DEFINING THE ROLE AND CHARACTER OF URBAN ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICTS: MAIN STREET, CINCINNATI PDF Free Download
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UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI
Date:___________________
I, _________________________________________________________,
hereby submit this work as part of the requirements for the degree of:
in:
It is entitled:
This work and its defense approved by:
Chair: _______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
08/20/2004
Krutarth H. Jain
Masters
Community Planning
Defining the Role and Character of Urban Entertainmnet Districts
Main Street, Cincinnati
Prof. Menelaos Treantafillou, AICP, ASLA
Prof. Jay Chatterjee, FAICP
K. Scott Enns, Coordinator, Community Development
Defining the Role and Character of Urban Entertainment Districts:
Main Street, Cincinnati
A Thesis submitted to the
Division of Research and Advanced Studies
of the University of Cincinnati
in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the degree of
Master of Community Planning
in the School of Planning of the
College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning
2004
By
Krutarth Jain
Diploma in Arch. (Recognized by RIBA)
School of Architecture,
Center of Environment Planning and Technology
Ahmedabad, India
Committee:
Chair: Prof. Menelaos Triantafillou, AICP, ASLA
Faculty Member: Prof. Jay Chatterjee, FAICP
I
ABSTRACT
Like other cities in the United States, Cincinnati is also struggling to reestablish its
identity by revitalizing inner city neighborhoods and central business district through
innovative economic strategies. Cincinnati downtown has few attractions like the
river front stadiums, public open spaces, and art institutions; but they have failed to
generate a critical mass needed to revitalize the downtown. To revitalize these areas,
it is necessary to generate destinations, to attract critical mass across the region. Main
Street is an emerging entertainment and art center of Cincinnati. A visionary urban
design plan to redevelop Main Street as entertainment destination can contribute to
revitalization efforts for Over-the-Rhine and central business district of Cincinnati.
The main design question is how to define areas as entertainment districts within the
given context, and more specifically what should be the role of these areas as urban
entertainment districts. Urban design theories help to determine the design principles
for character of place, scale, architecture, streetscape, landscape, vistas, and
relationship with adjacent context. But to make the plan successful and effective, it is
necessary to understand issues of their vitality, character, ability to change, type of
economic forces, real estate dynamics, trends of regional market, etc. The objective
of the thesis is to understand the phenomena of these complex and interrelated forces,
and to determine the development process, which can help to define the role,
character, and dynamics for Main Street Urban Entertainment District.
II
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank all the faculty members of School of Planning and staff of
University Architect’s office for sharing their knowledge with me.
I would like to thank my committee members Prof. Menelaos Triantafillou, Prof. Jay
Chatterjee and K. Scott Enns for providing their valuable guidance and suggestions
for my thesis.
I also want to use this space to express my admiration to my parents and family
members for their faith and support. Finally I want to express a special thank to
Radhika Jain for holding my hands together.
III
TABLE OF CONTENT
ABSTRACT................................................................................................................... I
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..........................................................................................II
Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION....................................................................................... 1
1.1 Introduction......................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Problem Statement.............................................................................................. 5
1.3 Methodology....................................................................................................... 7
Chapter 2: THE DYNAMICS OF URBAN ENTERTAINMENT AREAS............... 11
2.1 The Trends of Urban Entertainment Areas....................................................... 11
2.1.1 Rapid suburbanization and urban entertainment areas .............................. 13
2.1.2 Birth of contemporary malls and new forms of entertainment .................. 14
2.1.3 Rebirth of urban entertainment areas......................................................... 16
2.2 Entertainment Economics ................................................................................. 19
2.3 Catalyst for Inner City Revitalization ............................................................... 22
Chapter: 3 DEFINING THE CHARACTER OF URBAN ENTERTAINMENT
DISTRICTS ............................................................................................... 24
3.1 Types of Urban Entertainment Areas ............................................................... 25
3.2 Development Process........................................................................................ 27
3.2.1 Location ..................................................................................................... 27
3.2.2 Defining the tenant mix ............................................................................. 30
3.2.3 Financing UEDs......................................................................................... 35
3.3 Design Characteristics of UEDs ....................................................................... 38
3.3.1 Planning and neighborhood development.................................................. 39
3.3.2 Urban design .............................................................................................. 40
3.3.3 Clustering of activities ............................................................................... 43
3.3.4 Entertainment Architecture........................................................................ 45
Chapter 4: CASE STUDIES ....................................................................................... 47
IV
4.1 Analysis/Case Study ......................................................................................... 47
4.1.1 Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica, California................................... 47
4.1.2 Denver Pavilions, Denver, Colorado ......................................................... 55
4.1.3 Bayou Place, Houston, Texas .................................................................... 62
4.1.4 Reston Town Center, Reston, Virginia...................................................... 71
4.1.5 Paseo Colorado, Old Pasadena, California ................................................ 78
4.2 Comparative Analysis....................................................................................... 88
4.2.1 Demographics and market place................................................................ 89
4.2.2 Land use, tenant mix, and size of the project............................................. 90
4.2.3 Project finance ........................................................................................... 91
4.2.4 Design characteristics ................................................................................ 92
4.3 Findings............................................................................................................. 93
Chapter 5: RECOMMENDATIONS TO DEVELOP MAIN STREET AS URBAN
ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT ............................................................. 108
5.1 Vision and Objectives..................................................................................... 108
5.2 Recommendations........................................................................................... 110
5.2.1 Project formulation .................................................................................. 111
5.2.1 Development process............................................................................... 119
5.2.3 Planning and design ................................................................................. 125
BIBLIOGRAPHY..................................................................................................... 138
APPENDIX............................................................................................................... 140
V
LIST OF TABLE
Table 1: Median weekly hours at work for selected years............................................................... 20
Table 2: Time spent by adults on selected leisure activities, 1970 and 2000 .................................. 20
Table 3: Types of entertainment packages........................................................................................25
Table 4: Types of components............................................................................................................ 26
Table 5: Multi-anchoring the urban entertainment center ............................................................. 32
Table 6: Demographics and market place......................................................................................... 89
Table 7: Land use, tenant mix and size of the projects .................................................................... 90
Table 8: Project finance and developers............................................................................................ 91
Table 9: Design process and project characteristics ........................................................................ 92
Table 10: Demographics and market place..................................................................................... 113
Table 11: Proposed project size, land use, and tenant mix for Main Street, Cincinnati............. 118
Table 12: Project finance and developers........................................................................................122
Table 13: Design process and project characteristics .................................................................... 130
VI
LIST OF FIGURE
Figure 1: Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica Entertainment District.................................... 48
Figure 2: Streetscape of Third Street Promenade ............................................................................ 50
Figure 3: Street performance along the Third Street Promenade .................................................. 51
Figure 4: Interactive street signage and shop fronts, Third Street Promenade............................. 52
Figure 5: Streetscape and landscape plan for the pedestrian areas................................................ 53
Figure 6: Denver Pavilions, 16th Street Mall, Denver....................................................................... 55
Figure 7: Denver Pavilions, 16th Street Mall, Denver....................................................................... 56
Figure 8: Illustration showing streetscape, building massing, and open spaces ............................ 57
Figure 9: Billboard architecture and billboard tenants, Denver Pavilions .................................... 59
Figure 10: Pedestrian friendly streetscape for street activities ....................................................... 60
Figure 11: Bayou Place occupies an abandoned conventional center in the heart of .................... 63
Figure 12: Exterior concrete cladding was removed to reuse the building for current
requirements ...................................................................................................................... 66
Figure 13: Site Plan ............................................................................................................................. 67
Figure 14: Semi open spaces were created to open the building on the street ............................... 68
Figure 15: Interior spaces of Bayou Space........................................................................................ 70
Figure 16: Bird’s eye view of the development ................................................................................. 72
Figure 17: Neotraditional design of the Reston Town Center reflects downtown character and an
urban experience in suburban community...................................................................... 74
Figure 18: An extra care was taken to plan retail mix, streetscape, signage, landscape, and public
art to enhance the quality of retail itinerary. .................................................................. 77
Figure 19: Historical heritage: Mediterranean Revival and art deco streetscape dates to 1929.. 79
Figure 20: One Colorado Development: adaptive reuse of historic building and contextual....... 81
Figure 21: Interior court of One Colorado: plaza with public art, outdoor dining, and entrances
to stores and entertainment activities .............................................................................. 82
Figure 22: Mixed use development with street front retails and gathering places ........................ 84
Figure 23: Historic fabric of Old Pasadena and site of Paseo Colorado......................................... 85
Figure 24: Design was developed with the concept of “urban village”........................................... 86
Figure 25: Existing attractions, downtown, Cincinnati.................................................................. 117
Figure 26: Figure ground study, Main Street, Cincinnati ............................................................. 126
Figure 27: Site for Entertainment District, Main Street, Cincinnati............................................ 127
Figure 28: Existing zoning, Main Street, Cincinnati ...................................................................... 128
Figure 29: Main Street Historic District, Cincinnati...................................................................... 129
Figure 29: Conceptual design and site analysis .............................................................................. 132
1
Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction
The purpose of the thesis is to understand the role of the urban design process in the
context of challenges, created by urban problems of 21st century. The major
challenges of 21st century American cities are sprawl, dying inner city
neighborhoods, and vacant downtowns. The role of the urban designer is very critical
to the development of strategies to revitalize and redevelop the central business
district and inner city neighborhoods. It is necessary to understand and identify the
complexities and challenges to develop urban design plans of comprehensive nature
to fulfill the requirements of not only aesthetics, but also economic development,
zoning, transportation, entertainment, and retail development.
Main Street in Cincinnati is quite successful in attracting people to its trendy dance
clubs, restaurants, bars, and artist areas, with popular "Final Friday" parties, and art
gallery openings. Main Street is located in the heart of the central business district
and Over-the-Rhine, one of the historic neighborhoods of its own kind in the United
States. Main Street shows the potential to become a regional entertainment and
cultural district of this region. Many smart cities across the nation have experienced
this phenomenon of revitalizing downtown by developing an urban entertainment
district to attract people from across the region.
2
The aim of the study is to identify and understand the complexities and challenges of
the inner city neighborhoods and central business district in order to develop an urban
design plan for emerging entertainment areas. For the success of an urban design plan
it requires a strong vision and development strategies. Urban design plans for any
area within the inner city ring require a comprehensive approach to achieve the
objectives of revitalization and economic development. The aim of the thesis is to
propose an urban design process to determine the comprehensive design approaches
to prepare design recommendations for emerging entertainment areas. The final
findings of the thesis are in the form of design recommendations and design strategies
to develop an urban entertainment destination in downtown Cincinnati.
The role of urban design in contemporary urban centers is far more complex than it
was in any other era. It is very important to understand the ongoing phenomenon of
urbanization.
The modern city, and the modern social organization of which it is a part, are
clearly far more subtle and complex than the revolutionary vision of fifty
years ago had recognized. (Barnett 1982, 4)
Throughout the United States, the development of interstate highways and automobile
oriented suburban development has changed the nature of contemporary cities. The
centre of power, wealth, economics, art, culture, and entertainment, is not only in the
center of the 21st century metropolis. The small businesses, retail, and entertainment
of the city center could not sustain themselves against the competition generated by
3
new development on the outer edge of cities along the interstates. This phenomenon
has left distressed neighborhoods behind with vacancy, poverty and crime. The
central cities and surrounding neighborhoods have experienced economic and
physical deterioration. The areas of the central business district and inner city
neighborhood business districts that were vibrant and active at one time, are now
struggling to survive against the new suburban shopping centers. With the decline, the
neighborhoods have experienced business and population loss, high rate of
unemployment, crime, disinvestment, high concentration of low-income people, high
vacancy rate, and deterioration of physical environment. Mike Davis (1997) describes
this phenomenon as the “hole in the donut”.
Like many other cities of United States, Cincinnati is struggling to attract businesses
and people from across the region to play an important role in the revitalization
efforts for the central business district and inner city neighborhoods. Cincinnati is
trying to woo the corporate giants in to staying in city by offering big tax abatements,
yet this compromise has not generated enough multiplier effect to attract other
businesses, to fill the vacant office spaces of down town. The riverfront stadiums and
parks attract people across the region for the big games and festivals but so far, the
central business district and inner city attractions have failed to take advantage of
these visitors for a number of reasons.
4
Over-the-Rhine, a 19th century historic neighborhood has many unique attractions to
offer. This neglected neighborhood has tremendous potential to create a unique
environment of its own kind for art, entertainment, and tourism. Since past few years,
Main Street, Over-the-Rhine is becoming a destination point for the artists and young
people. Main Street is a landmark and representative of the impressive architectural
history of the city. It is evolving by its own as an entertainment destination for art,
culture, hobby areas, bars, restaurants, and specialty stores, antique stores, and music.
Artists' studios on Main Street led to galleries, which led to funky bars, which led to
high-tech startups. It is also a truly mixed-income residential area, with low-income
housing cheek-to-cheek with loft apartments and condominiums that are being
snapped up as fast as developers can renovate them. This unique character attracts
young artists, young professionals, entertainment and retail businesses, and realtors
from across the region. Careful strategies of revitalizing Main Street can be an
effective economic force to attract critical mass from across the region. Main Street
entertainment and art areas have a great deal to contribute in the revitalization efforts
for central business district and Over-the-Rhine.
The location of the Main Street provides tremendous potential for revitalization, but
at the same time it creates challenges for implementation. Over-the-Rhine is one of
the most distressed neighborhoods, which reflects an interesting dichotomy of
entertainment and art investment on one side, and poverty, crime, vacancy, and
disinvestment on the other side. Location of Main Street poses challenges of its
5
physical context, historic identity, issues of gentrifications, and other political
problems for any plan towards redevelopment.
1.2 Problem Statement
Main Street is one of the few distinctive streets of Cincinnati. It is one of the
important streets of Over-the-Rhine and downtown Cincinnati. Over-the-Rhine is
located north of the Central Business District and contains the largest collection of
19th century vernacular architecture of any city in the United States and is listed in
the National Register of Historic Places. Over the period of time the neighborhood
has lost its identity and image as a destination of Cincinnati. The thriving areas of
inner city are now struggling to reestablish their identity and vitality against the
suburban destinations. Overdependence on automobiles and developments along the
interstates and highways caused sprawl and left the declined neighborhoods behind.
As the movement to suburbia during the fifties and sixties, it drew industries
and people to the periphery, previously viable downtown land became desert.
Over the past few years, radically changing economic, industrial, and
employment patterns have further exacerbated the problem of lost space in the
urban core. (Trancik 1986, 1)
It is very important to understand the historic value of the inner city, as it represents
the past and gives an identity to the city. In past few years Main Street has became an
entertainment destination for young people. It has tremendous potential to become
regional entertainment center and an art district. Young professionals, who are being
called the "creative class" by Richard Florida, can play a vital role in revitalization
6
efforts by taking part in Over-the-Rhine's new identity change. The search for an
urban setting has attracted them to come flocking to this area, snapping up
condominiums as fast as they're built. New bars, restaurants, and improving housing
market are a positive sign for the Main Street and Over-the-Rhine. However, Main
Street does not have any plan for development as an emerging destination but the
development is happening in unplanned ways, without a defined direction. The
growth if not guided and utilized properly, may turn into a haphazard and self centric
development, which may not be of any help to neighborhood or downtown
Cincinnati, and the potential opportunities, could be lost. It is necessary to understand
the opportunities and use Main street urban entertainment areas as catalyst for
revitalizing downtown Cincinnati.
It is critical to determine the challenges that define these areas as entertainment areas
within the defined physical context, and more specifically to define the role of these
areas as entertainment areas. Urban design theories help to determine the design
principles for character of place, scale, architecture, streetscape, landscape, vistas, and
relationship with adjacent context. These theories teach important lessons about
physical design but they do not address the socio-cultural and economic influence on
physical environment of the cities.
It is amazing how many texts on urban design confine themselves to the
questions that concerned city designers in the eighteenth century: the
enclosure of plazas, and streets, the axis, the vista, the progression. These
issues are important, and it is true that the “modernist” very foolishly ignored
7
them; but there are many design problems in today’s cities where these
traditional concepts are not much help. (Barnett 1982, 4)
Each designer has his own design theories and principles to respond to physical
improvements, but urban design process is not as simple as architecture, which can be
solved by place specific design theories. Urban design is closely connected with the
complex interrelationship of socio-cultural and economic power structures of the city.
To make the plan successful and effective it is necessary to understand issues of their
vitality, character, ability to change, type of economic forces, real estate dynamics,
trends of regional market, etc.
In order to establish Main Street and Over-the-Rhine as a regional destination, it is
necessary to understand the dynamics of urban entertainment centers to formulate an
urban design plan of a comprehensive nature. The research question of the thesis is to
understand the phenomena of these complex and interrelated forces to determine
development and design process to define the role, character, and dynamics of
emerging urban entertainment areas.
