Business Recruitment and Retention

Sub Topics: Business Recruitment and Retention

Craft Data-Informed Persona in Places of All Sizes

Downtown associations know their attraction and retention results are due in part to their marketing efforts. But how do you produce content that helps your downtown stand out from the rest? In this panel, downtown regions like Bozeman, MT; Los Angeles, CA; and Memphis, TN will discuss how marketing their narrative started with understanding the unique pieces of their story – namely, their data.

Making the Case: Market Analysis Scenario Workshop

Today, downtown and urban district professionals need clear and concise data to strategically inform management and investment decisions. This workshop begins with a baseline understanding of the data that can be useful for understanding the local market, including how to retrieve the data and how to supplement the data with local knowledge. Structured as a practicum, participants will then work in small groups to apply the methodologies and analyses to build a comprehensive district profile.

Impacts and Challenges of Immigrant Entrepreneurs on Commercial Corridors

Immigrant entrepreneurs navigate bureaucratic hurdles, language barriers and outright xenophobia to open small businesses and pioneer distressed neighborhoods – revitalizing them, often unintentionally. Four professionals from diverse backgrounds share their experiences delving into subjects such as the cultural nuances to financing, murkiness of cash-only transactions, loose interpretation of rules and regulations, and more.

Everybody Innovates Here: Accelerating Innovation and Entrepreneurship Downtown

This session will show how to develop a higher-impact, sustainable, inclusive and more effective way to accelerate innovation and entrepreneurship downtown through programs, places, nerve centers, districts and ecosystems. Two case studies will illustrate these concepts: a downtown district in Metuchen, NJ with over $100 million of investment since 2016, and Makerhoods, innovative live-work space, also in New Jersey. These examples will show how innovation is achievable by everyone.

Event Planning, Advocacy and Economic Development Through Smart Data

We’ve all heard about smart data, but how does it play a role in public space activations? This panel of downtown experts will share how pedestrian data and engaging mobile surveys helped enable partners in San Francisco and Dallas advocate successfully to municipal partners, increase sponsorships in dramatic ways, enhance economic development programs and create special destinations.

City of Arcades

FOR Cardiff has struggled to identify its USP and wanted to address this by using one of the city’s best assets to attract new and old visitors, the beautiful arcades. They utilized FC Ambassadors to gather feedback from businesses, researched other independent shopping campaigns, and identified a need to first win-back Cardiff shoppers who were already aware of the arcades and encourage new visitors and customers.

CC2DCA Pedestrian Connection Feasibility Study

The Crystal City BID saw an opportunity to further leverage the DCA airport’s proximity to their downtown by bringing it a few steps closer. A new pedestrian connection could harness the multitude of transportation assets in Crystal City, seamlessly link them into a multimodal hub, and position the neighborhood to attract additional rail services such as Amtrak, regional commuter rail, and even a future high-speed rail station.

San Pedro Squared

The San Pedro Squared project converted 12 parking spaces in a nearly block-long city-owned garage and five on-street parking spots into four micro-retail shops and the city’s longest parklet. The four shops, collectively called MOMENT, changed the streetscape and feel of the block. The shops and parklet provide unique and aesthetically interesting improvements to the garage facade, with wooden awnings, bright furniture, sidewalk painting, murals and lush plantings that soften the building.

Garment District Rezoning

The Garment District Alliance, which represents Midtown Manhattan, recently played a leading role in a plan that culminated in a New York City Council vote in December 2018 to remove a neighborhood zoning overlay, releasing millions of square feet of space from outdated, use-restricting regulations. The Alliance’s budget will be increased by $2.5 million for ten years to fund programming that improves quality of life and economic vitality for all in the area.

Downtown Tulsa Walkability Study

The team conducted a street-by-street analysis (20 miles total) of existing conditions including lane width, sidewalk width, on-street parking, traffic speeds, pedestrian traffic, and ground floor vacancy to gauge how existing conditions impact the efficiency and economic functionality of downtown. With fieldwork completed, the team engaged with city planning and traffic engineering staff to better understand the thought and efforts going into street reconstruction and striping efforts.

Soda City Market

Columbia’s Soda City weekly street market started within the confines of a single block and now runs along the 1300-1500 blocks of Main Street and has a large economic impact. There are 5,000-7,000 visitors to Soda City Market on a regular Saturday and up to 10,000 on a special event day. Patrons can find farmers, artisans, and artists who all fall into one of three categories: Brain, Body, or Belly.

