Community Revitalization Desktop Guide

step four: “ The other thing we did back in the 60s and 70s was we thought that if we put in a new streetscape, it would solve all of our problems and the private sector would come back. Or if we bulldozed some old buildings, that would take care of it all. Or if we built a convention center, that would take care of it all. The single bullet approach doesn’t work. It’s many, many different initiatives at the same time. It’s part of the complexity of downtown. So you can’t put all your hopes in a convention center/hotel, using that as the great hope of downtown Lancaster, it’s a burden on that project that it cannot bear. It’s got to be one of many, many projects going forward.” – CHRISTOPHER LEINBERGER , DOWNTOWN REVITALIZATION EXPERT AND URBAN DEVELOPER SPEAKING TO CITY OF LANCASTER select redevelopment area choose redevelopment area While it is admittedly politically difﬁcult to target funding to one area when other areas also need investment, targeting resources is essential to a successful revitalization strategy. Local elected ofﬁcials should apply a ﬁve-part test to select their redevelopment area: 1. The area should be viable. A municipality should not begin by investing in its most deteriorated neighborhood. The area a core community focuses investment on should have strong assets, land for which site control is readily available and if possible, a developer who has expressed interest. 2. The area should have assets interesting to the private market. Local government ofﬁcials must be able to sell their product, the municipality, to a private investor. To do this, they must share information about the site’s assets that will create conﬁdence in a developer that he or she can attract a tenant or buyer to the site. Without private investment, a catalytic development is highly improbable. 3. Community should support redevelopment in the area. The redevelopment area should be located in an area of town where there is a consensus among stakeholders as to redevelopment goals. Choosing an area where residents or leaders oppose redevelopment or where strong community opposition exists considerably weakens chances for attracting a private developer. Developers dislike the unpredictability that local political battles create. 4. Investment should have major impact on the local economy. The goal is to create a catalytic investment that will prove the market and spur other development. It is important not to tinker at the fringes but rather tackle a signiﬁcant development project that will begin to change the dynamics of the marketplace. 5. Each investment should attract more investment. A single project will not revitalize a core community but it may show a transformation sufﬁcient to spark developer interest and change lenders’ perceptions of the area. Studies show that development projects that spur additional development share several key characteristics. The initial project that fuels related development tends to be a destination that draws people to the area and creates demand for other uses nearby. The destination project also typically changes the area’s image, and is designed in a way that links it closely with its surroundings and creates pedestrian activity. step four: Target Resources To One Area to Beneﬁt Whole Community 43 Richmond Virginia faced some serious challenges at the beginning of this decade. With over 3,500 vacant and abandoned properties, a high per capita murder rate and 80% of public school children living at or below poverty, the city needed to make some dramatic changes to make its neighborhoods safe and attractive places to live. In 1999, Richmond adopted Neighborhoods in Bloom (NIB), a program to target city resources to a few select neighborhoods to catalyze neighborhood revitalization. Seven neighborhoods were chosen based upon their attractiveness to the private market and potential for change. Neighborhoods in Bloom targeted public investment and services and leveraged $3 of private investment for each $1 of public money. As a result, the city saw its ﬁrst new private market housing in decades, development costs started catching up with sales prices and there were substantial crime reductions within the ﬁrst four years. Richmond attributes its success to its City Council’s willingness to set aside the desires, and sometimes needs, of individual districts, for the good of the overall city. footnotes: step four Note: 43 http://www.lisc.org/docs/experts/2005/eo_11_08_2005.pdf GOAL ONE: CHOOSE ONE ASSET-RICH REDEVELOPMENT AREA step four: choose redevelopment area 22 http://www.lisc.org/docs/experts/2005/eo_11_08_2005.pdf

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Community Revitalization Desktop Guide

PA Community Revitalization Desktop Guide Table of Contents How To Attract High Impact Investment to Core Communities Goal One: Choose One Asset-Rich Redevelopment Area Interviews with Pennsylvania Mayors Goal Two: Prepare Redevelopment Area for Market Interviews with Developers who Have Invested in Pennsylvania Cities and Towns Goal Three: Welcome Investment Interviews with Developers who Have Invested in Pennsylvania Cities and Towns Goal Four: Apply Strategies That Work Conclusion

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.