1.3 Methodology
The methodology is designed to provide an understanding of the design processes and
development strategies involved with urban entertainment centers. The main
objective of the thesis is to understand characteristics of emerging urban
entertainment areas in the inner city neighborhoods and business district. The
8
research is framed within the context of contemporary urban issues and dynamics in
order to identify the design objectives, it is important to have an in-depth review of
various issues of development process.
First part of the Literature Review establishes an understanding of dynamics of
entertainment areas and also discusses dynamics of urbanization and economic
trends. There is a close relationship between the patterns of urbanization and trends in
urban entertainment areas. An overview of the history of urban entertainment areas is
taken to understand the phenomenon of changing trends in entertainment industry.
The first part also discusses the reemergence of urban entertainment areas as a
phenomenon of economic trends and processes of urbanization. Second part of the
Literature Review defines the character of urban entertainment districts. It includes
development process and design characteristics of entertainment areas. The findings
of the Literature review establish the role of emerging entertainment areas as a
catalyst for revitalization of central business district and inner city neighborhoods.
Analysis of defined study areas provides information to understand and analyze the
problems and dynamics of the place. The primary source for the data will be CAGIS,
Historic Society of Cincinnati, and data from US Census Bureau 2002. CAGIS data is
used to generate drawings for the land use, zoning, urban massing, street network and
topography. U.S. Census Bureau data is used to analyze and identify the trends of
population, racial composition, housing and economic profile of the study area.
9
Case studies were selected on the basis of gained knowledge and information from
Literature Review. The main objective of the case studies analysis is to study the
development process of successful urban entertainment areas and their role in
revitalization. Two sets of case studies were selected for two different analyses. The
first set of case studies were selected by projects within the similar urban context to
analyze a broader picture, development process, programming of tenant mix, design
development, project finance, the role of local government, revitalization efforts, and
marketing strategies. The set of case studies was selected from different design
typologies for comparative analysis to understand tenant mix, land use standards, cost
factor and physical standards. The second set of case studies consisted of case studies
from entertainment districts, stand-alone entertainment complexes, and mixed-use
retail-entertainment centers.
The findings of the analysis identify issues of project formulation, concepts of design,
and role of local government for successful urban entertainment projects.
Comparative analysis of the case studies identifies development standards and tenant
mix for emerging urban entertainment areas.
Three different development approaches are discussed for the Main Street
entertainment district utilizing the knowledge, acquired from the literature review and
analysis part of the Main Street. Each will be evaluated by the findings of the case
studies to determine an appropriate development approach for the Main Street
10
Entertainment District. The best identified approach will be used to prepare
recommendation for the development of urban entertainment center.
Recommendations include location, programming, design development, financing,
management, and marketing issues.
For any successful plan, a broad vision is required to achieve future goals; for that it
is also important to understand the existing assets and opportunities. It is very
important to understand Main Street and Over-the-Rhine from the point of view of its
existing assets and economic opportunities to generate money-driving forces within
and around the neighborhood. Over-the-Rhine had a glorious past and has tremendous
opportunities of redevelopment to transform it in to thriving and happening place for
entertainment, art, and culture. Every city has a neighborhood with a unique identity
and sense of destination that, citizens of the region can take pride in. It is very
important to question as to what should be the unique character and flavor/s of such
areas.
11
Chapter 2: THE DYNAMICS OF URBAN ENTERTAINMENT
AREAS
Entertainment is as important a need in modern life as any other basic necessity. The
concept of entertainment has changed a lot with the advent of new technologies.
Urban entertainment is a global phenomenon and no matter which country or culture,
what seems to be most striking today is how important entertainment has become
almost all over the globe. The trends of entertainment are changing very fast and
particularly in the Western World, where, people spend more of their time, money,
and – perhaps most importantly – more of their attention on entertainment than ever
before. Many urban economists consider that this is as the Age of Entertainment. But
the question is: how can we address changing trends of urban entertainment in the
physical context? How can we interpret the cultural and economic trends in to
decision making? It is necessary to understand the trends and economics of urban
entertainment areas to seek contemporary solutions.
2.1 The Trends of Urban Entertainment Areas
Throughout history, downtowns have been the center for art, culture, businesses and
entertainment. Until World War II, all the public entertainment, amusement, and
cultural facilities were located in the downtown. Dynamics of these urban
12
entertainment areas were and still are largely associated with the phenomena of
urbanization and urbanism. The trends of entertainment closely follow the dynamics
of urban areas and technological advancement. James Forsher established a close
relationship of entertainment areas and downtowns of America.
The growth and decay of the central business district cannot be examined
without including the influence of the entertainment district on the
development, demise and rebirth of downtown America. (Forsher 2003, 5)
Contemporary urban entertainment and retail destinations share common marketing
interests and follow each other. The relationship between entertainment, retail, art,
and public spaces for social interaction may seem very contemporary, but it goes back
to the cities of late 19th century. Urban entertainment areas flourished in late 19th and
early 20th century central business districts of American cities. During its peak, urban
entertainment areas grew in importance and created their own community of art,
culture, and entertainment. Urban entertainment areas were the catalyst for the
downtown businesses and retail core. James Forsher points out the success of urban
entertainment areas and changing urban form of American cities.
By 1930, attendance rose to nearly 90 million weekly and the cinema became
the most successful form of mass-culture entertainment as well as mass
socialization that America had ever seen. The movie palace, which brought
tens of thousands of moviegoers to newly invigorated “entertainment
districts”, also changed the look of the central business district. The theater
marquee became one of the key icons that defined the physical layout of the
American downtown and neighborhood-shopping district. (Forsher 2003, 36-
37)
13
During the 1930s to 1950s downtowns of American cities suffered a lot because of
the economic recession and World War II. During that time many entertainment
facilities either closed down or moved out. Without those destinations, the other retail
and small businesses experienced decline and once flourished downtowns lost their
vitality. However, the entertainment districts created the largest platform for
gathering space for diverse groups of Americans.
2.1.1 Rapid suburbanization and urban entertainment areas
After World War II, for a number of sociological reasons, Americans deserted their
inner cities and began to move out to the suburbs to fulfill the American dream. The
ever-expanding suburbs inspired the theatres, other entertainment services and retail
to follow the new communities. After World War II, due to federal government’s
housing policies, rapid suburbanization, suburban development, retail
decentralization, industrialization and rise of a technological and service economy,
most of the urban entertainment areas experienced competition from the suburban
centers of retail and entertainment. In most cases the downtown entertainment
districts could not survive against the new centers. Planners of that era tried to
develop new entertainment destinations in the downtowns to attract critical mass to
revitalize the inner city but in most cases they did not succeed.
The community of cinema also became a victim of societal changes in
suburban living, transportation and new technologies. It should be no surprise
that one of the most difficult periods for motion picture production and
exhibition coincided with both the introduction of television and noticeable
14
deterioration in central business district retail and entertainment activities.
(Forsher 2003, 6)
Technological advancement in automobile and public transportation affected the
urban character. With the expansion of sprawling cities, entertainment facilities also
started leaving their clusters and followed the suburban retail destinations to attract
the bedroom communities.
2.1.2 Birth of contemporary malls and new forms of entertainment
Contemporary malls are modern successors of suburban malls of fifty years ago.
Technological advancement in transportation and home entertainment has made
people dependent on automobile oriented shopping malls and indoor entertainment.
They prefer to drive to their shopping malls that are more convenient and seem safe
than the decaying downtowns. Most of the shopping malls are big boxes with
automobile oriented designs. Entertainment facilities followed the location close to
this new form of retail centers to attract the costumer.
Some farsighted companies such as AMC Theatres and National Amusement
had the bright idea of letting people “movie surf” the way they had become
used to channel surfing. They began creating huge complexes with multiple
screens, showing different movies and the same movies at different times.
(Wolf J. 1999, 8)
According to Michael J. Wolf, this new form of retail and entertainment had been
overbuilt and while there were more malls, people began using them less. After thirty
years of rapid suburbanization, people are tired of these new retail destinations. He
15
indicates that less than 10 percent of Americans shop frequently at malls. This is
down from 16 percent in 1987 because, more and more people started subscribing to
home entertainment, and spent most of their leisure time at home. The malls like the
Mall of America in Minneapolis started adding entertainment content in a major way
to attract costumers to the new magnets of entertainment and retail. This was not a
new concept. There has been always a relationship between the entertainment district
and retail environments in the central business district as well as neighborhood retail
districts through out the evolution of the urban communities. It has been proved from
the experience of the Mall of America that more and more consumers are seeking
entertainment value along with their purchases.
As Michael Wolf describes, once the car is parked and people are in a fun-
seeking state of mind, they are trying to behave in a more shopperly way. So
entertainment within specific retail offerings, such as Tommy Hill Figer
stores, or entertainment as the defining characteristic of an overall retail
environment, as in Ontario Mills, has proven to give the edge to highly
competitive businesses and the overall retail category. (Wolf J. 1999, 10)
The new concept of retail entertainment adapted unique design concepts to create an
effect of Main Street within the new developments. Ann Friedberg has described the
contemporary nature of the mall as “consumer theme park” in which one “strolls
through a phantasmagoric array of commodified images and experiences.” She
explains that the combination of the multiplex cinema and the shopping mall is one
that sells “the pleasure of imaginary mobility as psychic transformation.” The new
destinations offer public access like public spaces, sense of safety, convenience of
access and parking, and destination. Entertainment had been a very public experience
16
but in the last 40 years it has shifted largely from public to the private realm. James
Foster believes that the public spaces now occur in the private realms and these
indoor streets of the malls have replaced Main Street of the downtown.
With the development of these new destinations, downtowns across the country
continue to fail to attract critical mass to revitalize downtown businesses. Sociologists
and planners in most of the cities fail to compete with these parking lot
neighborhoods of stores and entertainment centers, which are growing faster than any
retail phenomenon in our history. Downtown arts’ centers, pedestrian malls and
stadiums were built to attract people to downtown. These efforts helped downtowns
to keep vital cultural institutions like symphonies, dance companies, museums, and
stadiums alive, they did little to bring life back to their neighborhoods. But in most
cases such projects were designed in isolation from other downtown facilities and
hence could not generate enough critical mass needed to revitalize downtown.
2.1.3 Rebirth of urban entertainment areas
Downtown entertainment destinations have served as public gathering spaces to the
urban community in the past. With the changes in technology and urban dynamics
entertainment centers changed their locations and marketing strategies. Entertainment
districts of central cities were replaced by suburban retail entertainment centers.
However, many cities in the late twentieth century tried to encourage downtown
entertainment districts to compete with the suburban centers by public private
17
partnerships and other development incentives, mainly to use entertainment as a
catalyst for revitalization.
The reemergence of urban entertainment in the form of galleries, clubs,
restaurants, civic and cultural facilities, sports, and multimedia-has taken root
along with alternative living spaces and seems to offer real opportunity for
downtown revitalization. (Beyard 1998, 4)
Michael Beyard argues that an entire generation of America has now grown up in a
largely homogeneous suburban environment, and they are looking for something
more to entertain themselves. The contemporary malls, the center of suburban culture
and entertainment, seem pretty dull. Most of the malls are same in visual and retail
experience. The new challenges from the information technology have affected
suburban entertainment centers and other public areas. Information and entertainment
is cheaper and easier to get at home. However, according to Michael J. Wolf, the very
fact that we can have a widening variety of entertainment and work experiences at
home drives the fun-focused consumer out of the home in search of real, not virtual,
interpersonal contact.
Development of urban entertainment areas can be an effective solution to offer
creative and diverse urban experience. Urban entertainment districts are new forms of
shopping centers with entertainment as main theme. The main three components of
the urban entertainment centers are: at least one pure entertainment attraction, usually
a new generation cinema complex, theme restaurants; and entertainment-oriented
shops in a coordinated, intensely sociable environment that draws large and diverse
18
audiences throughout the day to activate the space. The role of traditional downtown
is changing.
“As an economic phenomenon, downtowns have lost much of their retail
functions they once had.” Said Professor Gary Hack, an urban design expert at
the University of Pennsylvania. “Instead, downtowns are becoming
increasingly cultural and entertainment centers – and smart cities are
recognizing it.” (Basinger, 2003)
During the 90’s many smart cities across the America and Canada have initiated
urban entertainment projects with the help of public-private partnership to achieve
both public and private goals. Kate Taylor (2003) explains the relationship of art and
entertainment by Canadian urban-renewal agenda to cash the concept as a catalyst for
the redevelopment and revitalization of inner city areas. He further argues to use a
combination of Jane Jacob’s theory of urban renewal and Richard Florida’s theory of
“creative class” to generate creative places and spaces to revitalize inner cities.
The new urban entertainment districts (UEDs) have generated a critical mass for
businesses, jobs, housing, and taxes, to revitalize downtown and inner city
neighborhoods. According to Michael D. Beyard, the proliferation of UEDs has
resulted from the convergence of trends involving the entertainment industry, retail
and real estate development, and municipal revitalization efforts. In UEDs,
entertainment, dining, art and retail components are being bundled together by variety
of players to form synergistic leisure destinations. Developers are always looking for
new and profitable strategic locations; local governments are hoping to promote
19
revitalization, while entertainment companies are looking forward to create regional
entertainment destinations. It seems entertainment is one of the important elements of
urban life.
Everywhere I look; I see an entertainment-driven economy bringing some life
and, with it, hope to decline areas. There are many textbook cases available
where the entertainment component worked as catalyst to revitalize inner city
neighborhoods and downtowns. (Wolf J. 1999, 280)
UEDs are a growing segment of giant entertainment industry and if planned and
designed carefully, they can be a major economic success for the cities. There is a
need to observe entertainment industry very carefully to understand the demand of
future entertainment trends and locations.
2.2 Entertainment Economics
According to Harold L. Vogel, each year Americans cumulatively spend at least 120
billion hours and more than $200 billion on legal forms of entertainment. He explains
the importance of entertainment in urban life by coordinating table 1 and table 2 on
page 25. Table 1 reflects the fact that from 1973 to 1995 there was an increase in the
amount of time urban population spent at the work. Table 2 indicates the fact of an
increase in amount of time spent in entertainment activities from 1970 to 2000. With
the increase in work hours, people are demanding more for their entertainment needs.
The figures from the table 1 & 2 justify the growth in spending of hours and money in
entertainment. According to Michael J. Wolf, entertainment economy is fast
20
becoming the driving wheel of the new world economy. In the United States,
entertainment industry ranks ahead of clothing and health care.
Table 1: Median weekly hours at work for selected years
Median hours at work
Year Hours
1973 40.6
1975 43.1
1980 46.9
1984 47.3
1987 46.8
1995 50.6
Source: Vogel, 2000. Pg. 6
Table 2: Time spent by adults on selected leisure activities, 1970 and 2000
Hours per person per year Leisure activity
1970 2000
Television 1226 1603
Network affiliates 667
Independent station 189
Basic cable programs 661
Pay cable programs 86
Radio 872 1065
Home 394
Out of home 671
Newspapers 218 151
Recorded music 68 317
Magazines 170 80
Leisure books 65 93
Movies: theatres 10 12
home video 57
Spectator sports 3 15
Video games: arcade 7
Home 69
Cultural events 3 7
Total 2635 3476
Hours/adult/week 50.7 66.8
Hours/adult/day 7.2 9.5
Source: Vogel, 2000. Pg. 9
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Entertainment in the form of movies, television, videos, popular music, spectator
sports, theme parks, radio, casinos, magazines, newspaper, books, children’s (and
grown-ups’) toys, and so on, is the fastest-growing sector of the economy. This is a
developing economy and it has become a key differentiator in virtually every aspect
of broader consumer economy.
With the technological advancement the form of entertainment is changing rapidly.
Last decade was different than any other era in the history. Information technology
has added a new dimension to the entertainment economy. The new world of high-
tech entertainment has a major share in entertainment economy. We can divide
entertainment zone in two parts, one is as audience in front of TV, computers, and
video games and the other one is as performer by being a part of public space and
entertainment venues. Both have their separate markets but both are complementary
to each other. As the increase of audience type entertainment at home, more and more
people tend to be performer and be part of larger crowd.
The share of UEDs in this giant entertainment economy is few percent. However, the
UEDs are not pure entertainment. They come with a package of a right mix of art,
retail, restaurant, and cultural components. They create multiplier effect in local
economy and draw regional market. Looking at the trends and opportunities, UEDs
will be the next destination for entertainment in metropolitan markets.
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2.3 Catalyst for Inner City Revitalization
As we have discussed earlier, following World War II, American downtown in most
cities experienced decline, due to the rise of suburban development. With the new
development, private investment followed suburbs. By the mid-1960s, it was clear
that downtowns and their inner cities were dying and downtowns experienced
poverty, vacancy, crime, deterioration and ignorance. City officials tried to attract
people by street improvements, pedestrian malls and enhancing urban spaces.
