Urban Revival

Urban Revival

By Janet Leiser

Managing Editor

Downtown investment is at an all-time high in Sarasota and Bradenton, an estimated $2.5 billion in five years in Sarasota alone.

In Sarasota, there's the 16-story Plaza at Five Points, the 15-story Rivo at Ringling, the 17-story Alinari at Rosemary Place and the Whole Foods Market Center, to name a few. In downtown Bradenton, there's the 8-story Promenade at Riverwalk and a new judicial center and parking garage.

And more is on the way.

Ohio-based Isaac Property Co. plans to make the Sarasota downtown a retail destination. The company is trying to accumulate enough acreage to attract upscale national retail chains. Last year, it bought the former Ovo Cafe at State Street and Lemon Avenue for $2.4 million. Isaac officials are expected to go before the Sarasota City Commission later this month seeking support for a public-private partnership.

Retail growth is not limited to the downtowns.

Both cities will soon face increased suburban competition. Developers Casto Southeast Inc. and Schroeder-Manatee Ranch Inc. are building Main Street at Lakewood Ranch, with retail, office and residential on 30 acres.

It's an unprecedented time for the regional construction industry.

Of all the expansion occurring in the region, nowhere is it as crucial as in downtown Sarasota. The core is key to the region's identity and central to its future.

City commissioners and business leaders recognize this. Two months ago, Michael Saunders & Co. and The Downtown Partnership of Sarasota Inc. brought in urban planner Robert Gibbs for a one-day symposium on what it takes to make a successful downtown.

Gibbs pointed north to what he calls a world-class shopping destination in South Carolina.

'Charles Town'

In downtown Charleston, many of the roads are cobblestone. Centuries-old clapboard or stone houses, with stenciled plate-glass windows, serve as shops. A waterfront park, antebellum homes with manicured lawns and horse-drawn carriages add to the charm.

Charleston is one of the top five shopping destinations in the country after New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Boston, according to Gibbs. The entire Charleston area attracted 4.6 million visitors with a total economic impact of $5.1 billion in 2003, according to the Charleston Chamber of Commerce. And about 70%, or 3.2 million, of those visitors shopped downtown.

What makes the city so special?

For starters, it has history, dating back to 1670 when English colonists settled in the area and named it after King Charles II of England.

It has geography, between the Ashley and Cooper rivers.

It has preservation, with its grand, old mansions. Unlike other southern cities, buildings weren't razed after the Civil War to make way for the new.

"We were so poor we had no money to tear down and rebuild," says Lawrence O. Thompson, a longtime assistant to the mayor who now works as a private developer.

In addition, residents have always lived in the downtown, a peninsula connected by bridge to the mainland.

But many people, including Gibbs and Thompson, say the reason for Charleston's success goes far beyond the city's attributes. They give much of the credit to one man, Joseph P. Riley Jr., a hands-on manager who takes pride in every project down to the last detail.

Brand manager

"The fact is the city was dying until Mayor Joe Riley became mayor in 1975," Thompson says. "He developed a plan and stuck with the plan."

For 30 years, the mayor, also the city's chief urban planner, has approved every project, every sign, even the color of the gravel in the downtown waterfront park.

"They've been very consistent about the quality of the public and private buildings and designs that have been built in the city," says Gibbs. "They've really raised the bar for the standard of what's built. Most developers will do as asked if they know others coming in behind them will have to adhere to the same high standards."

Riley, who has won re-election eight times, has received national recognition for his work in Charleston. In 2004, he was acclaimed by Newsweek magazine as one of the country's most dynamic mayors in America; four years before that he received the first Urban Land Institute J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development.

"A city should be a place with such beauty and order that it is inspirational ... The greatest cities are those with such beautiful public places, and that is what we sought to achieve in Charleston," Riley was quoted as saying when he received the Nichols award.

In 1986, he established the Mayor's Institute of City Design to train other mayors on urban planning. The program, now held at the College of Charleston, is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Charleston's turning point, Thompson says, came in the 1980s with the development of Charleston Place, a first-class hotel and retail complex on King Street. Riley, who did not return calls to GCBR for comment, led the revitalization, which includes a 450-room Orient-Express Hotel.

It is one of the top 15 hotels in the country, Thompson says. Rooms start at $319 per night.

Next was Saks Fifth Avenue. Other retailers, including Gucci's, Talbots and Brookstone, followed.

Gentrification

But some worry the city's success might be its undoing: property values have skyrocketed in recent years.

Younger families are leaving the area for more affordable neighborhoods, usually in the suburbs. Many of those who own downtown homes are part-time residents who can afford the million-dollar price tags. Few lights are seen on some streets at night. The houses really aren't homes.

Some say the area will wither without families. Riley has told The Post and Courier, Charleston's daily newspaper, it's an important issue for the city.

Residents say they're worried the "hollowing out" of the city will eat at its cultural identity as the "real Charstonians" head to the suburbs.

It's a perplexing problem. But retail continues to flourish.

A recent study by Gibbs' Birmingham, Mich.-based firm shows that Charleston is not being overwhelmed with national retailers as city leaders feared. About 82% of the merchants are local, which is important, Gibbs says. For a downtown to be successful, there must be a mix of local retailers and national chains.

"As long as Charleston can keep its antique district - it has one of the best in the South - it can still be a vibrant downtown," Gibbs says.

Wanted: Brand manager

Sarasota need not look as far as Charleston to find a downtown to emulate, Gibbs says. Naples has been successful in its efforts in the past decade. So has Winter Park, near Orlando.

Sarasota has made progress of its own: Seven condominium towers are planned or under construction, including the Plaza at Five Points, the Rivo at Ringling and Alinari at Rosemary.

The city's planning director, Jane Robinson, says downtown investment was an estimated $2.5 billion for the past five years. Though, she cautions, that amount includes proposed projects not yet built.

Gibbs says the area doesn't meet its potential.

"The image that's projected now is the downtown doesn't give high quality or service," he says, adding that Palm Avenue is an exception. Unless a brand manager emerges, Sarasota's growth will be hindered. Says Thompson: "You have to have a leader. You have to have someone who can marshal the forces and keep the people under the same tent. It's not always easy."

A brand manager doesn't have to be a single person, Gibbs says. After all, what are the odds Sarasota could find a Mayor Riley to watch over the city for the next 30 years?

"It could be a group of business owners," Gibbs says, and it can be a public-private partnership such as The Downtown Partnership and Sarasota city government.

But there has to be a leader, he says.

"Some store signs and store fronts are really unpleasant and outdated in Sarasota," Gibbs says. "St. Armand's Circle has that problem too. It has tacky signage that wouldn't be allowed in shopping centers. There's no one watching the store, the brand."

Strip center-quality signs should not be allowed in the downtown, Gibbs says. The storefronts, including the signage, should reflect quality craftsmanship.

Is Tony Souza, the newly appointed executive director of The Downtown Partnership, up for the job?

Souza, 61, a native of New Bedford, Mass., has been executive director of the Waterfront Historic Area League there for nine years. He starts here later this month.

"We want to turn Sarasota into a destination place," says Richardson, a member of the executive selection committee. "There are great changes happening in Sarasota now. There's just a tremendous amount of growth."

The group expects to raise most of its $850,000 budget for the next three years prior to Souza's March 26 start date.

One of the partnership's goals is to start a business improvement district that will include residential, business and retail components, Richardson says.

"We have to make sure things are maintained and taken care of," Richardson says, adding the district will ensure higher standards for landscaping and signage are met.

Adds Gibbs: "You need someone in there for the long haul. It has to be consistent."