Posted by
dave in
Taking Care of Business on
December 10, 2007 |
no responses Whether it’s running the water plant or redeveloping downtown I always try to see what other cities are doing and even more importantly what the private sector is doing in those same areas. I figure that if the goal is to create new private investment I need to put myself in those private investor shoes in order to really understand what we can do as a city to inspire new investment. With that in mind, the National Real Estate Investment Magazine put out an article this month that said private investors should look for cities that do three things: 1)create an organization to bring together business leaders and city officials (Kent has two, the Downtown Kent Corporation and Main Street Kent); 2)design a masterplan to encourage investment (Kent has the Bicentennial Plan and we’re currently working on a blueprint for downtown investment); and 3)develop a way to leverage any special attractions in the downtown core (think whitewater park and university activities for Kent).
The City of Kent has a number of initiatives underway that relate to downtown redevelopment — Main Street Kent, Whitewater Park Study, RFQ for a development partner, Retail Market Assessment, Blueprint for Redevelopment, and the Sports Tourism Commission to name a few. That’s why I was encouraged when I read the article below that talks about what private investors look for when making investment decisions in older downtowns. Even though we are a smaller downtown in size, our downtown is no less important to our future than in the big cities, so it was good to get an outside affirmation that we are following the best practices that private investors are looking for.
The last paragraph of the article really says it all:
“Downtown is the signature of your community, and when people visit your city, the downtown is what leaves a lasting impression,” Bowen says. “If it’s boarded up like a ghost town, they don’t have a good opinion. It makes sense to revitalize your urban core because its important to the economy and the future of your city.”
