How Cities Can Help Retail Catch Up with Residential

Scott Beyer begins an article for Governing by noting that Downtown Cleveland has all the trappings of a full-blown downtown renaissance: "Downtown Cleveland right now has its highest-ever population, with more than 13,000 residents and lots of new housing developments on the way. There are more than 4,000 hotel rooms, with another thousand expected by 2016." 

Yet there's something missing:

"If you are looking for a large grocery store, however, you’re still out of luck. The first one, Heinen’s Fine Foods, is set to open soon, but residents so far have had to make do with quick marts and gourmet prepared-food delis. Even following the opening of Heinen’s, downtown Cleveland still will not have many of the amenities found in denser areas: Neither Target nor Walmart has launched one of its urban-style branches here. There’s no large office supply or electronic retailer. And the many empty storefronts remind passersby of the basic amenities they are still missing, such as a hardware shop."

Beyer notes that the example of Cleveland is one of two ways that the "retail follows rooftops" trend manifests:

"In trending Brooklyn neighborhoods like Crown Heights, for example, one still finds greasy takeouts and bodegas with bulletproof glass, rather than healthy sit-down restaurants or other amenities that newly arrived residents might want. Meanwhile, cities without a previous critical mass, like Cleveland, can have difficulty attracting retail altogether, despite their large residential presence."

Beyer goes on to examine the tools that cities use to speed up the process of retail catching up with the residential population, such as tax increment financing and business improvement districts.