Redevelopment Strategies: "Niching"

[JaxNative68]

unfortunately most "niching" has been replaced by "town center" live, work and play concepts by the developer and always gets built out at once and tends to turn out looking very contrived and fabricated.

[stephendare]

unfortunately most "niching" has been replaced by "town center" live, work and play concepts by the developer and always gets built out at once and tends to turn out looking very contrived and fabricated.

and doesnt work in the long run.  The development isnt natural or "organic", there is no natural reason for people to be there, and without street and foot traffic, the first downturn and its over.

[urbanjacksonville]

Don't forget City Kidz and soon to open Uptown Market at 3rd and Main. More food venues means people will stay in the neighborhood longer.

[Overstreet]

Town center works if it fills a need instead of trying to create a need.  For example, Edgewood center was a brownfield development in Atlanta. It was a abandoned car dealer, old U-haul facility,  and the Atlanta Gas light offices and maintenance yard.  They took everything down except the old shoe factory (one of the Gas Light offices).  The shoe factory was turned into lofts. The land was turned into a "lifestyle center" with a street of small shops with residential on 2 and 3. The big box Target, Kroger, Lowes, Best Buy were flanked by smaller stores and hidden from the main road. The outparcels were sold to multi family developments.  The key was the area needed the shopping anyway.  Three of the four neighborhoods around it were resurgent neighborhoods. Edgewood had it's own problems, but there were a resurgence of people moving in from the burbs to be inside I-285 and closer to work in the down town areas of Atlanta.  Little five points is nearby and already had a couple of loft apartment buildings.

We really don't have any situations quite like that in Jacksonville.

[thelakelander]

What about Brooklyn?  Surrounded by Downtown, the river, Five Points and Riverside.  The west end will soon be the main entrance into downtown from I-10.

[Overstreet]

Nobody lives east or north of Brooklyn.  Five points and Riverside are basically the same thing to the south. The west across I-95 is a neighborhood that hasn't yet decided which way it wants to go.

The Edgewood situation was more centralized to residential areas. There was a better mix of $$$ ,and  $$ areas.

[stjr]

I agree that the Jacksonville Farmers Market is a good example.  I often feel like I am in the midst of a main street or center square in a town full of produce!  Not made clear is that there are farmers, wholesalers, and retailers who trade amongst each other to complete the interconnectivity of those present.  So, not only do competing vendors share customers, they share suppliers.   It's the classic 1 + 1 = 3.

New York has other clusters such as Broadway for theater, the Diamond district for jewelery, Fifth Avenue for upscale shopping, Madison Avenue for advertising, Avenue of the Americas for corporate offices, etc.  Washington DC has an unusual cluster, Embassy Row.

Whole cities have been large scale industry clusters such as Hartford for insurance, Detroit for autos, Akron for rubber, Milwaukee for beer, Hollywood for film studios, Orlando for theme parks, Las Vegas for casinos, Houston for oil companies, Paris for fashion and art, Atlanta for logistics, Norfolk for the Navy, Silicon Valley for computer technology, Research Triangle for drug companies, High Point, NC, for furniture, country music in Nashville, capitols for government, etc.

Another example, though perhaps a little less obvious, is the clustering of car dealers.  Most dealers in town are clustered around the Avenues, Orange Park, Atlantic Blvd, and Cassatt.  And, even where a few stray, they have a mini cluster such as Key Buick, Nolan Cadillac, and North Florida Lincoln Mercury on Southside Blvd. 

Many times you will see clustering of services for boaters around marinas such as Lakeshore Blvd.

It the old days, gas stations would cluster, with one each on all four corners of an intersection.  Restaurants in a mall food court would be another example.  Apartment complexes often pop up in proximity to each other as well.

Well... its apparent this concept is practiced with success frequently.  Maybe, zoning laws should be designed to encourage it more.

[fsujax]

In order for the Landing to become more vibrant it has got to be opened up to the street! I really wish Tony would try and do this even if the City will not sell him the land underneath.

[heights unknown]

Well let's see; the niche downtown, that is, to draw people downtown could be many, such as:

1) Weekly (weekend?) classic car show
2) Weekly or weekend Farmer's Market (already have this)
3) Weekly or weekend open air national entertainment act and/or festival
4) Weekly or weekend job fair (convention center?)
5) Weekly or weekend arts/culture festival/fair (already have?)
6) Weekly or weekend outside antique shows
7) Weekly or weekend regular or upscale flea markets

And there's many more "niches" you could add to this for downtown; but just think of the other niches that could be employed for almost each area or neighborhood of Jacksonville to keep our residents and tourists busy if our City Leaders would just get to work, earn thier pay, and ignite these niches for the respective areas; it's not hard to do, however, in these tough economic times money would be a huge problem, that is, finding the funds to support such niches once they are employed and underway.

Heights Unknown

[stephendare]

I think you are totally correct about the Landing, btw.

Historically Jacksonville's downtown worked precisely because it was a tightly organized Niched Megacluster based around Maritime to Rail transportation.  The way the old city worked, the Port was adjacent to a massive warehousing and logistical support district.  (that was surprisingly well represented by African American ownership.

