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Reviving Main Streets: What You Need to Know

This article explains the importance of main streets in traditional town centers, discusses the challenges they face, and offers strategies for revival. Topics include the relevance of main streets, reasons for their failure, and ways to rejuvenate them. The article also emphasizes the economic fundamentals and the need for a realistic activity center hierarchy.

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Reviving Main Streets: What You Need to Know

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  1. REVIVING MAIN STREETS What you need to know? What do you need to do? Chris McNeill Director Spade Consultants Pty Ltd June 2015

  2. What is a main street? • A Main Street is the traditional town centre structure around which a town’s retail, commercial, government and cultural activities were organised • For historical reasons, a Main Street tends to be a relatively fine grain of land ownership, particular in the traditional retail area • Main Streets come in all sorts of shapes and sizes • Some play a traditional role, while some represent a hybrid model • Not all Main streets need ‘reviving’

  3. What is a main street? • Traditional v Hybrid

  4. What is a main street? • Struggling v Bustling

  5. Is Main Street still relevant? • Due to land fragmentation, traditional town centres struggle to provide large format retail activities (which, like it or not, represent the retail anchors that modern retail activity is built around) • For the same reason, they struggle to provide bulky goods opportunities and campus style office opportunities • They frequently struggle to provide car parking that responds to modern retail, business and government interactive activities • Does the Main Street model represent a historical anachronism?

  6. Is Main Street still relevant? On the other hand................... • The traditional Main Street still represents the personification of a town’s identity • In almost all regional towns and cities the town centre remains the hub of public activity and commercial enterprise • There is great pride taken in the appearance of Main Streets

  7. Can Main Streets be allowed to fail? • In regional centres, there are rarely alternative economic uses for main street properties (little to no adaptation to residential uses) • A failed Main Street is almost certainly an egg that cannot be unscrambled • A failed Main street will likely become the enduring public image of your town

  8. Characteristics of the contemporary Main Street • Regional cities and towns represent the purest form of urban hierarchy • Traditional Main Streets remain largely unchallenged • They generally have a monopoly position • In the larger regional cities retail activity may be partly decentralised but commercial (office) activity is generally centralised • It is frequently difficult to consolidate land, planning outcomes are challenging and the cost of redevelopment is high. There is often little incentive to redevelop • Despite the problems, the model generally works

  9. But not always..............

  10. But not always

  11. But not always

  12. Why do Main Streets fail? • Competition from afar • Competition from within Why is somewhere else more attractive? • Poor presentation/image • Public safety concerns • Poor retail mix • Lack of key attractors

  13. Small rural townships are often hardest hit

  14. What we need to know • There’s not much we can do about the ‘next town’ but there’s plenty we can do about our town • Firstly, in larger regional towns and cities, if it is agreed that Main Street is to be protected it is important to establish an activity centre hierarchy and stick to it • This may not always be easy • After all, convenience shopping is supposed to be convenient • It will be argued that land fragmentation prevents development of the large format retail activites that modern shoppers demand. • Sometimes that argument is sound • Need to have a good understanding of the town’s prospects and needs

  15. When Main Street is no longer the main game

  16. When Main Street is no longer the main game

  17. Amsterdam, New York State

  18. Amsterdam, New York State

  19. Amsterdam, New York State

  20. The fine line that is edge of centre development

  21. Sometimes, there never was a Main Street.............

  22. Play to your advantages • Encourage and leverage off entrepreneurial traders • Views can be sold. Perhaps they should be encouraged. • Incentives to rejuvenate landmark buildings • Large format can be edge of centre but connectivity is critical • Establish a realistic activity centre heirarchy

  23. Be aware of the economic fundamentals • Investors are keen for capital growth • Certain yields are vital for investors and why you’re likely to see an empty shop for lease at 60k per annum than an occupied shop at 40k per annum

  24. Commercial and other employment activity is just as important as retail

  25. It’s a fine line…………..

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