Milwaukee Public Market: An Economic Catalyst for Milwaukee and the Historic Third Ward

Determining the location for the Milwaukee Public Market was integral to the city’s revitalization. Being able to create a linkage between the different Milwaukee neighborhoods, specifically the third ward to downtown, could draw residents and tourists into the city in a way that had proven difficult for years. The Market has acted as a business incubator for local entrepreneurs who have since been able to grow and form community connections that provide opportunities for continued success.

Dupont Circle BID Brand Launch & Implementation

The Dupont Circle BID catalyzed renewal of the area’s public infrastructure through $25 million in streetscape upgrades and an innovative plaza deck over an avenue dividing the retail core. Flowing from Dupont Circle, it will be an exciting, programmable gathering space for the entire city. Its marketing roll-out includes a content-rich website, social media platforms, colorful street light banners, monthly newsletters, transit advertising, a neighborhood guide, and materials for retail brokers.

Homemade In Downtown

Downtown Sioux Falls, Inc. (DTSF) and local advertising agency, Fresh Produce, collaborated to create a comprehensive marketing campaign that featured co-op advertising opportunities for DTSF business members. Strong communication between DTSF, Fresh Produce, and members – as well as support from key stakeholders – made it possible to develop creative that pleased the large majority of members, and led to high satisfaction among participating businesses.

Kate Joncas Master Talk – Baltimore 2019

Kate is currently the Director of Urban Strategy and Development for MIG. She leads strategic efforts for complex urban projects in downtowns, neighborhoods and urbanizing places. As Seattle Deputy Mayor from 2014 – 2017 she directed 32 departments, led waterfront redevelopment and Convention Center expansion, and developed a nationally recognized government performance initiative.

Scooter Monroe Master Talk

Scooter Monroe is responsible for executing Weller’s vision for development projects and operating businesses from concept through completion. Mr. Monroe has over 14 years of experience in the development of commercial and multi-family projects in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.

The Value of U.S. Downtowns and Center Cities: Third Edition

A strong downtown is critical for a successful city and region. This groundbreaking study articulates the inherent value a downtown provides to the greater city, highlighting a downtown’s unique and impactful contributions while accounting for 100+ key data points based on economy, inclusion, vibrancy, identity, and resilience. With three years of data, IDA grouped each of the center cities into one of three downtown tiers: Emerging, Growing and Established. 

Selden Market

Selden Market is the latest initiative in Downtown Norfolk Council’s Vibrant Spaces program. Located in the historic Selden Arcade that sits between Main and Plume Streets in downtown, Selden Market serves as Downtown Norfolk’s first retail incubator to help new and emerging businesses get established by providing six-month leases with significantly reduced rents.

Susan Mernit Master Talk

Susan Mernit is a serial tech and media entrepreneur, a Tech Stars alumni and a former consultant to the Knight Foundation. She is the founder of Oakland Local, an early—and still active—hyperlocal non-profit news site with a focus on diverse community voices. Hack the Hood, a tech inclusion non-profit she co-founded, was a 2014 winner of the Google Bay Area Impact Challenge. Hack the Hood, Oakland-based non-profit, opens up the opportunity pipeline in tech for low-income young people of color.

Former Mayor Edwin Lee Master Talk

Before passing in 2017, Edwin Lee was an American politician and attorney who served as the 43rd Mayor of San Francisco, and was the first Asian American to hold the office.

Michael Berne Master Talk

Michael Berne is one of North America’s foremost experts in Downtown and Main Street retail. As President of MJB Consulting (MJB), he has worked in cities and towns across the U.S., Canada and the U.K., and he has also spoken and written extensively on the subject. He is currently penning a chapter to a forthcoming volume on Suburban Downtowns and writing a book on “A New Retail Paradigm for the City Center.”

Jeffrey Robinson Master Talk

Jeffrey A. Robinson, Ph.D. is an award-winning business school professor, international speaker and entrepreneur. Since 2008, he has been a leading faculty member at Rutgers Business School where he is an associate professor of management and entrepreneurship and the Academic Director of The Center for Urban Entrepreneurship & Economic Development. Dr. Robinson is a passionate advocate for social entrepreneurship, inclusive innovation and economic development.

Janet Marie Smith Master Talk

Janet Marie Smith was named Dodgers’ senior vice president of planning and development in 2012. Since then, she has overseen large-scale improvement projects at Dodger Stadium and Campo Las Palmas. Smith is best known for her work on the construction and design of Oriole Park at Camden Yards, which set the standard for a new wave of ballparks after its opening in 1992.

Simon O’Byrne Master Talk

Simon O’Byrne is an award-winning urban designer/planner with Stantec’s Urban Places who has been frequently quoted in European and North America media and spoken at many international conferences. Simon has led multi-disciplinary design teams in the planning and delivery of complex and politically charged projects. His experience ranges from intensive urban revitalization redevelopments, to the Ice District in Edmonton, to creating resiliency in Hull, UK, to the Alberta Legislature Grounds.