Then adjacent to the Port and Warehousing there was a massive (especially for the time) Shipyard.  Exactly adjacent to that was a wharf district that dumped the sundry goods coming in from merchant marines directly to a market (however dismal it may have been)

Directly next to the Wharves, was the great trainyards of the Prime Osborne, connecting the port and rail from the rest of the country to the high seas.

For this reason, Jacksonville was a fully capitalized modern economy be the end of the 1800s, and remained so all the way throughout the great depression.

It wasnt until the great collective freak out over the Civil Right movement that taxation policies combined with easy cars and roads to create the great (mostly white, and mostly bargain hunting) flight out of the municipal taxation districts.---a policy which continues totally unchecked and with the active encouragement of local politics to this day.

[Fallen Buckeye]

I agree that the Jacksonville Farmers Market is a good example.  I often feel like I am in the midst of a main street or center square in a town full of produce!  Not made clear is that there are farmers, wholesalers, and retailers who trade amongst each other to complete the interconnectivity of those present.  So, not only do competing vendors share customers, they share suppliers.   It's the classic 1 + 1 = 3.

New York has other clusters such as Broadway for theater, the Diamond district for jewelery, Fifth Avenue for upscale shopping, Madison Avenue for advertising, Avenue of the Americas for corporate offices, etc.  Washington DC has an unusual cluster, Embassy Row.

Whole cities have been large scale industry clusters such as Hartford for insurance, Detroit for autos, Akron for rubber, Milwaukee for beer, Hollywood for film studios, Orlando for theme parks, Las Vegas for casinos, Houston for oil companies, Paris for fashion and art, Atlanta for logistics, Norfolk for the Navy, Silicon Valley for computer technology, Research Triangle for drug companies, High Point, NC, for furniture, country music in Nashville, capitols for government, etc.

Another example, though perhaps a little less obvious, is the clustering of car dealers.  Most dealers in town are clustered around the Avenues, Orange Park, Atlantic Blvd, and Cassatt.  And, even where a few stray, they have a mini cluster such as Key Buick, Nolan Cadillac, and North Florida Lincoln Mercury on Southside Blvd. 

Many times you will see clustering of services for boaters around marinas such as Lakeshore Blvd.

It the old days, gas stations would cluster, with one each on all four corners of an intersection.  Restaurants in a mall food court would be another example.  Apartment complexes often pop up in proximity to each other as well.

Well... its apparent this concept is practiced with success frequently.  Maybe, zoning laws should be designed to encourage it more.

I think there are lots of opportunities for clustering and niching, but it comes down to an areas ability to sell itself as the destination for theater (like in NYC's theater district) or blues music (like Beale St. in Memphis) or whatever. That means getting media outlets involved in branding an area and chambers of commerce and neighborhood groups and so on.

Having a common unifying thread throughout an area besides function is important too. For example, a common architecture sets Victorian Village in Columbus apart from other neighborhoods. Even little touches like unique street signs and lighting help set an area apart and lets anyone traveling through know that there is something different about this part of town. In the historic districts of my hometown streets are all paved in brick for example and homes and businesses must follow certain codes when making improvements to keep the historic feel.

Good signage also goes a long way.

Portland Chinatown: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ChinatownGatePortland.jpg#file

San Diego Gaslamp Quarter: http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/gallery/8602038_XMnx6#567311626_A2Fvb-A-LB

Columbus Arena District: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/photos/thumbs/lrg-1891-p1010182.JPG

[sheclown]

Don't you suppose that franchising has been the death of niching?  I mean, why travel to a different "Red Lobster?"  Springfield, and other struggling neighborhoods, have the advantage of moms & pops, of unique places to explore. 

The Landing is nothing more than another mall with a food court...what's the point? 

[thelakelander]

I don't believe that niching has died.  Its still alive and kicking.  Outside of the government district around Hemming, we just haven't taken advantage of it in downtown.

[stephendare]

Sheclown, franchising is the exact opposite of niching.   

Niching is a concept about interdependent similar natured businesses and people.  Comparing it to franchising is like comparing fish to formica.

[iloveionia]

Lake, the first time I ever saw this done with intent was in the Los Angeles-Long Beach metroplex. Somewhere in East Long Beach a guy bought out a really big old tourist court motel. very conceivable hobby shop he could find.



OCKLAWAHA

Ock, do you know exactly where you remember this to be?  Or do you remember the name? I am racking my brain and can not see this space.  Maybe it no longer exists?  Many in Springfield have voiced opinion of how absolutely COOL it would be to take Dancy Terrace/Redell Court and run with this niche idea.  I can totally see mom and pop art and specialty shops in those bungalows.  Dancy has such potential. 

Los Angeles has several niche areas similiar to NYC, just more spread out.  They have an AMAZING Farmer's Market.  http://www.farmersmarketla.com/ 

Olvera Street has a niche feel as well.  http://www.olvera-street.com/html/olvera_street.html 

In Long Beach, there is a several block spread of Retro Shops that is popular, again following the niche idea.  http://4thstreetlongbeach.com/