However, they failed to generate critical mass for the downtown retail and other
businesses. Matt Branaugh explains how more pedestrian malls fail than succeed. The
only pedestrian malls that survived were those, which established themselves as
unique destinations by creative design, community involvement, public-private
partnership and distinctive tenant mix. (Branaugh 2004)
After 50 years of suburbanization, the suburbs began to experience traffic, saturation
and predictable development of subdivision and retail destinations. More and more
city officials, planners, developers, and people are looking back to the downtowns for
new destination of housing and retail development. Even after being ignored for long,
downtowns still remain the centers of art, culture, and government offices because of
central location, unique urban fabric, availability of public transit, and highway
connections to the suburbs. To revitalize downtown, stimulation of private investment
is a must for any city. There are number of innovative incentives that can be offered
from city governments to attract private investment to downtowns.
23
Cities have reevaluated the types of development that can be sustained in the
inner cities, as manufacturing and even professional services become less
reliant on urban locations. Cities have sought to accentuate their remaining
assets: their geographic centrality; their ability to attract tourists and business
travelers; their pedestrian orientation and architectural integrity; and their
established symbolic, historic, and cultural role as the heart of the region.
(Beyard 1998, 20)
More and more cities are realizing this fact and have tried to establish art centers,
entertainment complexes, convention centers, stadiums, and public spaces. However,
it is necessary to develop a unique destination of entertainment and retail utilizing
existing attractions and through integrity of existing urban fabric to compete with
other regional destinations. The new phenomena of urban entertainment areas have
attracted private investment, housing development, and thousands of jobs to the inner
cities and changed the image of downtowns. It has been proved in number of cities
that if programmed and designed carefully, UEDs can work as catalyst for
revitalization.
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Chapter: 3 DEFINING THE CHARACTER OF URBAN
ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICTS
UEDs are a result of trends in urbanization and market forces of past 40 years. The
intense retail competition, overbuilding of conventional big-box shopping malls, and
challenges created by alternate shopping methods forced the retail and businesses to
add entertainment and dining facilities to attract more costumers. To get the
advantage of entertainment component many retailers either moved to UEDs or added
entertainment component to secure their businesses. With the awareness and
education more and more people increasingly identify themselves by their life style.
The traditional stores had to adopt more experience-based environment by adding
themes, educational experiences, and ambience.
In past few years the restaurant business increased by sizable percentage. More and
more people eat out side as one of the leisure activities. UEDs understood the
restaurant market and adopted restaurant as a part of overall experience. UEDs are a
combination of all other types of entertainment destination. The main concept of
UEDs is to adopt new trends of entertainment to offer in unique urban settings. UEDs
have adopted the new tenant mix to offer a complete package of entertainment, food,
and retail. Many urban communities have used the concept to revitalize their
downtowns. (Beyard, et. al. 1998, 8-16)
25
3.1 Types of Urban Entertainment Areas
For any successful UED it is very important to determine the market and identify the
best suited tenant mixes for the location. Table 3 shows various types of
entertainment components and their sub groups to form suitable tenant mix. The final
Table 3: Types of entertainment packages
Family Entertainment Center (FEC) A community-based entertainment
destination with family appeal that offers
multiple choices and relies on repeat
customers.
Children’s Entertainment Center
(CEC)
Catering to children 3 to 12 years old,
usually consisting of soft modular play
systems, party rooms and a few coin-
operated rides and video games.
Family-Oriented Business with
Amusements (FOB)
Includes skating rinks, bowling centers,
driving ranges, family-themed restaurants,
small amusement parks and kiddie’s parks.
Location-Based Entertainment (LBE) A regional destination containing multiple
attractions
High Technology Center (HTC) Featuring high-tech arcades and attractions
including simulations and virtual reality.
Adult Entertainment Center (AEC) Usually nighttime entertainment districts
with nightclubs, theme restaurants and
theaters. Many LBEs and UECs fall into this
category.
Urban Entertainment Center (UEC) Often part of an urban revitalization
program, sometimes part of a theme park,
festival marketplace, cultural attraction or
entertainment district. UECs are destination
and can be a combination of all the other
types of entertainment types
Source: Entertainment Specialty Projects, January 1999 and Beyard, 1998, p 44
26
decision is based on the market studies; to program the best suited businesses for the
chosen location.
Michael Beyard (1998) categorizes the UEDs by the context and the urban settings.
According to him they generally fall in to two major categories, one is an
entertainment district and the other is an entertainment complex. Urban entertainment
Table 4: Types of components
Entertainment Dining Retail
Ambient Entertainment
-Public spaces
-Street performances
-Special events
Functional Dining
-Ethnic
-Food court
-Specialized
-Casual restaurants
Brand-Name Souvenir
Boutique
-Big Brands
-Designer Logo
Impulse Entertainment
-Virtual reality games
-Wall climbing
Impulse Dining
-Portable carts
-Built-in counters
-In-store café
Specialty Store
-Book Stores
-Art supply
Destination Entertainment
-Casinos
-Cinema Complexes
-Dinner theaters
-Educational facilities
-Family entertainment
-High-tech games
-Indoor theme park
-Live performances
-Night Club
-Specialty-film theatres
-Sport Venues
Entertainment Dinning
-Sports Café
-Computer Café
-Americana
-Adventure
-Entertainment
Brand Extension Stores
-Brand logo marketing
Brand License Stores
Product Retail Stores
Leisure-Oriented Category
Killers
Source: Beyard, et. al. 1998, 30-57
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district is a more traditional urban model of UEDs. Urban entertainment centers are
isolated buildings in dense downtowns or in suburbs. Both types have their own
unique design characteristics and development standards depend upon the location
and market. The success of the UEDs depends upon the location, programming,
tenant mix, and public-private financing.
3.2 Development Process
The very common characteristic of the UEDs is that they are distinguished as
destinations. The main difference between other isolated retail or entertainment
destinations and UEDs is their ability to perform as destinations. As per Michael
Beyard (1998), the strategic positioning of a destination development involves an
assessment of market dynamics, competitive developments and leisure attractions,
consumer psychographics, location and access, other development and attractions,
and timing of the development.
3.2.1 Location
For any retail development the very basic criteria to select the location is ability to
attract business. The decision in such cases is taken by a cost benefit analysis of
different locations. However, when a city wants to develop UED to revitalize
downtown, it demands a very careful programming of the future development. In the
case of limited choice of locations, the success of the project largely depends upon
the distinctiveness of the product, drawing power, depth of penetration, duration of
28
visit, and demand periods. All these dynamics require a very careful and strategic
evaluation to configure project for identified location.
1. Distinctiveness of the Product
Distinctiveness for the urban entertainment areas depends upon the assessment of
distinctions within a regional market. Like any other retail development or regional
mall the same offerings from other destinations in the same region directly constrain
performance of the new development. To become a regional entertainment
destination, it must offer a variety of activities including family entertainment,
evening entertainment, shopping, dining, and proximity to other art and cultural
institutions.
Distinctiveness also requires achieving dominance within a region. While be a
variety of retail centers within a region that are enhanced by entertainment
features, there are a limited number of true destination projects that a market
can support. Distinctiveness involves creating a regional identification from
other offerings that compete for the leisure time and expenditures of the
region’s consumer base. (Beyard 1998, 62)
Urban entertainment areas should take advantage of the local attractions and activity
generators to create a richer mix of offerings. Urban entertainment areas can market
their unique historic urban settings, picturesque architecture, walking environment,
waterfronts, and mixed-use developments to make the place unique and distinctive in
the regional market. Most of the successful urban entertainment areas have a unique
theme or specialty in the region, which makes them distinct from other retail
destinations.
29
2. Drawing power
Drawing power depends upon the availability of similar choices in the same market.
Market competition and uniqueness of the destination decide how much can a
customer drive to go to the destination. As per Beyard (1998), the urban
entertainment districts are regional destinations, attracting visitors from across the
metropolitan area (MSA) and should act as a must-see for tourists. However, during
the daytime it should offer variety of activities to surrounding offices, institutions,
and local visitors. He stresses on a market specific analysis of current leisure time and
expenditure patterns, to understand the relationship of regional competition,
demographics and psychographics, tourism, and location factors.
3. Depth of penetration
Michael Beyard (1998) defines the definition of depth of penetration as the
percentage of market captured within a primary zone surrounding the site, typically
five to ten miles depending on the density of the metropolitan area. One can analyze
the market area for the depth of penetration by drawing power and distinctness of the
urban entertainment destination. It depends largely on the type of offerings for
various age groups, sex groups, and ability to change according to the market trends.
Decisions to visit the destination involve trade-off with other leisure-time attractions.
Entertainment destination must offer wide variety of options to attract diverse
interests of groups of people. (Beyard 1998, 65-67)
30
4. Duration of visit
Duration of visit can be explained by the amount of time average visitor spends at the
destination. For any successful entertainment destination the duration of time should
be at least three to four hours. The destination must have alternate activities to keep
the visitor involved in the retail-entertainment drama. The tenant mix should offer
venues of entertainment facilities, shopping arcades, bars, restaurants, and art
institutions with multiple choices to keep the visitors busy in one activity after
another or should be capable of rotating visitors for individual destinations within the
entertainment development. The visiting patterns in the morning, afternoon, evening,
late night and even weekend vary in nature. It is necessary to have appropriate tenant
mix for all the patterns to keep the incoming flow of visitors.
Location of the urban entertainment areas is very critical to decide market dynamics
to formulate appropriate tenant mix for the market. In the location specific projects,
eventually the success of the project depends largely on the tenant mix and identity of
the entertainment destination on the regional map.
3.2.2 Defining the tenant mix
As we discussed when location is predetermined, success of the project depends upon
the dynamics of distinctiveness, drawing power, depth of penetration, duration of visit
and demand period. These dynamics largely depend upon the tenant mix and utilizing
31
existing destinations in proximity. Michael Beyard (1998) analyzed seven strategies
to determine the tenant mix for the selected location.
1. Multi-anchoring the development
Multi-anchoring is the term used for creating patterns of morning and afternoon,
evening, and nighttime to create a combined pull on the market to extend project’s
geographic reach, penetration and duration of visit. He defines mainly three different
types of tenant groups: activity generator, activity extender, and activity inducer.
Table 4 categorizes each types and related functions with the examples of tenant mix.
Proportion of the various tenant groups largely depends upon the local market
characteristics and existing competitor in the region.
2. Tenant identity
Retail entertainment is a new trend in retail developments. The new destination of
urban entertainment district offers, shopping as an experience. The new urban settings
are more excited and real than the artificial streets of the suburban mall. Pedestrian
oriented development, traditional elements of urban design, historic buildings, new
forms and public open spaces provide distinctive identity to the place. Architecture,
interior design, and urban design are very critical elements of urban entertainment
areas to create a place for the customers to enjoy a new experience of shopping.
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Table 5: Multi-anchoring the urban entertainment center
Type of anchor Function Example
Activity generator
Mainly entertainment-
based venues
Draw broad base of
consumer market
Cineplex/Megaplex
Extend geographic range Large-format theatres
Enhance penetration Games-based attractions
GameWorks
Sports-based attractions
ESPN Club
Location-based entertainment
(LBE) attractions
American Wilderness
Experience
Live performance venues
Type of anchor Function Example
Activity inducer
Mainly icon retailers
Extend geographic range
for unique shopping
experience
Icon retailers
Barnes & Noble; Williams
Sonoma; Crate & Barrel
Create shopping itinerary Brand Retailers
Sony Style Store; NikeTown;
Virgin Records; Viacom Brands
Store
Type of anchor Function Example
Activity extender
Mainly dining venues
Enhance length of stay Signature restaurants
II Fornaio; Cheesecake Factory
Elevate repeat visitation
penetration)
Theme restaurants
Planet Hollywood; Rainforest
Café
Extend multi segment
appeal
Entertainment restaurants and
clubs
Wildhorse Saloon; House of
Blues
Support daytime and
evening itineraries
Source: Beyard 1998, 70
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4. Itinerary-based configurations
Layout of the tenant location and their physical relationship is very important to
create a retail-drama. Retail-drama is an experience, which determines movements
within the entertainment district by generating experiences and points of interest.
Successful programming within the entertainment district is necessary to configure
daytime, retail, entertainment, nighttime and restaurants in a way so they work in a
complementary way with each other to enhance the overall experience. Clustering of
these different activities is very critical to enhance the activity patterns and depth of
penetration.
5. Gauging scale in relation to the critical mix
Like any other retail cluster, urban entertainment destination requires particular
amount of space to create a cluster of retail, entertainment and restaurants to generate
critical mass. As per Beyard (1998), the destination projects usually require between
250,000 to 650,000 square feet to include the new trends of entertainment and retail
facilities. The term critical mix represents the combination of key retail, restaurants,
and entertainment tenants necessary to compete with other regional destinations.
Other than brand showrooms, restaurants and Megaplex/Cineplex, a creative
approach of mixing small businesses likes art galleries, boutique, antique stores, and
local food chains should be encouraged to add local flavor to the urban entertainment
destination.
34
6. Building the project around public places
Urban settings provide an opportunity to integrate public open spaces and other civic
institutions within or around the urban entertainment destination. Public spaces
provide an opportunity to develop out door areas for dining, gathering, landscape,
performance, and exhibitions. Open spaces and public spaces provide an opportunity
to introduce green areas and water elements to dense urban development. In the
suburbs the only public spaces are within the malls in private realm while urban
settings provide real experience of “public” in public realm.
7. Leveraging the distinctiveness of the place through contextual link
Traditionally urban areas have been the center of art, culture, festivals and civic
activities. These activities are unique destinations with their own drawing power. The
design should take advantage of existing museums, art galleries, performance venues,
gathering spaces, institutions, and civic activities by enhancing physical or visual
relation to increase the index of critical mix.
Urban settings offer opportunities for creative programming and design for
entertainment destination. Many cities have revitalized their downtowns by using the
concept of urban entertainment. However, urban entertainment projects are far more
complex than any other suburban retail destinations or freestanding entertainment
complexes. Integrating planning, urban design, and public-private partnership, is the
only key to creating a successful regional destination.
35
3.2.3 Financing UEDs
The financial performance of the urban entertainment destination development is
different than the retail destinations of suburbs. The unique urban entertainment
demands creative design for new development and adaptive reuse of historic
architecture costs much more than other regional destinations. The development and
maintenance cost of public spaces, streetscapes, and signage are much higher than the
private developments. The unique tenant mix of brand stores and small retails, the
scale and the urban context make the lease structure more difficult because of risk
factor and multi-anchoring tenant mix. Financing the urban entertainment destinations
is difficult because of higher development cost, financial risk, lease structure, and
lack of performance history requires higher discount rate on investment. Urban
entertainment destinations are locations bound within the inner cities and the
performance measure is very complex and can not be determined by the destination
economics. All these facts make these projects less favorable for private investment.
(Beyard 1997, 80-84)
Urban entertainment projects are comparatively new and considering the risk factor
associated with it, such developments rely on public-private partnership to materialize
and achieve economic success. Cities and local governments use innovative
techniques to finance urban entertainment projects by offerings various subsidies, tax
abatements, zoning variances, and infrastructure developments.
36
Looking at the risk factor and complexity in financing structure there are five
standard criteria of pro forma that should be satisfied for the successful financing of
the urban entertainment projects:
1. There has to be a high level of equity in the project, typically at least 50
percent.
2. There has to be a high level of pre-leasing, typically at least 70 percent.
3. Cash flow has to be stabilized at a level equal to 1.5 times debt service.
4. The loan to total cost ratio has too be between 50 and 60 percent.
5. There has to be adequate debt pricing expectations.
(Hackett 1995, 26)
Urban entertainment is relatively a new concept in real estate development. Managing
finances from the traditional sources is difficult for the city and private developers.
Other than traditional sources, there are few other potential sources like Venture
Capital Funds, Leveraged Buy-out Funds, Public Sector Partnership, Entertainment
Investment Funds, Specific Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) and Strategic
Investors. (Hackett 1995, 26)
The most common tool of non traditional financing is public-private partnership. Like
any other development in downtown, urban entertainment projects are eligible to
various tools of economic development. Urban entertainment projects are part of
larger economic development strategies. Return on public investment should be
judged by share in project returns and potential economic development for the city.
The typical tools of local funding are, General Obligation Bond, Revenue Bond,
Land-Banking, Loans and Grants, Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT), and Tax
37
Increment Financing (TIF). Cities can compete with other cities to ensure State
Programs such as Enterprise Zones, Brownfield Programs, Loans and Grants, and Tax
Credits. In many cases city can tie neighborhood development and revitalization
projects with urban entertainment development to get grants from Federal Programs
such as, Empowerment Zone, Industrial Revenue Bond, and Community
Development Block Grant (CDBG). However, the most common tools of public
finance are Community Development Block Grant and Tax Increment Financing.
