The Rostrum

Now or never for small city downtowns

FOR THE first time in history, Americans are moving from large urban centers to small towns and rural areas — a fact verified by the 1980 Census. And as the population shifts, so will consumer dollars, causing a potential upswing in revitalization of many commercial districts within small cities.

This population shift coincides with a new retail trend. Major national department stores, which require new growth each year, have more or less saturated large metropolitan markets and are beginning to eye smaller markets. Discount stores, too, are approaching smaller markets, trying to carve out their share of business.

But the impending upturn will not happen automatically in small towns. Existing and new outlying shopping centers will be competing for much of the business, and, as usual, the early bird will get it.

This message was a constant theme of a recent seminar on downtown revitalization, sponsored by the Center for the Small City at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. (The Center itself is a recent outgrowth of the idea that the small city (population 50,000 or less) is worth special attention and study. This notion is contrary to the former way of studying the small city, which was to extrapolate trends based on the study of large cities.)

Seminar speaker Thomas Barrett, a developer from Northfield, Ill., put it this way: "Small towns now have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to control their own destinies. They must be prepared to develop a good retailing concept for downtown. Cities can put together teams, start development, and be prepared to react to new retail opportunities."

Barrett, president of Development Spectrum, Inc., is mindful of the stiff competition that small cities face. "A small town with population of 50,000 or less can usually support one major retail location. And that will be either downtown or in an outlying area. I believe small cities are really threatened, and the time for them to act is now. The smaller market is very sensitive to any new influx of additional retail to the area. A decision made now in support of a suburban development rather than in the downtown area is a decision the small town will have to live with for the next 25-35 years."

Developer Rodney Engelen, Barton-Aschman Associates, Evanston, Ill., also noted that the retail function of downtown is important, but not to the exclusion of other functions. "It is the cluster of functions that is the essence of downtown," he said.

According to Engelen, when the markets in rural areas were not growing, downtowns remained fairly static places. But now, as these markets begin to expand and the possibility of new retail facilities built on the edge of town or out by the bypass exists, growth may take place away from downtown.

Yet downtowns often have many positive attributes and qualities that the natives are not even aware of.

According to Bruce Hendrickson, Wisconsin State Director, Upper Great Lakes Regional Commission, some of these attributes are obvious.

"Established small town downtowns already have sewers, streets, utilities, and in many cases, fine, elegant older buildings. So they offer a great strength to build on and to rebuild with, as opposed to the edge of town or out in the cornfields.

"Revitalization contributes directly to energy conservation," Hendrickson continued, "by reducing travel time and encourging public transit. The vitality of the downtown obviously receives a boost from new construction, revitalization, and restoration. Needless to say, all this increases property taxes and generates new income and wealth for a community.

"Also, as we've seen in Wisconsin, downtown revitalization encourages adjacent development. There are possibilities for linking existing business and new development, such as corporate headquarters relocating downtown."

Perhaps the most important question addressed by the speakers was what can be done with a less-than-dynamic downtown?

Said Engelen, "What to do depends on several factors: A town's access — is it good or weak? How much competiton has already been established? How much space is available? What amenities — charm, architecture, natural harbor, parks, etc. — does it offer? Does it have character, e.g., can you restore the community's history? What anchors are downtown — any department stores? What is the quality of its leadership? And finally, what resources are available to carry the town through revitalization? It costs money."

Barrett added this note: "As a developer, there must be some retail market potential that exists in a town for me to be interested in one town over another."

He continued, "You're subject to all of the unknowns that also relate to suburban development and additional ones related to downtown. Historically, legislation has been in favor of suburban developments. However, this is changing today.

"A lot of spade work has been done through the early urban renewal and HUD programs. A lot of us have been educated. I can sense the pendulum swinging in the other direction."

The seminar speakers agreed that a downtown that has an opportunity for revitalization now but lets the chance go by faces a not very pleasant, but predictable future.

August 1981 | Illinois Issues | 35