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The Capital Crossroads Special Improvement District is holding their annual meeting Downtown this afternoon and also using the occasion as an opportunity to unveil their new Downtown retail incentive program. Kacey Campbell will be taking on the new full time role of Retail Recruiter after working as Marketing and Promotions Coordinator for the past 3 1/2 years with Capital Crossroads. The new “matchmaker” role will have her exclusively focusing on retail outreach, building relationships between retail and landlord partners, and assisting with the entire process of setting up new retail businesses Downtown.
“It’s high time to refocus on downtown retail,” said Boyce Safford, the Director of Economic Development for the City of Columbus, in a press release issued earlier today. “The success of our core business district, especially at the street level, will help determine the overall health and vibrancy for the entire region. If you ever wanted to start or expand your business, we ask that you consider downtown first.”
The new program will have both physical and goal-oriented boundaries that overlap with the area designated as the “Mile on High” zone, which focuses on the Downtown area contained by Spring to the north, Mound to the south, Fourth to the east and Front to the west. That program will continue to focus on job creation incentives, facade improvement grants and abatements for property owners and retailers making investments in the area.
“In the sequence of our work at Capital Crossroads, it is the perfect time for us to embrace the retail initiative,” said Cleve Ricksecker, Executive Director of Capital Crossroads, in a press release issued earlier today. “We’ve spent 7 years building a strong foundation of programs that support beautification, safety, communication and community, all of which are running smoothly and will support the pitch for new retailers to open downtown.”
More information about the new program will be available online soon at DowntownColumbus.com.
I wish I had a good retail idea …. I would snag one of the new Lazarus spots asap.
NOW we’re talking! This is great of the SID to do and Kacey will be perfect!
Of course this wont mean retail is going to spring up overnight but this will be an excellent service and a step in the right direction!
I love Capital Crossroads SID
I think this is a great step forward. Unfortunately, I think the new meter rates are probably about as big a step back.
crap I knew there was something I forgot to do today. :(
Well if anyone call pull this off it’s Kacey, she’s good people.
Anyone know what the alluded to incentives are?
Sounds good, but maddeningly vague…
Yeah, initial announcements usually are vague. ;) I’ve known Kacey for a little while now though, and I’m sure she’d be willing to share some details with the CU crowd on what exactly it is she’ll be doing.
Looking forward to hearing more about this. From the various folks I’ve talked with who have opened businesses Downtown in the past few years is that it would be extraordinarily helpful to have some sort of one-stop-shop when it comes to look for assistance. If this can serve that function then I imagine it should be quite helpful.
Great news & big congrats to Kacey!
If anyone knows how to contact her, she should post contact information in some of this great media attention that this project is getting.
You can find her contact info at DowntownColumbus.com, but I’m hoping we can get a more detailed interview someone soon that contains more information about the program and her new role. ;)
Go Kacey! This is an awesome idea, I love all the work Capital Crossroads has been doing (not sure how long but I just kinda got hip to them a couple years ago) so keep it up and bring some awesome stores into downtown…how about a Trader Joes? Whole Foods? Come on we need a great little grocery store!!
I think this plan has alot of potential and am all for it. Just to play Devil’s Advocate for a second though: Is there anyone here who supports these incentives, but dislikes the idea of subsidizing the Blue Jackets’ rent to keep them downtown? Will these incentives apply to just new retail businesses only and not to those (few) that already exist?
Columbus Commons and The Annex will be finished next year..Im anxious to see what retailers are going to go in the Lazarus building.
HogRoaster Says: Just to play Devil’s Advocate for a second though: Is there anyone here who supports these incentives, but dislikes the idea of subsidizing the Blue Jackets’ rent to keep them downtown?
I think it all depends on what these incentives turn out to be. It sounds like more of a “helping hand” in getting entrepreneurs through the process off setting up a retail shop rather than the idea of pitching taxpayer money towards rent subsidization. But I guess we’ll have to see what exactly these incentives are.
Urbanboi Says: Im anxious to see what retailers are going to go in the Lazarus building.
The only rumor I’ve heard so far is that Tim Hortons/Coldstone was scouting a spot there. Which could be nice if they stay open later, as the area south of Capitol Square has few evening/weekend coffee shops. Would be nice to see something more unique and independent opening in the Lazarus Building, but I have to imagine that the rents are fairly high.
Hope this is successful, but if the meters are similar to those on Gay, drivers will no longer be getting 7 minutes per quarter, just 3 or 4 depending on whether the city rounds up or down (I’m guessing the latter). Not sure what incentives could be offered to overcome that, since I know when I was car-dependent I didn’t go very often during the day to Gay St because you only got 12 minutes per quarter.
Still, I would like to see that nice renovated block south of the Westin on High where they constructed condos on the 2nd floor get something good. I don’t go there now because I don’t need a bail bond and I’m not a fan of Subway, but there are spaces available (there’s going to be a couple hundred new residents next door). High south of Broad here is really lacking, to put it nicely.
Would love love to see west elm relocate downtown from Easton..rent couldnt be anymore downtown..maybe a cb2 or some other mid priced modern furniture store!!
Columbusite Says: Still, I would like to see that nice renovated block south of the Westin on High where they constructed condos on the 2nd floor get something good.
Funny you mention it. I just met someone at the CU Meetup last night at Due Amici who was a property manager in one of the buildings on that block who was actively looking to bring new retail business down there. So hopefully she’s successful in bringing something new down there soon. ;)
This is a great idea to hopefully capitalize on some latent retail demand downtown, but…..
I think a real approach to growing retail demand would be add the focus of attracting more office jobs downtown. Downtown office jobs secondarily lead to more residential and retail.
Then if you’re already downtown working or living , you don’t need that roll of quarters for the meters to get to the retail.
we already have ~100k jobs downtown whopper jr.
I don’t think a couple k more office jobs is going to bring retail here, although it never hurts.
what we need is residents, we only have about 5k of those. If downtown’s population crosses 11-12k you’ll see a lot more retail interest.
when we had vibrant street retail downtown the downtown nighttime population was roughly 25-30k
If you build it they will come..I wish some large retailers would take the plunge
If the CCSID can incentivize a unique retail store like, oh I dunno, Zara, then people will flock Downtown for retail. And that’s taking the meter increase into consideration.
(They can be contacted here: http://www.zara.com/#/es_ES/Customer/Contact/ )