The Mile on High Development off to a slow start

The Dispatch wrote As holidays approach, mayor still looks for ways to pump new life into vacancy-riddled heart of city
Sunday, November 23, 2008
By Mark Ferenchik
In his State of the City address in March, Mayor Coleman announced a “Mile on High District.” It would be an incentive-laden plan to inject life into a struggling High Street. This holiday season, it will be apparent that the plan is off to a sluggish start, mired in a battered economy.
Just two groups are taking advantage of the plan’s tax breaks: the new Barrio restaurant, which will serve Latin fare next year in the old Wendy’s building at Spring and High, and the owners of the former Arby’s building at 45 N. High, who are spending $1.2 million to redevelop it into office and commercial space.
Retail analyst Chris Boring said a survey he conducted in April of the High Street corridor between Nationwide and Mound showed that 40 percent of the space — 80,000 square feet — was vacant. The vacancy rate for the Columbus market is 12 percent.
A retail study in June found 280 stores and restaurants Downtown and estimated spending power to support 450. Downtown won’t become a regional shopping destination again, Boring said, but independent retailers can serve the more than 130,000 Downtown office workers, residents and college students. As the economy improves, he expects to see a wave of retail entrepreneurs composed of retired baby boomers and talented people who lost their jobs start businesses.