Last week, a panel of retailers and developers discussed the challenges--and, ultimately, the keys to success--of urban retail. Susan Piperato reports.
"For urban retail to be successful, there must not be any disparity between function and urban space, said G. Lamont Blackstone, principal of G.L. Blackstone & Associates LLC, a Mount Vernon, N.Y.-based real estate development company. He noted that he often finds an 'intrinsic tension' between a community's desire for parking and the operator's ideas.
Daniel Shallit, Sports Authority's director or real estate for the northeast region, said that regardless of a store's location-whether in a suburban mall or an urban vertical location-Sports Authority needs parking because "you can't buy a treadmill and take it on the bus or train." ...However, Shallit added, Sports Authority does best when located near transit hubs so that commuters taking mass transportation can notice the stores and return on weekends."
Read the full story: Urban Retail Continues its Evolution
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City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority