle course. But municipal governments can streamline their review processes in order to make downtown locations more enticing.

For example, in Walled Lake, Mich., Mayor Bill Roberts and the city council have given the city’s building inspector increased administrative authority to review and approve all plans that meet the city’s guidelines, thereby allowing applicants to receive approvals more quickly than they could when all applications were required to go before the city’s planning commission.

In downtown Americus, Ga., city building officials meet with interested business owners and building owners to explain local code requirements and then work with the parties throughout the development process to ensure timely completions.

And, Hermosa Beach, Calif., has eased parking requirements to make it more attractive and profitable for businesses to locate downtown.

3. Real Estate Orchestration. Municipal officials across the nation have found that, in some cases, a little “orchestration” on their part is required to increase the appeal of downtown’s real estate to business owners. Millville, N.J., officials and the Millville Development Corporation embarked on an aggressive downtown revitalization program aimed at the comprehensive revitalization of the area’s streetscape and roadway systems, as well as the cleanup of the Maurice Riverbank, to induce additional investment in downtown’s businesses and real estate. Their efforts have attracted several new businesses, including a major anchor business for downtown, and spurred renovation of an old school for school board administrative offices.

In Robbinsdale, Minn., a small McDonald’s restaurant had outgrown its building and grounds. Faced with the prospect of losing the restaurant, the city negotiated a land swap that allowed the company to build a new, enlarged facility on a nearby city-owned downtown parking lot. In addition, the former McDonald’s site currently is being redeveloped into a new building that will house a fine-dining restaurant and a flower shop, both new Robbinsdale businesses.

4. Improved Perception of Safety. Sometimes, incorrect perceptions have to be dispelled in order to make business owners more comfortable with the idea of locating downtown. The buying public often has the unfair impression that downtown is unsafe, and that tends to keep business owners away from downtown. But municipal governments and downtown business organizations can dispel those perceptions. For example, Old Town Alexandria, Va., has instituted a police bike patrol. Other areas have augmented the downtown police presence with guides who serve as additional eyes and ears on the street, as well as downtown ambassadors, thereby relieving police of this hospitality function.

5. Convenient Parking. The belief that downtown parking spaces are inconvenient must be tackled in order to make downtown attractive to business owners.

Overland Park, Kan., dealt with the problem by building a multi-purpose shed in the heart of downtown, creating both a convenient new covered parking area and a strong new downtown anchor. (The land under the shed is used for parking most of the time and is also the site of a popular farmers’ market.)

Plymouth, Mich., modified parking restrictions to make it possible for more restaurants to locate downtown, allowing their patrons to use convenient existing on- and off-street public parking spaces.

6. Realistic Market Information. Within any given community, business owners often have a variety of commercial areas in which they can choose to locate. Municipal leaders and downtown businesses have found that a recent market analysis showing that there is a strong market for particular goods and services is highly effective in convincing business owners to choose downtown locations.

Oxford, N.C., for example, recently documented its strong regional market appeal and attracted a national chain drug store and auto parts store to its downtown.

North Adams, Mass., location of the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, used the findings of a comprehensive market analysis to document the market for downtown art-related businesses that will provide hundreds of jobs for local residents and tremendous new business opportunities for the art and entertainment industries.

7. Expanded Markets and Anchors. Today, smart business owners understand there is strength in numbers — that a group of businesses sharing customers wilt ultimately expand, rather than divide, its total market by providing variety and convenience.

Downtown, consequently, becomes a more convenient and attractive business location when it has clusters of compatible businesses. Understanding this, entrepreneurial municipal governments and business organizations are defining and implementing “clustering plans” for their downtowns.

These plans should be based on market analyses and specify both the types of businesses that can be most profitable in downtown and where those businesses should locate in order to best share customers. In Anniston, Ala., more than 61 new businesses have been attracted and clustered during the past three years, and Danbury, Conn., has created a downtown dining district.

The tools that can help cities build their downtowns are not highly complicated and do not involve high finance.

Instead, they require two fundamentals: a commitment to downtown’s economic prosperity and a cooperative effort between the municipal government and the downtown business community. With these, every community can make it easy and convenient for business to locate downtown

This article was written by Dolores Palma and Doyle Hyett of HyettPalma, an Alexandria, Va.-based consulting firm specializing in the economic renaissance of business districts.