(Hackett 1995, 26 and Beyard 1997, 90-92)
Business Improvement District is also an innovative and effective source of securing
funding for development and operating cost for the urban entertainment areas. BID is
used by property owners and merchants to determine the future of their retail,
commercial and industrial areas. There are 1,200 BIDs in North America in central
business districts and neighborhood business districts. The best example of a
successful BID is Time Square, New York City. BID is a one of the self-help
program involving self-assessment and business-led management.
BID is based on state and local law, which permits property owners and
merchants to band together to use the city's tax collection powers to assess
properties, thereby creating a reliable, multi-year source of funds for
economic development. These funds are collected by the city and returned in
their entirety to the BID and are used for supplemental services and capital
improvements beyond those services and improvements provided by the
municipal government. (Houstoun 2002)
38
BID program can be an effective way to ensure costs for maintenance, sanitation,
security, promotions, special events, street furniture, trees, signage, and special
lighting for urban entertainment and retail destination projects.
It is very common to go for combination of innovative financial sources to generate
an investment for urban entertainment destinations. However, projects of public-
private partnerships, best ensure the public and private interests in investment and
decision making.
3.3 Design Characteristics of UEDs
The unique urban context of the urban entertainment areas creates interesting
opportunities for innovative design of new development, adaptive reuse and historic
preservation. However, the urban entertainment destinations are far more challenging
than the contextual suburban model or retail or entertainment destinations; urban
context requires careful design considerations for responsible design solutions. Urban
entertainment destinations largely rely on local government for public investment,
zoning variances and infrastructure development, which make the projects part of
larger picture. Design of urban entertainment destinations requires wide variety of
expertise spanning from planning, urban design, and architecture to historic
preservation, and landscape architecture.
39
3.3.1 Planning and neighborhood development
In the last decade many cities have used the concept of urban entertainment and retail
destination as catalyst of downtown revitalization and part of broader economic
development strategies. For private developer, existing infrastructure, supporting
activities and other amenities are instrumental in positioning the entertainment project
as a destination. While, for local government, the urban entertainment project is a
means to attract businesses and housing projects, to raise property value and tax base,
and to create a new image of downtown.
To address this issue effectively, the development team often needs to become
involved in a master-planning effort that extends well beyond the boundaries
of the destination development itself. (Beyard 1997, 92)
Neighborhood development is one of the main public interest in any public-private
partnership projects. It is very critical to involve neighboring community in the
design and decision making to develop a broad vision and create positive ripples in
surrounding communities. The other side urban entertainment destinations demands
innovative zoning and urban design guidelines to achieve development standards for
entertainment facilities. Technology has added new dimensions in type of
entertainment to accommodate new functions and architecture. It is necessary to
design innovative zoning for the entertainment district to achieve the maximum out of
the development.
The main concerns from the community perspective for the new development are
problems related to traffic, congestion, parking, safety, competition with existing
40
businesses, noise, crime, view corridors and gentrification. In most cases the new
development comes with the package of infrastructure development, public transport,
parking, and appropriate design. In most cases the main objective of the project is to
fill the vacancies, attract customers to downtown, create safer environment by
generating activities, and raise tax and real estate value. The wicked problem of such
developments is gentrification and use of public investment. Working in cooperation
with local government, community and other stake holders is the best way to create a
plan of a broader picture. (Beyard 1998, 92-93)
3.3.2 Urban design
Urban entertainment centers are planned in the older or historic part of the city where
the historic context makes it very challenging due to the new standards and new form
of architecture of today’s entertainment projects. The regional urban entertainment
destinations normally extend as far as 20 to 30 miles and in some cases even more
than that when they provide tourist attractions. The scale of the project and number of
visitors demands a comprehensive urban design plan to answer the issues of design,
location, context, infrastructure, access, traffic, and parking. Location of the project is
very critical to make the destination easily accessed by automobile and public
transportation through primary roads to avoid traffic problems. Location should be
designed so the project can integrate with other public facilities to add local flavor
and cultural context to the project and it should not negatively affect surrounding
neighborhoods. Availability of parking is one critical issue for most of the urban
41
destination projects. It is important to provide sufficient parking needed by the
destination.
Parking and spillover of traffic into adjoining residential neighborhoods are
potential problems that should be carefully mitigated. Without adequate
parking, costumers will not return to the center and neighbors will be plagued
with overflowing cars. (Beyard 1998, 110)
However, public transportation, garages and shared parking with nearby offices,
businesses and other attractions are effective ways to mitigate parking problems.
Urban design plan should include pedestrian friendly intersections and easy access for
automobiles to make it comfortable for visitors and neighbor communities.
Urban design plan should be prepared to guide the new development for building
massing, street orientations, streetscape, and architecture style appropriate to the
urban context. New development should use techniques of renovations, adaptive
reuse and historic preservation to preserve the character of historic urban areas. The
infill buildings should fit in to the historic context of the urban fabric. A proper
transition should be provided to adjacent neighborhoods. Mixed-use development is
an effective way to provide smooth transition from higher activity areas to the more
residential developments of the neighbor communities.
Public spaces for gatherings and aesthetic purpose are also a very important element
of the urban design plan as they provide a real urban experience. As per Michael
Beyard, the importance of public spaces and their design cannot be overstated. In
42
many ways the character and design of entertainment centers, even more than the
tenant mix, differentiate them from a traditional shopping mall. He stresses on
providing outdoor strolling areas and ample sitting spaces in variety of forms and
configuration for the better functioning of urban entertainment projects. Design
should create sense of belongingness, a clear sense of enclosure and safety in public
spaces by landscapes, animating the space, and using smooth forms. (Beyard 1998,
107-110)
The basic principles of urban design theories of form, scale, vista, identity, and place
making, guide how to involve physical dimensions to design urban spaces. However,
in most cases the urban designer’s contribution becomes a reactionary cosmetic
treatment of spaces that are ill-shaped and ill-planned for public use in the first place.
The practice of taking decisions for urban development, without due consideration of
urban design, results in meaningless, isolated buildings in many cases. Space between
the buildings, streets, and open spaces should be integrated in meaningful way with
urban development taking place in to the urban fabric. Roger Trancik defines these
meaningless, underused, and deteriorated open spaces as lost spaces.
Generally speaking, lost spaces are the undesirable urban areas that are in
need of redesign – antispaces, making no positive contribution to the
surroundings of users. They are ill-defined, without measurable boundaries,
and fail to connect elements in coherent way. On the other hand, they offer
tremendous opportunities to the designer for urban redevelopment and
creative infill and for rediscovering the many hidden resources in our cities.
(Trancik 1986, 3-4)
43
Trancik argues for redeveloping lost spaces to avoid any gaps and cracks in the urban
fabric to enhance “the urban experience” of the entertainment destinations. He
describes Figure-ground, Linkage and Place theories to analyze and redesign the
spatial quality of contemporary urban redevelopment projects. (Trancik 1986, 97-
124)
To achieve the meaningful urban environment, it requires conscious efforts and
coordination between the principles of city planning, urban design, landscape
architecture and architecture. The role of urban design is to transform the concepts of
urban planning and economic development into sensible design with the help of
architecture.
3.3.3 Clustering of activities
Clustering of activities is as important as tenant mix and other design decisions. The
tenant configuration in urban context is more complex than the other retail
destinations. Urban entertainment destination offers a wide variety of attractions to
different target groups. The main target itineraries are weekend visits, evening and
night activities, shopping itineraries and tourist-oriented itineraries. These activity
patterns define the allocation of different activities, their locations and relationships to
others.
44
Michael Beyard identified six basic characteristics of successful configurations for
accommodating a mix of itineraries.
1. Daytime shopping is reinforced by street or street-like spaces that organize a
sequence of exciting stores with distinct identities.
2. The stores are designed to contribute to the streetscape while at the same time
introducing visitors off the street and into upper levels.
3. A sequence of icons and known brand stores are provided at various points of
the journey.
4. Dining and other public gatherings should be clustered around public spaces
or at intersections.
5. Entertainment venues should be provided adjacent to shopping areas to get the
advantage of spillover activities. In multi-storied projects they should be
located at upper levels adjacent to upper level dining and shopping.
6. Entertainment districts should segregate entertainment venues to balance the
economic imperative of integrating entertainment itinerary with retail
itineraries.
The most important issue is to create a retail drama to hold the visitors for longer
period of time. The architecture of the entertainment destination should provide
enough clues and points of interest along the journey from different points. It is also
important to configure the activities for surrounding offices, institutions and young
people to keep the spaces active during the daytime.
45
3.3.4 Entertainment Architecture
Architecture of the urban entertainment districts creates more drama than the
predicted suburban destinations. Unique context, development constraints, historic
fabric and comparatively new functions make it more challenging and interesting.
Like any other architectural project the design must follow the theme of the place.
Urban entertainment has only one theme and that is “Fun”.
The 3 Ds – drama, diversity, and detail – should be the guiding principles of
entertainment center architecture and design no matter what the setting. The
extent to which they are creatively interpreted will be a key factor in the
project’s long-term success. (Beyard 1998, 112)
The main goal of the architecture is to offer more than life size experience in a human
scale development. However, considering the role of technology and rapidly changing
trends in entertainment, the architecture should offer flexibility to change with the
ongoing trends. The exterior of the buildings should be unique but the exterior should
be generic in character and capable to change with the functions. Element of drama
should be achieved by offering elements of surprise, curiosity, belongingness, and
sense of arrival. The architecture should offer interactive spaces by adding graphics,
landscaping, lighting, and window shopping. Interactive storefronts and pockets of
public performances are known activity generators.
Historic location of urban entertainment projects demand design responsibilities to
respect the existing architecture by appropriate form and materials but at the same
time the facades of the buildings should be interactive with the street. Historic
46
character of the context adds unique flavor and a strong architectural image. Historic
buildings should be preserved but at the same time the street level entrances should
have a definite character to capture attention, the imagination, and heart of the
consumer. Urban setting for the entertainment destinations requires more than two
stories to accommodate the critical mix of development. The height of the buildings
should be appropriate to the scale of the street and should be treated with details and
interactive elements to announce their presence. In the internal layout all activities
should be in direct touch with overlap of some type of entertainment. Finally the
design should allow spaces where people can interact with each other.
47
Chapter 4: CASE STUDIES
4.1 Analysis/Case Study
Case studies are selected from the successful UED projects listed by ULI
publications. The main objective of this part of analysis is to understand the
development process, design development, and approval process of the UEDs.
Analysis emphasizes the history and context of the project, role of stakeholders, urban
design objectives, design characteristics, role of public-private partnerships, and local
government initiatives for developing urban entertainment center.
4.1.1 Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica, California
This case study is selected for its relevance to Main Street, Cincinnati. The Third
Street Promenade project was an attempt to revitalize the downtown Santa Monica by
adding component of urban entertainment as catalyst for revitalization. The scale of
the development, urban context, and size of the community is similar to Cincinnati’s
case to use Main Street Entertainment as a catalyst for revitalize downtown
Cincinnati. The Third Street Promenade is a three-block-long pedestrian mall of Santa
Monica, located three blocks from the ocean and Santa Monica Pier in the heart of the
central business district. Over a period of 35-years, Third Street area has gone from a
failing downtown business district to a failing pedestrian mall to a successful urban
48
entertainment district. Third Street redevelopment is a result of coordination of
market forces and public planning through public-private partnerships.
Third Street Promenade is a part of nine-block Bayside District, which includes three
blocks of Second Street and Fourth Street. The development includes 200 shops, 70
restaurants, and four theaters with a total of 21 screens and approximately 5,000 seats.
The retail-entertainment mixed-use development includes 900,000 square feet of
office space and 200 dwelling units. However, more than half of the space in the
district was constructed in 1986. Historic structures of two to three stories were
renovated and preserved while new development was based on mixed-use approach
Figure 1: Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica Entertainment District
Source: Source: Beyard 1998, 215
49
using zoning incentives. The main objective of the development was to manage
success with the new trends and technological advancement in retail and
entertainment.
Development process
Like many cities, Santa Monica’s downtown experienced steady decline from 1960s
with the suburbanization movement. Santa Monica’s first response to compete with
the suburban destination was Third Street mall in 1965. Three streets were closed for
pedestrian mall and new paving, lighting, parking and benches were designed to
attract business. The project was funded by municipal bonds. However, focusing on
face lifting and physical design didn’t succeed in attracting people to downtown. In
the 1970s, city invited enclosed mall as an anchor to energize retail core in
downtown. The development added more than 100 shops and parking structure. The
development itself was successful but it did very little to revitalize the downtown.
During the 1980s city realized importance of public-private partnership in
redevelopment of Third Street Promenade. The Third Street Development
Corporation was founded, consisting of property owners, merchants, planners,
designers, and others to identify goals and objective of the development. City
conducted nearly 100 community meetings over 14 months to develop consensus
amongst various interest groups. The Bay side District plan was completed in 1986.
50
Finance and management
To accomplish the development cost, city sold $13.2 million in assessment district
bond. Repayment of bonds comes from assessments on property within the nine-
block Bayside District. The development was divided in three benefit zones as per the
hierarchy of properties. In addition to proceeds from the assessment, the city pledged
the six parking structures as collateral for the bonds.
By 1992, approximately $200 million had been invested in the district in addition to
the initial $13 million bond offering. Roma Design Group had been invited for the
site planning and architecture consultant. To manage the district’s operating cost,
Figure 2: Streetscape of Third Street Promenade
Source: Beyard 1997, 217
51
operations, and zoning and permit approvals, city formed the Bayside District
Corporation (BDC), a non profit organization of 11 members. BDC hires its own staff
and has annual budget of $500,000. BDC is responsible to study the proposal and
issue the permit if the new retail or entertainment is complementing to existing tenant
mix. BDC manages cart program, street performances, and street festivals. BDC plays
an active role in maintenance of services, streetscape and safety issues of the district.
City charged additional tax to businesses to cover the cost of common parking
garages around the district.
Figure 3: Street performance along the Third Street Promenade
Source: Beyard 1997, 219
52
Planning and design
Planners and designers have identified design issues related to performance of 1965
Third Street Mall project. The project stressed on physical improvement and face
lifting of the nearly half-long-mall. The pedestrian mall didn’t have any anchor and
most of the time it remained barren. The first recommendation of the designer was to
open one lane for automobile in the evening and side walks and streetscape added for
pedestrian activities.
Figure 4: Interactive street signage and shop fronts, Third Street Promenade
Source: Beyard 1997, 218
53
To generate pedestrian activities along the promenade, side walks were widened and
gathering, sitting and dining spaces were added along the streets. City adapted new
zoning incentives for the Bayside District to define it as retail and entertainment
district. Zoning declared bayside District as a sole location for new theaters to create
critical mass for the entertainment. Entertainment and retail oriented tenant mix was
encouraged.
Figure 5: Streetscape and landscape plan for the pedestrian areas
Source: Beyard, 1997, 220
54
To promote mixed-use development, incentives like height allowances, higher FAR,
and density bonuses were given to promote residential and office development,
however the first floor of the buildings was allotted only to the retail and
entertainment uses. The urban design guidelines were adopted to design store fronts
and out door dinning areas. The plan was implemented on block by block basis.
Key elements of development
9 Public-private partnership
9 Creative tools for financing
9 Zoning incentive to encourage mixed-use development
9 Restriction and growth control to maintain appropriate tenant mix
9 Establishing BDC to manage and maintain the development
9 Urban design guideline for facades, streetscapes and landscape
9 Adaptive reuse to utilize historic structures
(Source of case study: Beyard, 1998)
55
4.1.2 Denver Pavilions, Denver, Colorado
Project for Denver Pavilions is selected to study how this new development has
proved as a catalyst for the remaining retail businesses and how it helped to change
the image of Denver downtown as a destination for metropolitan population. Denver
Pavilions is located along the 16th street Mall in downtown Denver. This urban
entertainment destination is based on the concept of sensory retailing and
entertainment occupying two city blocks. Denver Pavilions are an addition to existing
tenant in the downtown. During the early 1990s downtown retail core experienced
decline because of departure of important retail stores.
Figure 6: Denver Pavilions, 16th Street Mall, Denver
Source: Beyard 2001, 153
56
The project was proposed by Entertainment Development Group (EDG) to establish
the downtown as regional urban entertainment destination. Denver is only major
downtown in 500 mile radius and unlike other downtowns; Denver has 4,000
downtown residents, 65,200 inner city neighborhood residents, 120,000 downtown
commuters and popular downtown attractions. The location of 16th Street Mall
attracted the new development because of its location on transportation corridor and
availability of 8,000 parking spaces in near by office developments. Today the
Denver Pavilions is achieving sales in excess of $450 per square feet and has
contributed to the success of the other businesses along the 16th Street Mall.