Larisa Ortiz Master Talk

Larisa Ortiz is Principal of Larisa Ortiz Associates (LOA), an award‐winning downtown retail advisory firm, and a Mayoral appointee to the New York City Planning Commission. Since founding LOA in 2008, Larisa has developed retail and implementation strategies for over 200 districts worldwide. Larisa is the author of “Improving Tenant Mix: A Guide for Commercial District Practitioners” (ICSC, 2015) and “Real Estate Redevelopment and Reuse” (IEDC, 2000).

Neighborhood 360°: Planning for the Future of New York City Commercial Districts

In order to begin the deployment of what is now known as N360°, SBS developed a strategic public-private partnership with LISC NYC and Citi Community Development, aided by technical assistance from Larisa Ortiz Associates, to develop an assessment tool and analytical framework — a “Commercial District Needs Assessment” (CDNA) — that would help SBS to engage community partners in evaluating existing conditions and identifying needs of a commercial district.

Holding Back the Tides of Time: How We Deal With Changing Retail Mixes

There is an ever-widening array of policy tools that cities in California and beyond have already implemented or are considering in an effort to regulate retail mixes and slow tenant displacement in rapidly-gentrifying or already-gentrified business districts. With some of these, enough time has even elapsed that we can now start to analyze outcomes.

It Might be All About the Experiences, But Experiences Do Not Pay the Rent

Retail expert Michael Berne, President of MJB Consulting, lays out the fundamentals of experiential retail, its do’s and don’ts, how it works, and how experiences tie in to successful retail. Make sure your downtown retailers are employing the age old strategy of experiential retail in a way that helps boost their business.

Art of the State: Leveraging Local Culture and Creativity

This session will present a snapshot of case studies that engage makers, artists and other creatives in downtown promotions, placemaking and development projects. Great Downtowns of all sizes are identified by their cultural environment. We will explore how both large and small investments in arts and creativity can return dividends that multiply.

Bringing Back Main Streets

A look at historically popular areas that went through an idle period, but have since seen a resurgence through a combination of means (space management, economic development, etc).

Consumer Trends and Patterns in Retail

This presentation shares examples of contemporary strategies in brick and mortar retail to boost appeal to consumers and create a more experience driven offering to entice consumers.

Downtown Skywalk App

The Downtown Des Moines skywalks provide a simple and convenient way to get around no matter the season. The SkyWalkDSM app is a handy way for visitors and locals to navigate downtown through the climate-controlled skywalks. The skywalk itself is nearly four miles long and connects individuals to businesses, restaurants, shopping, events and hotels. The skywalk network system is nearly four miles long and connects individuals to businesses, restaurants, shopping, events and hotels.

Downtown Cleveland Alliance 3-tiered Marketing Campaign

Downtown Cleveland Alliance accomplished the goal of creating economic impact for their community through a strategic and innovative three-tiered marketing campaign involving the development of print and digital advertising, the production of an annual video, and the creation of native advertising content.

Brew University (Brew U)

Downtown Fresno Partnership (DFP) held a brainstorming session in the summer of 2016 to continue the advancement of downtown’s craft beer scene. The chosen concept was a training program to incubate ideas and equip home brewers to take the next step.

Lower Manhattan HQ (LMHQ)

A new type of workspace was needed as a generation of employees entering the workforce expected their employers to provide them with amenities to enhance their workplace. The Alliance for Downtown New York embraced the spirit of innovation to address downtown management challenges by opening Lower Manhattan HQ (LMHQ). LMHQ is a state-of-the-art, 12,500 sf hybrid-facility designed to provide an affordable resource for burgeoning sectors to help foster new opportunities and support new business.

Inside Downtown Delray Beach Video Series

The Delray Beach Downtown Development Authority (DDA) launched their “Inside Downtown Delray Beach Video Series” to highlight the unique attributes and authenticity of downtown. The business owners, residents and visitors, also known as the “faces behind the spaces,” were given an opportunity to express what they love most about downtown. Conveying vibrancy, activity friendliness, and walkability in the marketing and PR messaging was crucial to sustaining and growing Downtown Delray Beach.

Open for Business

Open for Business is a project to increase awareness of the West End Business Improvement Zone as an ideal place for businesses to locate. The project was designed to provide a full picture of information on the area to help recruit new businesses to the zone. Extensive research was conducted to gather compelling information on the area specific to what brokers were looking for, and condensed into a format that was attractive, easy to use and understand.