The Participation Program is designed to advance the aims of urban renewal and economic development in downtown Boise, as well as goals identified in the Boise City comprehensive plan, Blueprint Boise. These goals include activating dormant or disinvested sites, expanding utility infrastructure, improving user mobility and connectivity, and encouraging compact development.
Mixed Use
Sub Categories: Mixed Use
City Building Boot Camp Tours
The City Building Boot Camp Tours were curated by the Regina Downtown BID and Regina’s Warehouse BID to highlight best practices in urban revitalization from other Canadian cities in the hope of inspiring current and future projects in the City of Regina.
The Public Realm – An Economic Development Tool
The function and relevancy of traditional downtown commercial districts are in question due to emerging disruptions accelerated by the COVID pandemic. However, downtown districts are reinventing themselves by refocusing on the pedestrian experience as an economic tool to drive office leasing, workers, residents, and visitors back downtown.
Advancing Places: HUD Financing Opportunities
HUD’s Section 108 Loan Guarantee Program provides Community Development Block Grant recipients with the ability to leverage their annual grant allocation to access low-cost, flexible financing for economic development, housing, public facility and infrastructure projects. Organizations can use these funds to support central business districts, retail/office manufacturing, small business financing, mixed-use properties and business retention as a few examples
Loan & Tax Abatement Program
Through its Development Loan program, Memphis’s Center City Development Corporation offers a low-interest loan product designed to support smaller commercial developments. It offers a low-interest loan of up to $200,000 for permanent building renovations and new construction within the Central Business Improvement District. The product is not a construction loan; rather, it is permanent financing that can be used to take out a construction loan.
Developing a Retail Strategy
All downtowns are dealing with the changing world of retail and developing strategies for retention and attraction. Learn from Cherry Creek North, Downtown Memphis and Downtown OKC, three very distinct downtowns, as they discuss their respective approaches for filling vacant spaces and retaining and attracting retailers.
Developing a Retail Strategy
All downtowns are dealing with the changing world of retail and developing strategies for retention and attraction. Learn from Cherry Creek North, Downtown Memphis and Downtown OKC, three very distinct downtowns, as they discuss their respective approaches for filling vacant spaces and retaining and attracting retailers.
Economic Development 201 for Downtown Organizations
A presentation building on the fundamentals of downtown economic development, focusing on how to build outside partnerships and curate funding resources.
Economic Development 101 for Downtown Organizations
A presentation on the fundamentals of downtown economic development, its importance, and the difficulties a downtown organization might face in planning for economic development. This presentation is meant for districts looking to get started with economic development programs.
Flipping the Script: Using Housing as an Economic Development Tool
For decades, downtowns were built on the premise that office recruitment and expansion was the foundational element for long term success. Our panel believes that housing is now playing an outsized role in surging downtown success and that the attraction of housing is a necessary precursor to bring jobs back from the suburbs. Panelists will explore this idea with real-world market data and case studies from Charlotte, Denver, and elsewhere.
Coxe Avenue Complete Street Demonstration Project
The project was initiated to accelerate mobility improvements to a developing corridor in an Asheville neighborhood. Coxe Avenue formerly contained a high density of automotive uses but is now the site of mixed-use developments and dining options. The project involved a public engagement process, held on a compressed timeline. The design features a shared-use path and an intersection mural. The final installation includes eight new crosswalks, a multi-use path, and the 6,000 sq. ft. mural.
The Garage at Clinton Row Adaptive Re-Use Project
The Garage at Clinton Row project retrofitted a 30+ year-old municipal park deck that, while structurally sound, negatively impacted the pedestrian experience and retail traffic along a key downtown corridor. This project is a blueprint for re-activating first floor parking garages with mixed-use and transforming upper levels and the surrounding areas with creative place-making projects like decorative lighting, bikeshare, and event programming.
Downtown Albany Residential Development Initiative
The City of Albany began the Downtown Residential Development Initiative in 2002 with the purpose of increasing mixed-use development and adding residential units in its downtown. This was a strategic recommendation of the City of Albany’s economic development strategy “Capitalize Albany” first released in 1996. The strategy identified downtown diversification as a critical element of the City’s overall economic health and revitalization.
Elkhart River District Implementation Plan
The City of Elkhart has begun building a walkable, mixed-use neighborhood on 105 acres of underutilized land next to its downtown. Civic leaders believe the River District can ease a housing shortage, address a worker shortage, and attract knowledge workers and entrepreneurs who will diversify its economy. The 2017 district master plan called for as much as 1,000 units of housing; stores; bike- and pedestrian-friendly streets; an aquatics/fitness/healthcare center; and a network of open spaces.
Northeast False Creek Plan
The Northeast False Creek Plan is an innovative and comprehensive plan to replace the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts (2.6 km of elevated freeway infrastructure) with a new mixed-use waterfront community. As a result of intensive collaboration between the landowners, senior levels of government and the community over an 18-month planning process, a 20-year plan for the buildout of Northeast False Creek was adopted by Vancouver City Council on February 13, 2018.
Oswego, New York, DRI Strategic Investment Plan
The small city of Oswego parlayed a $10 million state grant into more than $50 million in new downtown investment. Even after years of decline, Oswego retains some important assets to build on: walkable scale, historic buildings, and a beautiful setting on the Oswego River. The city won state funding to create a plan that identified specific projects, explained how they would benefit downtown, and showed that they could attract other money.