Figure 7: Denver Pavilions, 16th Street Mall, Denver
Source: Be
y
ard 2001
,
120
57
Development process
The project was initiated by Bill Denton, president of the Entertainment Development
Group (EDG). The selected land was assembled by offering zoning incentive to the
owner of the site to develop office, hotel or residents in the future to convince him
selling the land at market price. Denton worked for two years to form Denver
Pavilions LLP in 1996, consisting German firm Roche Finanz, Urban Redevelopment
Authority (DURA), Hensel Phelps (a contractor), and Denhill LLC.
Figure 8: Illustration showing streetscape, building massing, and open spaces
Source: Beyard 2001, 120
58
EDG’s main objective was to create a regional urban entertainment center. They
decided the criteria to select tenants on the basis of their contribution to over-all
theme of the development. They got the first break with the 15 screen multiplex as an
entertainment anchor of the development. The rest of the tenant mix was selected on
the basis of their serving market. EDG tried to select several market segments to
attract suburban residents, downtown workers, downtown residents and tourists. EDG
tried to negotiate with billboard tenants like NikeTown, Virgin Records and Hard
Rock Café. The combination of entertainment anchor, billboard tenants, and other
retails and restaurants made the development unique in the region.
Finance and management
Denver Pavilions LLP represented $18,850,000 in equity and $24,395,000 in tax-
incentive financing (TIF) for the development. In 1986, DURA had sold more than
$60 million in TIF bonds, which had been placed in escrow and were to be repaid
with sales and property taxes. The main hurdle for this partnership was to manage 70
percentage of the space to be pre-leased to satisfy the lenders requirements. The pre-
leasing requirement caused unnecessary delays in the construction process. Finally
EDG got a break with 15 screen multiplex as an entertainment anchor for the
development. EDG successfully pre-leased 70 percent of space in 1996 and started
construction in 1997. Denver Pavilions is a paying member of Business Improvement
District (BID) formed by 16th Street Mall. The development receives number of
services such as police, landscaping, maintenance, and sanitation.
59
Planning and design
Denver Pavilions are an example of carefully designed infill project. Design of the
buildings respects the scale and pattern of the neighbor buildings. ESL Architects
Figure 9: Billboard architecture and billboard tenants, Denver Pavilions
Source: ULI
60
designed façades and other details of the building by taking cue from the surrounding
buildings. Denver Pavilion designed in four different buildings, connected with public
spaces, bridges, and courtyards. The connected streets were redesigned to make it
pedestrian friendly. Signage and lighting were used to create visual excitement and
announce presence of key attractions. Internal layout designed to get maximum
advantage of different itineraries at different period of time.
Figure 10: Pedestrian friendly streetscape for street activities
Source: ULI
61
First floors of the buildings are given to billboard tenants, while the other retail and
restaurants are located on the second level. Third and fourth floor is dedicated to
entertainment related facilities. Third floors are allocated for bars and nightclubs and
cinema screens are located mainly on the fourth floor. Two underground garages
provide 800 parking spots for the development. The billboard tenants are given store
fronts opposite 16th Street Mall while the 15 screen multiplex is located on the top
floors of the buildings to take the advantage of second and third floor retails and
restaurants. The distinct character of the project is its concept of innovative branding.
The branding of Denver Pavilion creates visual drama and also it is a part of DURA’s
public art program. Overall, the contextual design, visual harmony, and internal
layout of the buildings make the design attractive to many people.
Key elements of development
9 Strong commitment and leadership of local officials
9 Public-private partnership
9 Clustering with existing attraction
9 Central location, availability of parking and public transportation
9 Unique tenant mix
9 BID for management, maintenance and improvements
9 Contextual design
9 Use of open spaces and street as activity generator
(Source of case study: Beyard, 2001)
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4.1.3 Bayou Place, Houston, Texas
Bayou Place project is selected to study the catalyst effect of the project on existing
historic theatre district of Houston. The project maintained vitality to existing theatre
district and added a sense of identity to downtown Houston. The project also helped
the revitalization efforts by rediscovering urban life during the evenings and
weekends. Bayou Place is located on the northern end of downtown Houston. The
project to develop an entertainment center was initiated in 1980s during the
administration of Mayor Kathy Whitmire. Bayou Place occupied the 127,000 SF
empty building of the former Albert Thomas Convention Center in downtown’s
theatre district.
The conventional center was abandoned after the relocation in the newly opened,
state-of-the-art George R. Brown Conventional Center. The structure for the old
Conventional Center remained vacant for 10 years. Albert Thomas Center was
opened in 1967 to serve fine art and other popular arts, as well as nightlife. With the
intervention of new technology and modern form of entertainment, city’s critical
mass shifted to newly opened outlets and malls in the suburbs. The district came
under the pressure of high-rise office towers. Eventually the district was occupied by
tinted glass high-rise structure of the adjacent financial and civic district. Like many
other cities the downtown lacked attractions to bring people after office hours.
63
By the late 1980s the downtown and the historic theatre district underwent further
decaying. City government decided to bring a catalyst project to maintain the vitality
of its symphony, ballet, opera, and theater companies and to bring back nightlife and
Figure 11: Bayou Place occupies an abandoned conventional center in the heart of
Houston’s historic theatre district
Source: Beyard 2001, 132
64
weekend activity. In the early 1988, the mayor’s civic task force recommended the
conversion of the abandoned Albert Thomas building into a festival market place as a
catalyst for revitalization. The recommendation was inspired by similar projects of
San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf, Boston’s Faneuil Hall, and Dallas’ West End
market place. In April 1988, the city published RFP to invite developers to participate
in public-partnership project to develop the vacant building of old conventional center
into an entertainment destination.
Development Process
To attract developers, City of Houston offered long term lease of the building and
partial subsidies for the development. After the review process city awarded the
project to George Lucas’s Skywalker Development Company and the Local Century
Development Company. However this partnership failed to meet deadlines for $60
million joint venture. The City then invited The Cordish Company, the second
runner-up for the RFP. Cordish company resubmitted its proposal to city and asked
for 25 percent share of the profits, a 60-year lease, and an $8.1 million contribution to
the cost of rehabilitation, and additional infrastructure for the development. The
proposal was accepted and project was started with the $23 million first phase to
develop 80,000 SF of area. The first phase focused on the needs of the seven attracted
entertainment tenants. After the structural changes Bayou Place opened on New
Year’s Eve in 1997. The developer managed to bring a combination café and eight-
screen multiplex, a performing-art theatre, and five restaurants. Out of them three
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tenants were publicly held companies with a national presence and the remaining
were local companies with multiple venues.
The project has been successful in offering a destination for day, night and weekends.
With the success of the project, real estate market of downtown was boosted. The
market of loft style apartment and condominiums became popular. After the success
of the Bayou Place, city announced a multi million dollar project for a new downtown
ballpark for the Houston Astros. The initiative of Bayou Place led to rediscovery of
urban amenities, which created positive wave for the revitalization efforts to
redevelop the urban core of Houston city.
Finance and management
According to the initial agreement with city and developer, Cordish’s obligations
were to pay the city an annual rent of $50,000, 25percent of profits, and the dead line
to accomplish the work by August 1996. As per the contract, city agreed upon
providing certain infrastructure. City agreed upon pledge a minimum of $900,000 per
year in parking revenues from the two nearby underground parking garages, pledge
an annual maximum of $1.2 million in management fees for 55 years, and pledge a
six-year tax abatement ($1.2 million a year). The contract was criticized by the
successive administration because the agreement set no performance standards for the
developer and it guaranteed no revenue beyond rent. However, the city continued its
cooperation to the developer to finish the project on schedule.
66
For a number of reasons the project was delayed for one year from the actual deadline
of end of 1996. The major reason was the city could not complete the promise to
provide support for the necessary infrastructure. The other potential delay was averted
when the issue of ownership between city of Houston and Harris County was
disputed for the Albert Thomas grounds. Finally the project was accomplished in the
end of 1997 and opened on the New Year’s Eve in presence of 20,000 paying guests.
Overall the finance and management of the Bayou Place public-private venture
successfully accomplished the project with delays because of administrative reasons.
Figure 12: Exterior concrete cladding was removed to reuse the building for current requirements
Source: Beyard 2001, 132
67
The project stressed on the new concepts of entertainment to attract the metropolitan
population.
Developer proposed futuristic theatres, theme restaurants, night clubs, sports bars, and
other non-conventional entertainment venues. Cordish Company negotiated with
anchor tenants Graham Brothers Entertainment, Iwerks Entertainment, and Show case
Film, before finalizing the lease with Pace Entertainment as an anchor tenant. The
other main tenants were Angelika Film Center & Café with eight screens for art films
and high end commercial titles, Sake Lounge with Japanese theme, Mingalone’s
Italian Bar & Grill, Harlon’s Bayous Blues, and Willie’s Family pool Hall. In 2000 as
a part of Phase II, Bayou Place added 20,000 SF Hard Rock Café on the Fish Plaza at
the northern end of Phase I.
Figure 13: Site Plan
Source: Beyard 2001, 138
68
Planning and design
Bayou Place is located on prime real estate location in the heart of downtown historic
theatre district. The original building was designed by CRS of Houston (Houston
office of HOK) for Albert Thomas conventional center. The site is surrounded by
Jones Plaza, 3,000 seats Jesse Jones Hall, home of Houston Symphony, 1,094 seats
Alley Theatre, Fish Plaza, Worthan Center, home to the Houston ballet and Houston
Opera Company, and important financial buildings. However, this part of the
downtown was known as NoDo, as in “Do Not Go.” In spite of the major art theatres
and financial district, this part of downtown was no man’s land after office hours and
on weekends.
Figure 14: Semi open spaces were created to open the building on the street
Beyard 2001, 135
69
The project was proposed with the intention of creating a destination for nights and
weekends. The project was limited to the old convention building only. However, city
promised to improve infrastructure and parking facilities for the entertainment
district.
The main challenge was to convert the introvert design of the convention building
into a welcoming and an interactive building. The main design challenge was to meet
the current codes and space requirements for the modern tenants. The building had
exposed aggregate-concrete wall as envelop, which was preventing it from interacting
with the surroundings. The design team removed the concrete envelop to make it
inside –out. Individual entrances were designed along the periphery to make them
more interactive with the streets. The structural frame of the building was kept as it is
as exterior a semi open space to extend the interior activities to the street level. The
project demanded very less infrastructure and urban design interventions. The main
design work was to rehabilitate the building for the multi entertainment tenants. The
final design reflected the sustainable design approach with effective space planning.
70
Key elements of development
9 Public-private partnership
9 Incentives and tax breaks to make the project feasible for developers
9 Strengthening existing theatre district by adding modern entertainment
9 Central location, availability of public transportation
9 Unique tenant mix for Houston metropolitan market
9 Cooperation between city of Houston and Cordish Company
9 Sustainable design with minimum structural changes
(Source of case study: Beyard, 2001)
Figure 15: Interior spaces of Bayou Space
Source: Beyard 2001, 137-138
71
4.1.4 Reston Town Center, Reston, Virginia
Reston Town Center is selected to study how a new development in a suburban
community created urban character through sensible design, business strategy, and
used entertainment as a key component to market the project.
Reston is an attempt to break the suburban sprawl by high density development
through neotraditional design. Reston Town Center was designed to create downtown
character in a suburban community by using high densities and special use permits.
The development provides a vision and a role model for the sprawled suburban
communities to design a place to live, work, shop, eat, socialize, and relax as they
grow urbanize and mature. In order to attract Reston Residents and create that
atmosphere, the town center offered a wide array of traditional and modern shopping
and leisure activities.
The site:
Reston is located 18 miles southwest of Washington, D.C. Reston Town Center
begun in 1963 on 7,400 acres; it now has nearly 100,000 residents and 3,500
businesses. The project is an extension of the small downtown Reston. The Town
Center attracts residents of Reston and visitors living within a 60-mile radius. It is a
2.1 million SF development project that was designed in two phases.
72
The successful development offers less than one fifth area for retail, entertainment,
restaurants, and related land use. Two third of the project space is occupied by
offices. Phase I and II constitute less than one-half of the designated 85-acre urban
core and only 7 percent of the 460-acre Reston Town Center District for the
entertainment attraction. The success of the project goes to over all design, location,
and appropriate land use.
Development process:
The project was initiated by Reston Land Company (RLC) in 1981 after urbanization
of the community. RLC realized that Reston community could support its own
Figure 16: Bird’s eye view of the development
Source: Beyard 1998, 207
73
downtown. It established an in-house task force to refine the concept for the Reston
Town Center District to consider development alternatives. Three main alternatives
were short listed to develop the 85 acre urban core of 460 acre district: development
by the company, piecemeal land sale to other developers to built as per master plan,
and co-venturing. After studying the scale of the project RLC decided to work with
other developers. After a selection procedure RLC chose Himmel / MKDG in 1984
for the partnership. Throughout the development process RLC remained adamant
about committing only to the first phase so that future phases could reflect solutions
in the marketplace. In 1996-1997, a change in ownership occurred that RLC had not
foreseen. By early 1997 portions of Phase I and II were sold to three different
realtors/developers. RLC lost direct control on the sold properties. However, it made
a master plan to ensure the design character and land use for the Phase II.
Planning and Design
RTKL, a national architecture firm was selected for the design of Reston Town
Center. RTKL’s previous association with Reston during 1970s and 1980s played
major role in the selection process. The main design objective was to offer urban
characteristics to the Reston Town Center. RTKL planned neotraditional design to
reflect positive characteristics of both urban and suburban development by designing
pedestrian friendly streets, a variety of public spaces, and facilities, easy vehicular
access and parking, and appropriate architecture. RTKL design team studied
74
architecture and urban fabric of other successful developments to create initial
proposal.
During the design process, the plan was presented to the panel of Urban Land
Institute for critical comments. The main comments for design were to develop urban
character by higher density and stretching the limits by adding hotel, retail, and
entertainment components. During 1984-1985 RTKL presented a revised proposal to
respond to the comments from ULI panel. The revised design won national
invitational competition in 1986 for the Phase I. Along with the RTKL, Sasaki
Associates prepared streetscape and landscape design for the Phase-I. The design
Figure 17: Neotraditional design of the Reston Town Center reflects downtown character and an urban
experience in suburban community
Source: Beyard 1998, 203
75
included custom made street furniture and articulated facades to create a traditional
downtown. The final design reflects human scale environment and pedestrian friendly
street network.
Philip George, a New York based firm was hired to design retail itineraries for streets
to create a vibrant environment for the pedestrians on the street. The retail, food
stores, restaurants, and entertainment activities were designed in a way to generate
identity and enhance visual character of the development. Ground floors of the all the
buildings were designed to open on the street with setback and special design effects
to their entrance, signage, awnings, bay windows, and show cases. Most of the retail
is concentrated on the Market Street, which is a pedestrian spine and a host for
community gatherings. Project identified various gateways and focal points for public
art installation.
Phase II was also designed using the best design characteristics of Phase I. Phase II
was designed as a harmonious continuation of Phase-I through the use of same
materials, signage, streetscape, and architecture.
Approval process:
The site comes under authority of the Fairfax County zoning commission. The
rezoning process began in 1984 and took almost three years and several revised
submissions. The main zoning issues were increase in traffic, parking requirements,
76
and public transportation. Zoning commission also felt that the housing and retail
component of the project was too small compared to office use.
RLC negotiated commercial and residential land use to change the trip-generations to
ensure traffic efficiency. Design was modified as per the revised analysis for traffic
generation, parking spaces and traffic density. RLC ensured mixed use projects,
shared parking, and public transportation to reduce parking and traffic problems. RLC
also included retail and residential development in Phase II to create healthy mix for
the community. The Fairfax County rezoned the site with an aggregate FAR of 0.94.
Marketing and management:
Phase I of the Reston Town Center came on the market during the region’s most
severe economic downturns. However, the predicted success brought almost 84
percent of lease at the time of the opening. During the leasing process special care
was taken to allot spaces as per designated retail itinerary. To attract and to make
investors aware about the project direct marketing through mails, meetings, and
media was undertaken. The management succeeded attracting people by organizing
free entertainment shows and national brand retail destinations, which helped the
project to create a positive impression for investors and other businesses. Project
management marketed its urban character and safe street environment to attract
visitors and businesses in the regional competition.
77
Key elements of development
9 Public-private partnership, Creative tools for marketing and leasing
9 Vision: Neotraditional design to create urban character in suburban
community
9 Design details: Special care in designing streetscape, landscape, signage,
storefronts, and public art
9 Careful proposal for rezoning and Use of high density and mixed use
development
(Source of case study: Beyard, 2001)
Figure 18: An extra care was taken to plan retail mix, streetscape, signage, landscape, and public art to
enhance the quality of retail itinerary.
