It’s all well and good to try to revitalize downtowns, but if your theater or business irritates your neighbors, then you haven’t accomplished very much. You need to include them in the process from beginning to end. If you show up for the planning and zoning commission meeting and your opponents are out in force, you may be finished before you start.

That’s the message from inner-city developers who met recently in Los Angeles under the auspices of the Urban Land Institute.

The rediscovery of cities is providing the most opportunities for retail development, because many inner city areas remain grossly underserved, while the outlying areas tend to be saturated with retail, participants said.

Kenneth Lombard, who formed Beverly Hills-based Johnson Development Corp. with former pro-basketball star Magic Johnson in the early 1990s, said when doing inner-city retail, you’ve “got to get on the ground and fully understand the demographics you are targeting.”

According to Lombard, inner city markets are often ignored because of incorrect notions about income and demographics, which tend to be underestimated.

Many neighborhood residents, particularly immigrants, have large extended families who want shopping, restaurants and urban entertainment facilities in their neighborhoods, and who will regularly patronize establishments where they feel welcome, he said.

“Part of our philosophy on securing projects is community outreach,” Lombard said. The residents “have to feel like you are part of their community."

A renewal of retail and entertainment development in downtown neighborhoods reflects an overall change in the perception of cities, said David Manfredi, partner with Elkus Manfredi Architects Ltd. in Boston.

The perception of the city as just a place to work has shifted so that it represents the center for culture, entertainment and social amenities, he said.

“The social purpose of the city has been reaffirmed ... sustainable urban retail and entertainment environments depend on the integration of multiple uses, Manfredi said.

“Diverse residential opportunities, cultural attractions and surrounding workplace environments all contribute to the staying power of urban retail,” he said.

John A. Elkington, president of Performa Entertainment Real Estate Inc. in Memphis, listed several factors critical to a successful downtown retail endeavor.

One is the creation of an accurate market profile that pinpoints all the possible categories of visitors, such as leisure tourists, conventioneers, tourist groups, college students, military personnel and area residents.

>Another is an adequate security plan to make visitors feel both safe and welcome.

Still another is offering shopping perks to enhance the downtown shopping experience, such as package home delivery services so people don't have to lug bags around.

There also must be public-private sector partnerships involving public officials determined to see the projects through.

And finally, the project should have public amenities that act as a focal point to bring the community together. “We talk about entertainment districts, and we talk about places to gather, but then we remove the benches, the places where people can be part of communities,” Elkington said. “That is part of the overall security plan — coming up with a way to make people feel comfortable, to make them want to go and to come back.”

The irony of the current retail development environment is that many of the projects underway in the suburbs are being designed with town centers and public gathering places so they “look like downtowns, said Roy Higgs, chief executive officer and managing partner of Development Design Group Inc. in Baltimore.

Without a great deal of background preparation to develop the right “fusion” of tenants and merchandise, “it truly does not matter where or what you design,” he said. “It may be good looking, but probably won't be successful, because you won't get repeat visitation” he said. “In the urban context, what's cool is so, so, so important.”

Most participants concurred that the inclusion of a residential use, or close proximity to a residential use, is vital to keep urban projects constantly thriving. Housing is critical in transforming “event” downtowns, in which people come in, attend an event, then leave, into “self-generating” downtowns, said Daniel T. McCaffery, president of McCaffery Interests Inc. in Chicago.

The trick to successfully blending residential and retail uses is to give as much thought to “where the front door is as to where the loading docks will be,” he said. “You have to make sure the building says home to somebody.”

Published: April 3, 2003

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