American Cities are Revitalizing Their Downtowns and Recreating Their Profiles - 0 views
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Ihering Alcoforado on 17 Apr 12American Cities are Revitalizing Their Downtowns and Recreating Their Profiles Mar 28, 2012 12:26 PM, By Susan Piperato, Managing Editor The push toward downtown revitalization that began in the 1990s has survived the Great Recession. ARTICLE TOOLS Email Save Print Reprint LATEST NEWS Lenders Eager to Take Back Trophy Assets CMBS Delinquencies Spike, But Outlook for the Year Remains Stable A Coming Deluge of Apartment Construction Cornerstone Raises $315M for Debt Investment Club, Closes Mortgage Fund The Early Phase of Real Estate Recovery MORE LATEST NEWS advertisement But in this gradually improving economy, attracting development isn't easy. It means carrying "a Swiss Army knife" of creative tools, says West Palm Beach Downtown Development Authority Director Raphael Clemente. For 10 years, West Palm Beach's downtown has lost retail to an urbanist infill project on the CBD's outskirts. Clemente's shoestring-budgeted campaign to recruit retailer Trader Joe's, including a YouTube video in which residents give humorous answers to the question, "What would you trade for Trader Joe's?" has already succeeded in differentiating the city from "the other 50 cities in Florida that are trying to get a Trader Joe's" and starting a dialogue. "We know we're fighting for tenants and investor dollars and consumer dollars with other areas, malls and midsize cities in our region," Clemente says. "So when we go out there to recruit, we do the best job we can with limited resources to set ourselves apart." Philadelphia's population has grown for the first time in 50 years. Clemente's experience is typical of American cities, regardless of size or location. Yes, the movement to reinvigorate Main Street is back, but it's very different than it was 20 years ago. For today's urban downtowns, development means redevelopment, and attracting redevelopment dollars means reinventing a city's identity. A city's individuation is crucial