Source: Beyard 1998, 206
78
4.1.5 Paseo Colorado, Old Pasadena, California
The case study of Paseo Colorado at Old Pasadena is selected to study local
government’s continuous efforts to revitalize the downtown by making it competitive
with the modern needs of retail and entertainment. Old Pasadena has gone from a
fashionable town center to skid row and back to the regional map as tourist
destination. It suffered severely during the years of Great Depression and
suburbanization movement in 1950s. During that period the historic districts of 19th
century and downtown suffered from economic decline and negligence. During the
1980s local government started taking actions to save the historic character of the
downtown and to revitalize it by a number of zoning reforms and public-private
partnerships. The 20 years of public and private partnership brought life back to Old
Pasadena. Currently more than 20,000 people visit the Pasadena on weekends to
enjoy its rich historic character consisting of more than 100 historic buildings.
History of Development
Old Pasadena continued to decline in 1950s and 1960s. During 1971 city adopted the
Pasadena Central District Improvement Plan. The plan recommended new
development to attract businesses and retail to downtown. City approved demolition
of historic buildings to develop office buildings with surface parking to attract offices
to downtown. Historic district continued to suffer with the construction of 60,000 SF
suburban style mall at the cost of many historic buildings. The mall proved to be the
worst possible urban design intervention for the historic fabric of Old Pasadena.
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The new mall was criticized for its inward looking layout and big box architecture
with blank walls. The Pasadena Central District Improvement Plan and
Figure 19: Historical heritage: Mediterranean Revival and art deco streetscape dates to 1929
Source: Beyard 2001, 203
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redevelopment agency was eliminated due to a long protest against the eminent
domain and development like big box at the cost of historic structures. To ensure
historic preservation city prepared Save Old Pasadena plan in 1978. The plan was
financed by the National Endowment for the Arts, the city of Pasadena, Pasadena
Heritage, and the Junior League.
The plan recommended use of historic character of town as a catalyst for
revitalization. City went for number of zoning changes to preserve historic buildings
by creation of an urban conservation overlay zone and adopted design guidelines for
new construction and preservation. Preservation movement further strengthened when
Pasadena was listed in the National Register of Historic Places. City sold state-
authorized Marks Historic Bonds to facilitate the rehabilitation of three historic
structures. To resolve the problem of parking on narrow streets of Old Pasadena, city
used industrial revenue bonds to fund parking garages. The garages were built with
retail and restaurants at street level to strengthen pedestrian activities on the street.
City used the funds to support the businesses downtown and to attract new businesses
to the Old Pasadena. The first development was 1,800 seat United Artists Cineplex,
built in 1986. After the first development more and more developers started taking
interests in Old Pasadena properties.
The most significant development in Old Pasadena’s revitalization efforts was the
One Colorado project, which included adaptive reuse of 17 historic structures and one
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new building. The project successfully renovated a full square block. However, the
project resulted in controversy because the developer preserved the street facades but
the inside was developed as a single mall type layout. After considerable resistance
the project was revitalized by the Stitzel Company based in San Francisco. It
redeveloped with the concept of reconnecting alleyways as internal open to air
circulation system, open plazas, and multiple entrances. The $70 million project at its
completion successfully attracted national retailers, eight screen AMC Cineplex and
offices.
Figure 20: One Colorado Development: adaptive reuse of historic building and contextual
new development
Source: Beyard 1998, 206
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The anchor tenants were provided entrance from Colorado Boulevard and other stores
were provided entrances from the alleyway which connect the center plaza. The
success of the project helped reviving other retail locations. Historic preservation and
the new concept of retail market worked as catalysts for non retail developments. The
largest project was holly Street Village, a mid-rise, mixed use development of 374
apartment units and street level retail. After a number of successful projects, city
implemented streetscape and signage projects to enhance the historic character of Old
Pasadena. One of the project’s objectives was to improve the condition and usability
of Old Pasadena’s alleys and to reconnect the street network of the historic urban
fabric.
Figure 21: Interior court of One Colorado: plaza with public art, outdoor dining, and entrances to
stores and entertainment activities
Source: Beyard 2001, 207
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All these projects recaptured Old Pasadena’s economic base and restored its historic
urban character. Throughout the revitalization efforts, private sector invested more
than $400 million in Old Pasadena and from 1983 to 2000; there was an increase
from $10 million to $200 million in sales volume. The tax-increment revenues
increased from $100,000 to $ 1.9 million. (Beyard, 2001)
Paseo Colorado: Development Process
City continued working on improvement of Old Pasadena streetscape, signage, and
historic preservation. By late 1990s, city made a proposal to redevelop the big-box of
Plaza Pasadena. Plaza Pasadena’s tax revenue was steadily declining and the design
of the building failed to comply with the new design guidelines accepted by the City.
The blank walls of the building and dead streetscape along the Colorado Boulevard
had hindered the regeneration of the civic center area and the play house district just
to the east of it. City formed the Civic Center Task Force in 1997 to develop a
proposal for the development. The main recommendations for the Plaza Pasadena was
to restore the city street grid which was blocked by the Plaza Pasadena, restore retail
activity to Colorado Boulevard, provide pedestrian friendly circulation and gathering
spaces, and provide a mixed used development with housing and retail.
Finance and Management
The TrizecHahn Company participated in the Civic Center Task Force and agreed
upon the recommendation for the new development with urban characteristics. Hahn
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Company had an ownership interest in Plaza Pasadena so TrizecHahn started the
process of assembling the site, developing the design, negotiating with lenders, and
securing city entitlement and support. City offered $26 million finance for the $130
million Paseo Colorado project in the form of certificates of participation backed by
the lease on the center’s parking structure. After ensuring city’s financial support
developer started developing design for the mixed use development.
Planning and Design
The design for Paseo Colorado proposed demolition of everything above the
subterranean parking structure except the Macy’s department store. The project was
Figure 22: Mixed use development with street front retails and gathering places
Source: Beyard 2001, 211
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developed on the concept of mixed use urban village. The design firm Ehrenkrantz,
Eckstut, & Kuhn Architects divided the project into several neighborhoods to create
mixed use, and an urban character of new development. The design stressed on
respecting the urban context. The proposed design adopted physical characteristics of
Old Pasadena. The design proposed storefronts on the Colorado Boulevard and block
ways as internal streets for more intimate retail and businesses.
Figure 23: Historic fabric of Old Pasadena and site of Paseo Colorado
Source: Beyard 2001, 213
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The design restored old city grid by opening Garfield Avenue and developed it as
pedestrian friendly Promenade. The promenade led to the Fountain Square and to the
grand staircase for the upper level plaza for out door dining and shopping. Material
and texture of the streetscape, landscape, and buildings were designed similar to the
Old Pasadena to create historic character in the new development. The design stressed
on creating a sense of place and identity for the neighborhood. The original design of
Paseo Colorado consisted 565,000 SF of retail and entertainment space including
Macy’s, a 14-screen cinema, high end restaurants, a health club, a full-service
Gelsen’s super market, and adaptable space for office use or two level retail space.
The mixed use development also included 400 rental apartments and live-work lofts
Figure 24: Design was developed with the concept of “urban village”
Source: Beyard 2001, 210
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above the retail. The designers responded to the sensitive context by adopting design
characteristics from the surrounding urban context, creating a pedestrian friendly
environment with gathering spaces, and human scale development to accommodate
the functional needs of mixed use development in a historic context. The
development of Old Pasadena was managed by the old Pasadena Business and
Professional Association formed in 1989 to provide a management structure for the
Old Pasadena district. The management followed two main objectives, to maintain
the unique characteristics of the Old Pasadena and to market it as a catalyst for
revitalization. The main reason for the success story was city’s continuous enthusiasm
to adopt new trends to remain in the competitive market.
Key elements of development
9 Public-private partnership and Asset based approach: promoting unique urban
fabric and historic character
9 Special zoning and design guidelines to ensure quality of new development
and historic preservation
9 Pedestrian friendly, mixed use development and
9 Improved parking facilities for new developments
9 Special care in designing streetscape, landscape, signage, storefronts, and
public art
9 Adopting new trends in market to remain in the competition
(Source of case study: Beyard, 2001)
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4.2 Comparative Analysis
Main objective of the comparative analysis is to understand the development process
and identify design characteristics of selected urban entertainment centers from
successful projects described by ULI. To define success of urban entertainment areas
is a difficult task because the measures for success may differ among the
stakeholders. The success of the UED depends upon the key objectives for the
project. However the key objectives for different stakeholder may vary. Most of
UEDs are developed with a public-private partnership. The main objective of the city
and neighborhood is to use the UED as a catalyst for revitalization efforts, while
private developers are only interested in the performance of the business. The success
can be defined from tangible measures like the number of jobs created, rise in real
estate tax and other revenues, growth in tourism industry, demographic shift (housing
development) and multiplier effect. The intangible but the most important criteria are
change of perception about downtown and creating an identity for the city.
Comparative analysis is divided in four parts to analyze demographics and market
place, land use and tenant mix, finance and management, and design and planning
characteristics. All four characteristics of urban development are closely associated
with each other. Case studies are selected from the successful projects as per ULI to
analyze common characteristics and development patterns to identify indicators of
successful development of UED.
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4.2.1 Demographics and market place
Table 6: Demographics and market place
Indicators 3rd Street
Promenad
e, Santa
Monica,
CA
Denver
Pavilions,
Denver,
CO
Bayou
Place,
Houston,
TX
Reston
Town
Center,
Reston,
VA
Paseo
Colorado
& One
Colorado,
Old
Pasadena,
CA
Main
Street,
Cincinnati,
OH
City’s market place*
Small
Medium
■ ■ ■
Large ■ ■ ■
Presence of similar destinations ■ ■ ■
Population (millions)**
Below 0.5
0.5-1.5
1.5-4.5 2.58 1.98
4.5-10 4.67 7.61
More than 1 16.37 16.37
Density per acre**
Low
Moderate 482 304 606 482 550
High 794
Median Age (Years)
Below 30
30-37 32.3 33.8 31.9 35.4 32.3 35.0
More than 37
Median household income**
Below 15,000
15,001-30,000
30,001-40000
40001-50000 45,903 44,761 45,903 44,914
More than 50,000 51,088 57,291
Crime rate (Crime Index)***
Low -
Moderate 4,701 32,415 4,941 29,657
High 150,943
* Data derived from population, median household income, and density
** Data represents CMSA of market place
*** Data represents the local jurisdiction of the market place
Source: US Census Bureau 2000
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4.2.2 Land use, tenant mix, and size of the project
Table 7: Land use, tenant mix and size of the projects
Indicators 3rd Street
Promenade,
Santa Monica,
CA
Denver
Pavilions,
Denver, CO
Bayou Place,
Houston, TX
Reston Town
Center,
Reston, VA
Paseo
Colorado &
One Colorado,
Old Pasadena,
CA
Size and density of project
Acreage (acres) 53.1 3.21 2.0 20.6 11.48
(approx)
Gross Building Area (SF)* 3,251,410 710,522 160,000 1,200,000 790,000
(approx)
FAR** 2.0-3.5 5.08 1.84 1.3 1.58
(approx)
Type of land use
Residential (units) ■
■ ■
Entertainment ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Retail ■ ■ ■ ■
Offices ■
■ ■
Hotel ■
■
Parking Structures ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Open spaces/Plaza ■ ■ ■ ■
Tenant mix
Live/performing art ■ ■ ■
Art galleries/visual art ■
■
Museums
Movie theatres ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
I MAX theatre
Bars/restaurants ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Ethnic food ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
National retailers ■ ■ ■ ■
Clothing/Jewelry/Accessories ■ ■ ■ ■
General merchandise ■ ■ ■ ■
Specialty/Gift/Antique ■ ■ ■ ■
Home Furnishing/Appliances ■ ■ ■ ■
Health club ■
■ ■
Personal services ■ ■ ■ ■
* Gross Building Area (GBA) includes new development existing buildings under renovation or
adaptive reuse
** Values in range indicates range of FAR for different city blocks
Source: Beyard, 1997 & 2001
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4.2.3 Project finance
Table 8: Project finance and developers
Indicators 3rd Street
Promenade,
Santa Monica,
CA
Denver
Pavilions,
Denver, CO
Bayou Place,
Houston, TX
Reston Town
Center,
Reston, VA
Paseo
Colorado &
One Colorado,
Old Pasadena,
CA
Project partnership
Public project
Private development
■
Public-private partnership ■ ■ ■ ■
Development cost
Total cost (million) $213.2 $106.25 $30 $175 $130
Public investment (million) $13.2 $24.4 $8.1 - $26
Private investment (million) $200 $81.85 $29.9 $175 $104
Ratio (Private/public) 1:16 1:3.4 1:3.7 - 1:4
Incentives/finance
Bonds ■
TIF District ■
CDBG
Other tax-abatement ■
BID ■ ■
Rezoning ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Density Bonus ■
■
Other incentives/infrastructure ■ ■ ■
Developers and designers
Developers
Phase I
City of Santa
Monica
Denhill
Denver LLC
The Cordish
Company
Reston Town
enter
Associates
The
TrizecHahn
Development
Corporation
Phase I Bayside
District
Corporation
Artur Hill
&Co. LLC
Himmel & Co.
Phase I Entertainm-ent
Developme-nt
Group
Phase II Westerra
Planner/Architect
Phase I
Roma Design
Group
ELS Gensler RTKL
Associates,
Inc.
Ehrenkrantz,
Eckstut &
Kuhn
Architects
Phase II Keys Condon
and Florance
Architects
Landscape Architect
Phase I
Martin &
Martin
Sasaki
Associates,
Inc.
Source: Beyard, 1997 & 2001
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4.2.4 Design characteristics
Table 9: Design process and project characteristics
Indicators 3rd Street
Promenade,
Santa Monica,
CA
Denver
Pavilions,
Denver, CO
Bayou Place,
Houston, TX
Reston Town
Center,
Reston, VA
Paseo
Colorado &
One Colorado,
Old Pasadena,
CA
Type of development
Corridor
Dispersed
Node ■
City blocks ■ ■ ■ ■
Character of development
Downtown/CBD ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Historic District ■ ■ ■
Mixed use development ■ ■ ■
Entertainment + retail exclusive ■ ■
Public participation
None ■ ■ ■
Very low
Moderate ■ ■
High
Design
Urban design guidelines ■ ■ ■ ■
Adaptive reuse ■ ■ ■
Redevelopment ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Streetscape improvement ■ ■ ■ ■
New urbanism ■
Open space/gathering spaces ■ ■ ■ ■
Source: Beyard, 1997 & 2001
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4.3 Findings
Urban entertainment district is a unique concept to combine entertainment, retail, art
and other land uses in urban areas of city to attract visitors for their unique
architecture and urban character. Many cities have rediscovered their urban life
through the concept of urban entertainment. Urban entertainment districts should
design as a segment of a broader perspective to revitalize downtown. The major
criteria affecting the development of such projects are demographics of metropolitan
area, central location, accessibility from public transportation and highways,
availability of parking and crime rate. The success of urban entertainment districts
depends upon the uniqueness of location, character, tenant mix, and availability of
other attractions.
Demographics and marker place
Urban entertainment districts require a critical mass of population and distinctiveness
to be successful. The strategic position of the development depends upon market
dynamics, competitive attractions, consumer physiology, location, and market trends.
All these criteria depend largely upon the demographics. Urban Entertainment
Centers are regional destinations and cover the CMSA. However, demographics of
primary market are equally important to generate repeat trips for greater penetration.
CMSA must reflect right demographics to bring private investment for UEDs. The
analysis of demographics depends on the theme of the UED and its distinctiveness.
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The main considerations to define size of a market place for the UED are total
population, income, age groups, and perception of safety.
Case studies were selected from different regions and different size of CMSAs. Case
studies from Los Angeles CMSA and Washington D.C. CMSA located in large
market places. Both the market are large enough to support more than one UED
projects while for case studies from medium size CMSA like Houston and Denver the
most critical part of the project is to justify the critical mass available to support UED
projects. All the case studies are located in a market place with more than $40,000
median household income. However, the size of population is critical to decide the
size of market place. The other most important aspect of the successful development
of UEDs is primary market and perception of safety. Except than Houston all the
other locations have moderate or low crime rate. Houston city represents very high
crime index, but the historic theatre district and surrounding financial district have
comparatively very low crime rate due to successful low enforcement in this part of
downtown Houston.
• Total population of the CMSA indicates size of user group available for the
UED. The data suggests that for availability of critical mass, market size
should be more than 1.5 million to support the development.
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• UED developments offer a wide variety of choices for all age groups but
studies indicate that 15-35 years age group generates more repeat trips. Total
population, age groups, and income level together define size of the market
place.
• Income level indicates expenditure power of the market population. Analysis
suggests median income of $40,000 or more creates favorable market place
for UEDs.
• The perception of safety is the most critical factor to generate repeat trips.
Market places with a high crime level must take appropriate actions to create a
safer environment and a pleasant experience for the entertainment district. For
the analysis crime rate, neighborhood level data should be used for accurate
analysis. Crime statistics of the CMSA may not describe the accurate picture
for a particular location or neighborhood.
• Racial composition of the city may also affect the success of UEDs. Cities
with a history of racial segregation and a wrong perception about inner city
locations could be a crucial consideration while locating the project and
considering critical mass from surrounding neighborhoods. Cities like
Richmond, VA failed to utilize the concept of UED because of racial tensions
and lack of participation in the project.
• Competition of similar developments and other type of leisure attractions can
divide the same market place. Distinctiveness of the UED and character of
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other attractions in same region should be considered while analyzing the
market place for the UED for accurate analysis.
• Further analysis of education level, regional trends, accessibility of location,
complementary attraction in primary market, population density in primary
market, and other trip generators like offices, university and civic centers
refine the analysis for accurate market place for UEDs.
Many cities have successfully used the concept of UEDs as a catalyst to revitalize
their downtown. In few cases medium size metropolitan areas were failed because of
over dependence on UED and failure to understand the demographics, regional trends,
and other needs of transportation and infrastructure, while in few cases small cities
have successfully implemented the concept of UED by blending entertainment and
retail with other local attractions and with a marketing strategy to attract visitors by
offering unique historic character, urban settings, and regional flavor.
Size and density of development
Urban entertainment projects have very different standards for the critical mix and
critical mass. Most UED developments tend to encompass between 250,000 to
650,000 SF. The case studies demonstrate wide range of project sizes. Third Street
Promenade project has undertook more than 3 million SF of space for redevelopment;
however the significant portion of the project size was existing building stock, which
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was included in the project for the adaptive reuse and historic preservation. Size of
Denver Pavilions was comparatively small because it was developed as a part of
revitalize plan to catalyze the existing retail corridor on 16th Street. Project
formulation of Denver Pavilion has considered the existing retail while programming
critical mix for the project. Bayou Place, Houston is relatively a very small project to
be a destination by itself. Bayou Place was proposed to attract pollution to downtown
by offering night life and weekend attractions. City’s man objective was to strengthen
the historic theatre district by accommodating latest trends of entertainment.
However, project was provided parking structures from city as a part of contract.
The objective of Reston Town Center was to develop downtown with full range of
services for suburban community, included a full range of land use. Phase I of the
project is significantly large, but the entertainment and retail component is very small
in compare to office and residential development. The project became a successful
because of its aggressive marketing strategy to promote the development by attracting
critical mass across the CMSA to experience its retail and entertainment in a unique
urban setting. Paseo Colorado, Old Pasadena is a sizable project for mixed use
development with a theme of UED. Paseo Colorado can not be considered separately
as it is a continuation of Old Pasadena’s commitment to historic preservation and
revitalization.
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The scale of the project is driven by three interrelated factors, first retail, dinning and
entertainment offerings as per the market trends, second tenant diversity by including
sufficient number of core tenants and specialty tenants, and third creating critical
mass through size and tenant mix for competitive advantage in the given market
place. (Beyard, 1998) All the three interrelated factors are derived from the location,
density, size of market place, availability of complementary attractions, and regional
competition.
• The size of the project is directly related with the size of market place and
available competition, because both the indicators decide the type of tenant
mix and need critical mass for development
• Density of the project is directly related with the location of the project.
Surrounding density, land value, and availability of land in the given context
decide the density of the project.
• In many cases UED enjoys the complementary attraction like museums,
existing theater district, sports arenas, and art districts. Availability of these
attractions contributes to generate critical mass. In such cases the size of the
UED development relies on the positive impact of surrounding attractions.
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Land Use Characteristics
• The land use characteristics depend on the type of urban setting and local
market area. The main objective of the UED projects is to create a catalyst
effect for the revitalization. UED projects developed as part of the larger
picture and revitalize strategies. Depending on the market requirement, UED
projects include housing, office, retail, and other land uses.
• Analysis suggests that there are no standards for various land use. However,
revitalization and redevelopment projects used mixed-use development and
contributed in office space, residential and other usages. Most of the free
standing urban entertainment projects are developed solely for retail and
entertainment.
• Parking is an essential requirement for any UED development. Most of the
project provides their own parking as per their own requirements or minimum
requirements by zoning. Many urban projects share their parking structures
with surrounding office development during the evening and weekends.
Projects with a good public transit tend to have very few or no parking.
• Open spaces and public gathering spaces are also essential part of the project
program because these spaces attract people, provides space for street
performances and festivals, and in many cases they symbolize main entrance
for the development. Size and scale of the open space depends upon the
availability of land and needs.
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• Building space is depends upon the type of entertainment development and
scale of the project. The requirement of the building area derived from the
market analysis and regional competition.
Tenant mix (Type of retails and entertainment facilities)
• Case studies don’t reflect any specific packages of tenant mix like many
shopping malls. Urban entertainment projects are far more complex than any
other suburban retail destinations or freestanding entertainment complexes.
• The tenant mix of the projects in historic settings depends upon the urban
fabric and design of the project. Many national retails or brand store do not fit
properly within the historic buildings. Such projects encourage small specialty
stores, boutiques, and cafes.
• UEDs respond to the market location, uniqueness of offerings, demographics,
entertainment trends, and regional competition while programming the tenant
mix.
• Most UED projects use multi-anchoring is the term used for creating patterns
of morning and afternoon, evening, and nighttime to create a combined pull
on the market to extend project’s geographic reach, penetration and duration
of visit.
• The concept of UEDs is to offer a destination of urban entertainment center to
offers, shopping as an experience. To enhance the experience, UED uses a
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combination of national brands, local stores, specialty stores, personal
services, and antique stores.
• The entertainment component includes cinema, live performances, theme bars
and restaurants, ethnic food, and street performances.
• Street front stores are selected so that they contribute to the streetscape while
at the same time introducing visitors off the street and into upper levels.
Development cost, finance, and incentives
The financial performance of the urban entertainment destination development is
different than the retail destinations of suburbs. The unique urban entertainment
demands creative design for new development and adaptive reuse of historic
architecture costs much more than other regional destinations.
• The development and maintenance cost of UEDs are much higher than the
suburban retail development due to its unique location, challenging design,
unique tenant mix, and development of public spaces, streetscapes, and
signage.
• Financing the urban entertainment destinations is difficult because of higher
development cost, financial risk, lease structure, and lack of performance
history requires higher discount rate on investment.
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• Financial risk for the UED projects is high because they are either located in
CBD or inner city neighborhoods where the performance measure is very
complex.
• In most cases UED development need public partnership to finance the project
because the concept is comparatively new and higher risk factor is associated
with it. Most UED projects are financed with non-tradition tools of financing
through public-private partnerships. In most cases ratio of public and private
investments remains less than 1:4. In normal practice local government insist
more than 75% investment from private developers.
• The typical tools of local funding are, General Obligation Bond, Revenue
Bond, Land-Banking, Loans and Grants, Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT),
and Tax Increment Financing (TIF). The other common source of funding
from state governments are Enterprise Zones, Brownfield Programs, Loans
and Grants, Tax Credits. In many cases city can tie neighborhood
development and revitalization projects with urban entertainment
development to get grants from Federal Programs such as, Empowerment
Zone, Industrial Revenue Bond, and Community Development Block Grant
(CDBG). However, the most common tools used by local government to
finance the UEC projects are TIF, CBDG, Bonds, and other tax abatements.
• Most UED use BID to manage operating cost and to compete with other
regional developments. Business Improvement District is also an innovative
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and effective source of securing funding for development and operating cost
for the urban entertainment areas. BID is used by property owners and
merchants to determine the future of their retail, commercial and industrial
areas.
• UED projects receive other forms of incentives from local government to
develop such projects. The main incentive is rezoning to develop mixed use
UED projects.
• There are special forms of conditional zoning incentives like density bonus
and TDR to achieve higher density.
Development Characteristics
Urban entertainment district is a concept of reinventing retail by combining
community, lifestyle, and entertainment to create new form of retail centers as
gathering places that combine shopping with socializing. The new concept of retailing
and their location make urban entertainment projects unique in nature. This new
concept is successful in revitalize downtowns and inner cities. In few cases like
Reston, VA, suburban communities followed the same concept to develop and market
their town centers by using the new concept to develop a successful regional
destination. However, most of these projects became successful because of their
unique urban character.
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There are two major types of urban entertainment developments, first is mixed used
development which includes retail, entertainment, housing, offices, and other land
uses and the second is exclusively retail-entertainment. Mixed use urban
entertainment projects are developed to create catalyst effect for the revitalization
plans, while the excusive retail-entertainment like Bayou Place, Houston and Denver
Pavilions, Denver were developed to revitalize and strengthen existing entertainment
district and market.
Success of the urban entertainment project depends upon the uniqueness of its
character and offerings. Urban entertainment projects respect the historic character of
urban fabric to market their location. The case studies of Third Street Promenade,
Santa Monica and Paseo Colorado, Old Pasadena attract thousands of visitors each
weekend because of their historic character and contextual design of new
development.
Public Participation
It is important to involve public participation in development process to achieve
broader objectives of revitalization. However, in most cases the development process
doesn’t involve public participation at all stages of project. In most cases such
development in inner city is seen with the fear of gentrification. There is a need to
educate neighborhoods about the broader objectives and positive impact of the
development. Urban entertainment projects require very specific design requirements
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in a timely manner. Urban entertainment projects are mainly financed by private
developers; they don’t encourage public participation to avoid unnecessary delays.
However, there should be an active role of neighborhood organizations in project
formation to design development.
Design characteristics
A good design is the most important part of the urban entertainment project because a
well designed place can generate repeat trips while a bad design can ruin the best
strategies for development and marketing. Design development of urban
entertainment areas requires various expertise’s for an innovative and creative design.
• The comprehensive plan for the urban entertainment district must develop a
plan to provide necessary parking, access to public transportation and
accessibility to major roads or highway. Location should be easily accessible
by the entire marketplace to maximize the market radius.
• There should be a clear urban design guideline for the new development.
Urban design guideline helps to identify the best location for the urban
entertainment for appropriate context and accessibility to transpiration and
other attractions. There should be an urban design guide lines for required
heights, façade treatments, set backs, and material.
• Most urban entertainment districts overlap with historic districts. There should
be a clear guideline for historic preservation and adaptive reuse.
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• It is very necessary that design for new development should respect the
context and follow urban design guidelines.
• Clustering of various activates and itinerary is a very important part to extend
the depth of penetration. The project must concern retail designer for retail
planning.
• Open spaces/gathering spaces and street side open spaces should be provided
for public gatherings, street performances and festivals. The development
should encourage pedestrian activities on streets. Streetscape and landscape
should be pedestrian friendly and interactive.
• Branding is also an important part of marketing to provide an identity of the
development. Street signage, direction maps, project logo, and super-signage
should be designed for the project to provide visitors a frisson of excitement
and diversity in an urban space sanitized for suburban tourist families.
Many cities like New York, Chicago, Baltimore, Boston, Denver, Houston, Dallas
and Los Angeles implemented urban entertainment as a key concept as catalyst to
revitalize or strengthen downtowns and inner city. However, even after examination
of those projects, it is nearly impossible to define the development standards for the
successful implementation of urban entertainment districts or stand alone
entertainment-retail destinations. Success of the development affect on the
availability of critical mass and uniqueness of tenants. There are no standard
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indicators for the success of the project, which makes the concept difficult to justify
in all the cities without an extensive analysis, due to the unique and individual needs
of each downtown. The concept of urban entertainment centers is evolving and it is
little early to categorize it like any other type of malls or retail development. There
are cities where the concept failed for number of reasons, while number of cities has
successfully changed the perception of their downtown as a center of culture,
entertainment, and social amenities by integrating entertainment centers with multiple
uses like retail, housing, work place, and art and cultural.
Many cities have already experienced “Live in Downtown” trend, mainly because of
rising creative class and empty nester looking for urban experience. Entertainment
facilities are taking the place of office buildings as the driving force in opposing sub-
urbanization processes. The entertainment districts could be a forecast of a new
symbol of ‘American urban city-culture’. The findings show that cities have to be
aware of their market size and the positive and negative impacts of urban
entertainment centers on inner-cities’ social and political structure.
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Chapter 5: RECOMMENDATIONS TO DEVELOP MAIN
STREET AS URBAN ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT
5.1 Vision and Objectives
In past few years Main Street, Cincinnati has became a happening place and has been
quite successful in attracting people. Main Street is evolving on its own and has now
become a place for artists' studios, art galleries, funky bars and cafes, businesses, a
developing mixed-income residential area, and other interdependent activities. The
main objective here is to develop Main Street in to urban entertainment district as
catalyst for downtown revitalization.
There are different views amongst city officials, planners, business owners, and
citizens regarding development of Main Street, Cincinnati. Many people believe that
city should allow the Main Street entertainment district grow on own and let the
market decide about its development and future. Main Street is an emerging
destination but the development is happening in unplanned ways, without a defined
direction. In absence of master plan and development strategies, the on going growth
may turn in to a haphazard and self centric development, which may not be of any
help to neighborhood or down town Cincinnati, and the potential opportunities could
be lost. The second and common suggestion is to prepare urban design and
preservation guidelines for the new development. This is a very common type of
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government interventions for most of the projects. According to it city should develop
a plan for parking garages, signage, streetscape, and façade improvements to help the
emerging entertainment district. The second alternative can guide the physical
development of Main Street entertainment district, but in absence of an economic
strategy the development won’t contribute to economic development or revitalization
efforts of Cincinnati downtown. The third proposal insists on developing Main Street
as a regional urban entertainment district by adopting a comprehensive plan for
redevelopment for Main Street entertainment district. It has tremendous potential to
become a destination as an entertainment and art district of the region. The third
proposal recommends developing Main Street urban entertainment district as catalyst
to revitalize downtown Cincinnati. The objective of developing Main Street urban
entertainment district as a catalyst project can be achieved by creating a public private
partnership to implement the comprehensive plan for urban entertainment district.
Main objectives
1. Developing the entertainment centers as catalyst for revitalization of
downtown Cincinnati. A renewal of sustainable retail and entertainment
development in downtown neighborhoods to change in the perception of
downtown Cincinnati from just a place to work to the center for culture,
entertainment and social amenities.
2. Establishing the new development to as a premier entertainment destination
for OKI metropolitan region.
110
3. Establishing the new development to strengthen existing retail base, art
district, and other cultural attractions.
4. Promoting mixed use development to integrate multiple uses like
entertainment, retail, housing, work place, and public amenities to enhance the
existing vitality of the historic downtown to make it a thriving, 24-hour urban
place. Planning the entertainment district with restaurants, nightclubs,
performing arts and movies to lively nighttime and weekend activities.
5. Integrating historic character of Over-the-Rhine historic district to offer a
unique urban experience to attract tourism market of the region. Promoting
adaptive reuse of historic structures to encourage mixed use development to
convert them in to lofts, apartments, live/work spaces, and small businesses.
6. Providing neighborhood level retails to cater underserved residents of
downtown and Over-the-Rhine.
7. Developing sufficient parking and encouraging public transportation
The recommendations for Main Street Entertainment District includes a thorough
understanding of the player involved, the development process, formation of public-
private partnerships, financial opportunities, management, and design.
5.2 Recommendations
Recommendations for Main Street entertainment district is divided in to three main
stages of development process, first is project formulation, the second is development
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process, and the third is planning and design. Project formulation includes
development initiation, market research, and programming of project. Development
process discusses the formation of public private partnerships, finance and
management, tenant selection and marketing part of the project. Planning and design
includes the criteria for site selection, design, historic preservation, adaptive reuse,
streetscape, and signage.
5.2.1 Project formulation
The Main Street entertainment district offers tremendous opportunities for growth;
however it has not yet reached at its maturity where it can be approached by private
developers. The project for Main Street entertainment district should be primarily
initiated by City of Cincinnati as part of economic development strategies and “feel
good” project to change the image of downtown Cincinnati. The project categorize
primarily in plan-driven project where city move to initiate redevelopment as part of
an economic regeneration program or other comprehensive plan for a distressed area
to develop urban entertainment center. However, the proposal should include
demand-driven and site-driven programming after finalizing proposal and location.
The demand-driven approach helps to select tenants by giving an opportunity to the
community to choose the type of tenants to satisfy their consumer need. Design of the
development should also include site-driven approach to determine what type of use
is permissible for new development and adaptive reuse.
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The other important part of the project initiation is to identify a theme of the project
by associating unique identity or flavor to market the project to visitors and tourist
and to create perception of “feel good” amongst the community. In case of
Cincinnati, its unique heritage of eighteenth century architecture of Over-the-Rhine is
a striking asset for the branding the project.
Market Research
Development proposal must indicate and current information about the location and
market area. Market research should include information about real estate dynamics
of location, demographic trends, retail and entertainment market analysis, and
availability of type and amount of public assistance available.
• Dynamics of location: Analysis should indicate availability of parking, public
transportation and access from highways. Property value, real estate taxes,
available acreage, parcel configuration, zoning information, surrounding
context, crime rate and other special characteristics should be taken in to
considering while considering alternative locations to analyze the risk factor
for the real estate Performa.
113
• Demographics: Demographic of the market area indicates useful information
to determine the scale of the project and feasibility of market area.
Comparative analysis (Table 10) of Cincinnati metropolitan area with other
successful UEC projects indicates Cincinnati downtown as medium size
market place. Cities like Boston, Baltimore, Denver, Houston, and Dallas,
being a medium market place successfully implemented UEC projects.
Analysis is an interpretation of total population, household income, average
age, density and crime statistics. However, further analysis of education level,
regional trends, accessibility of location, complementary attraction in primary
Table 10: Demographics and market place
Indicators Main Street Entertainment District,
Cincinnati. OH
City’s market place*
Market size (OKI region) Medium
Presence of similar
destinations
None
Population (millions)**
Mid size city 1.98
Density per acre**
Moderate 550
Median Age (Years)
Comparatively younger 35.0
Median household income**
High 44,914
Crime rate (Crime Index)***
Moderate 29,657
* Data derived from population, median household income, and density
** Data represents CMSA of market place
*** Data represents the local jurisdiction of the market place
Source: US Census Bureau 2000
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market, population density in primary market, and other trip generators like
offices, university and civic centers refine the analysis for accurate analysis
for Cincinnati downtown.
• Retail and entertainment market: The analysis is the most important
indicator to decide the type of retail and entertainment and their critical mix.
The analysis should include the existing primary trade market, the secondary
trade area, depth of demands for proposed retail and entertainment, existing
gapes in the market place, and psychographics of the demographics. The
analysis should also include the effect of the similar businesses in the same
market place to understand if the new development is complementary to the
existing locations for entertainment and retail or not. The dynamics of
regional competition should be identified for Cincinnati market place.
Cincinnati market area has more than ten neighborhood business districts
which offer some type of entertainment and retail to the neighborhood market.
Studies indicate that urban entertainment districts not necessarily compete
with localized neighborhood business districts. Urban entertainment districts
could undermine existing downtown restaurants, bars and shops by siphoning
off customers. Case studies from other cities indicates that the development of
regional destinations complement other attractions. But supporters contend
that the UEDs would help generate higher sales from visitors and tourists, and
insist that several entertainment areas not only are economically viable, but
115
desirable, in large central cities. However, the analysis should analyze the
consequences of presence of Newport, KY, and proposed River Front
Development even if they are not meant to be a regional destination.
• Latest trends: Market analysis should accurately pinpoints all the possible
categories of visitors, such as leisure tourists, conventioneers, tourist groups,
college students, and area residents to identify trends in market segments to
remain current.
• Public assistance: Market research should also document amount of various
public finance, tax abetments, zoning incentives, and availability of
infrastructure to analyze favorable condition for the new investment.
Project programming
To create a 24-hour vibrant downtown Main Street Entertainment District should
integrate variety of land uses and tenant mix to cater day time, evening, night time
and week end costumers. However, market size of downtown Cincinnati is the main
determinants to program project size, density, type of land use, and tenant mix. A
mixed use development should be proposed with entertainment, retail, offices and
housing as primary land uses. The inclusion of a residential use, or close proximity to
a residential use, is vital to keep urban projects constantly thriving. Adaptive reuse
should be promoted to develop condominiums, apartments, lofts, and artist studio to
fill in the gapes in the Main Street Historic District. An expanded residential base in
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downtown and Over-the-Rhine can provide a sustained market for amenities and
services such as eateries, shoe repair shops, drugstores, bakeries, health clubs, and
grocery stores. This type of neighborhood oriented business is necessary to filling the
gapes to underserved communities. Commercial and office developments create a
new market for jobs and contribute to the vitality of the downtown. Entertainment
and retail tenants should be selected so that they don’t compete directly with the
similar businesses or attractions located in downtown Cincinnati. Figure 25, shows
major art, entertainment, retail, sports, and public places (see Appendix: A for further
details).
Entertainment activities should be used to generate activity and attract large number
of people and restaurants should be provided to extend the activity after
entertainment. Icon retailers and specialty stores should be selected to induce the
extended activities. Tenant mix should be designed in a way so the activities can
extend day into nigh, which creates a presence during all hours to take advantage of
various submarkets. The inclusion of restaurants, theaters, movies or other late
evening uses helps attract people after business hours. However, it is also important
to include office development to stimulate activity by daytime workers during
mornings and lunch hours. (Beyard, 1998, 68-71)
117
Figure 25: Existing attractions, downtown, Cincinnati
Source: CAGIS, 2004 and http://www.cincinnati.com/visitorsguide/attractions_guide.html,
Accessed April, 2004
118
Table 11: Proposed project size, land use, and tenant mix for Main Street, Cincinnati
Main Street Entertainment District, Cincinnati. OH
PHASE-I
Size and density of project
Acreage (acres) 5.7-6.8
Gross Building Area (SF)* 750,000-1,000,000
FAR** 2.5-4.5
Type of land use
Residential Mixed use, adaptive reuse: Condo, loft, apartment,
artist studio
Entertainment ■
Retail ■
Offices ■
Hotel
Parking Structures Shared parking with housing and offices
Open spaces/Plaza Gathering place/street performance/street vendors
Tenant mix
Live/performing art Live bands/laughter clubs/mid size theatre
Art galleries/visual art Improvement of Pendleton and other art galleries
Museums
Movie theatres High-end/art/international/popular
I MAX theatre
Bars/restaurants Theme bar/restaurants/cafes
Ethnic food Japanese/Thai/Indian/Korean/Chinese/Mexican
National retailers/brands National brand names
Clothing/Jewelry/Accessories ■
General merchandise Grocery store/specialty food store/bakery
Specialty/Gift/Antique ■
Home Furnishing/Appliances ■
Health club ■
Personal services ■
All the information is derived from comparative analysis of case studies and existing attractions of
downtown Cincinnati.
* Gross Building Area (GBA) includes new development existing buildings under renovation or
adaptive reuse
** Values in range indicates range of FAR for different city blocks
119
5.2.1 Development process
The main aspects of development process are formatting public-private partnership,
cost estimation, projects finance, management, marketing and crime enforcement. All
the stages are crucial for success of urban entertainment projects.
Public-private partnership
The role of City of Cincinnati as an initiator should develop a common consensus
between elected officers, councilors, mayor, various departments of city,
neighborhood organizations, special-interest groups, Downtown Cincinnati Inc.
(DCI), business owners, Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC),
and Chamber of Commerce to identify the vision and common objectives for the
Main Street Entertainment District. City of Cincinnati should prepare a preliminary
proposal consisting market analysis, site possibilities, design character, funding
incentives, and comprehensive plan to integrate housing, economic development,
retails, businesses, infrastructure, parking and transportation. The initial proposal
should also clearly indicate available forms of financial incentives, infrastructure
development, economic advantages (jobs, tax base, and multiplier effect) and market
analysis/feasibility report. The report should be made public to include community
concerns before finalizing. Grass root public participation should be encouraged by
involving community organizations and special-interest groups of Over-the-Rhine to
120
educate the people about the issues of gentrification so the project is perceived as a
neighborhood enhancement rather than an intrusion.
To efficiently manage the project city should create Main Street Redevelopment
Corporation (MSRC). MSRC should include key members from Department of
Community Development and Planning, 3CDC, Chamber of Commerce,
Neighborhood Organizations, Main Street business owners, and Port Authority of
Cincinnati.
MSRC should invite private sector participation through the competitive Request for
Proposal /Request for Qualification (RFP/RFQ) method. An RFQ invites developers
to set out their professional credentials and related project portfolio. An RFP solicits
developers’ suggestions for a future project for the site in question, indicating
applicable city resources (funding and other incentives) for the project. In response
developers submit their proposal consisting site plan, a list of prospective tenants,
anticipated cost for development, and revenues. RFP/RFQ process should be handled
with selected developers who have already have portfolio of similar type of
development. The decision should be made in favor of the proposal offering greatest
value to the community. The main selection criteria are performance history of
developer, availability of private finance, and share in revenue. In many cases after
the selection process developers fail to demonstrate their responsibilities. In such case
city should invite the runner up to under take the assignment. It is important to stay in
touch with the runner up developers.
121
Finance and management
The overall cost of developing urban entertainment centers usually higher than
Greenfield development or any other retail development because of unique tenant
mix, downtown location, historic preservation, adaptive reuse, redevelopment, and
higher risk factor affect associated with the project. Because of higher risk factor and
development cost, the developer seeks public funding and other incentives. Normally
the public finance is decided through a fiscal impact and cost benefit analysis.
Normally the ratio of public-private partnership doesn’t extend more than 1:4.
Available sources of public funding for Main Street Entertainment District
• Special Improvement Districts (SID)
• Federal or State Economic Development Zones (Empowerment Zones,
Development Zones, Revitalization Zones, and Economic Development
Zones)
• Special Taxation Districts
• Community Development block Grants (CDBG)
• Tax Increment Financing (TIF)
• Tax Abatements (Real estate tax abatement, sales tax abatement, and other
taxes on utilities)
• Historic Preservation Tax Credits
• Writing Down Costs of Land
• Public Sector Leases
• State and Local Infrastructure grants
• Matching Funds
• Revolving Loan Funds (RLF)
• National Main Street Program
Source: International Council of Shopping Centers
122
The most common and suitable source of funding for urban entertainment districts are
development bonds, TIF district, and CDBG. MSRC should apply for TIF, CDBG
and Historic Preservation Tax Credits to meet the funding requirements. However, in
many project the approved grants do not satisfy the funding requirements. In such
case City of Cincinnati should issue Development Bond to cover the remaining cost.
Marketing
• An aggressive effort should be made to sell the beautiful image of historic
architecture of Over-the-Rhine to attract tenants, visitors, conventioneers, and
tourists. A strategy of direct marketing approach should be adopted to contact
Table 12: Project finance and developers
Indicators Main Street Entertainment District,
Cincinnati. OH
Project partnership
Public-private partnership With one/more than one developers
Investment Ratio (Private/public) No more than 1:4
Incentives/finance
TIF District The most suitable way to finance
CDBG The most suitable way to finance
Bonds To meet gape in finance
Other tax-abatement Historic Preservation Tax Credits
BID For management after completion
Rezoning Development friendly zoning
Density Bonus To promote adaptive reuse & housing
Other incentives/infrastructure Parking, public transportation
Building permits and licenses Priority should be given to the application for
Main Street Entertainment District
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potential tenants by mails, website, one-to-one meetings, and arranging
presentations.
• Main Street Entertainment Districts and other developments in the downtown
should get a special priority in reviews and inspections involved in the
permitting process to avoid unnecessary delays. Priorities should be given to
the applications for licenses and permits from Fire department, Liquor
Control/License Commissioners, Building and Electrical Permits, Zoning, and
the Public Health Services/Food Services unit.
• Street Festivals, free events, and “feel good” campaign should be promoted to
attract the new development and new patrons.
• Special events like “Live in Downtown” by DCI should be promoted to
market the housing opportunities in downtown Cincinnati.
• To create a vibrant night life, retailers should stay open past mid night to
market the place for late-night shoppers. Also retailers should offer shopping
perks to enhance the downtown shopping experience, such as package home
delivery services so people don't have to lug bags around.
• An adequate security plan should be designed by Department of Public Safety
to create perception of safety and a sense of place for the visitors. Main Street
Entertainment District should arrange personal security staff under the
supervision of Cincinnati Police Department.
124
• An effective public transpiration should be provided with extended hours and
more connectivity to cater larger crowd.
Management
At the completion of the project the Main Street redevelopment Corporation should
create Main Street Entertainment District Committee (MSEDC) to work as leasing
and management agency. Also the MSEDC should apply for the designation of
Business Improvement District (BID). A business improvement district (BID) is an
organizing and financing mechanism used by property owners and merchants to
determine the future of their retail, commercial and industrial areas. It is very
important to manage Main Street Entertainment District for the ability to change.
Leasing professional should be a part of development team to fully understand the
long-run vision of the project. Trends of entertainment are changing rapidly with the
technology. Such tenants shouldn’t be granted long tern lease. Lease should be
renewed only if the performance of tenant fit in to the vision or image of the
entertainment district. MSEDC should be given an authority to recruit new tenants in
coordination with the design and business plan.
BID permits property owners and merchants to band together to use the city's tax
collection powers to assess properties, thereby creating a reliable, multi-year source
of funds for economic development. These funds are collected by the city and
returned in their entirety to the BID and are used for supplemental services
125
(maintenance, sanitation, security, promotions and special events) and capital
improvements (street furniture, trees, signage, special lighting) beyond those services
and improvements provided by the municipal government. In essence, the program is
one of self-help through self-assessment and business-led management. (Houston,
1999)
5.2.3 Planning and design
Site selection
• Lost spaces and meaning less urban voids & cracks should be identified to
reconnect the urban fabric. As Roger Trancik explains, lost space is the
leftover unstructured, underused, and deteriorating spaces at the heart of the
city center. Lost spaces offer tremendous opportunity for urban redevelopment
and infill developments to reconnect the gapes and cracks in urban fabric.
• Figure ground Study identifies urban voids in Over-the Rhine and surrounding
areas. Best suitable areas should be identified for the new development and
parking facilities.
• The site should be in close proximity to existing entertainment development
on Main Street to provide visual contact and pedestrian access. There should
be a possibility of strong linkage of activities and open spaces.
• The site for new construction should have possibility for further extension.
126
• The site for Main Street entertainment district should provide sufficient
amount of land for new development to accommodate latest trends in
entertainment.
Figure 26: Figure ground study, Main Street, Cincinnati
Source: CAGIS
,
accessed in A
p
ril 2004
127
• The site in Historic District should include potential locations for gateways
and parking. Site should also include streets connecting Vine Street to initiate
redevelopment in to other part of Over-the-Rhine
Figure 27: Site for Entertainment District, Main Street, Cincinnati
Source: CAGIS, accessed in April 2004
128
Existing zoning and land use
Figure 28: Existing zoning, Main Street, Cincinnati
Source: CAGIS, accessed in April 2004
129
The zoning for the potential site is mainly commercial and development district.
However, the site also has few parcels with residential zoning. More than 80% of the
potential site comes under Over-the-Rhine Historic District. The remaining 20% of
the site has zoned as commercial and development district.
Figure 29: Main Street Historic District, Cincinnati
Source: CAGIS, accessed in April 2004
130
• Zoning should be changed to promote mixed use development and historic
preservation. Site should be rezoned as special zoning district to allow
planned unit development.
• Density bonus should be given against adaptive reuse of historic buildings and
development of residential units.
Table 13: Design process and project characteristics
Main Street Entertainment District,
Cincinnati. OH
Type of development
City blocks ■
Character of development
Downtown/CBD ■
Historic District ■
Mixed use development ■
Public participation
Project formulation High
Design development Moderate/low
Design
Urban design guidelines ■
Adaptive reuse/preservation ■
New development ■
Streetscape improvement ■
Open space/gathering spaces ■
Developers and designers Specialized services
Developers Experience in similar development
Planner/urban designer Master plan, urban design guidelines
Architects Building design, adaptive reuse
Landscape architect Streetscape improvement and open spaces
Retail designer Retail layouts and itineraries
Graphic designer Branding, signage, and way finding
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Design process
I. Urban design
Main Street, Cincinnati presents tremendous opportunity to be a regional
entertainment center. Presence of 19th century historic architecture provides a unique
identity to Main Street entertainment district. However, it also creates very
challenging context for designing entertainment district. The main objective of the
design should be to create pleasant experience for visitors.
Design objectives:
1. To preserve the historic architecture and promote adaptive reuse
2. To design mixed use development to accommodate the latest trends of
entertainment
3. To provide a smooth transition between new development and historic context
4. Integrating entertainment, retail, housing, and offices
The design criteria indicate three main challenges. First, is to preserve the historic
fabric which occupies most of the site area. Infill projects should be designed to fill
the gapes on main streets. Second, the new development should fit in the historic
context. Materials scale, and form of the new building should be harmonious with the
surrounding context. Third, is blending the old and new buildings by smooth
transitions mainly open spaces.
132
Figure 30: Conceptual design and site analysis
Source: CAGIS, accessed in April 2004
133
The conceptual site analysis and schematic design shows that, there are two separate
projects within one project. First, is existing development on Main Street and the
other one is new development on the Sycamore Street and Central Parkway/Reading
Road. The analysis shows a system of hierarchical linkage connects existing
development on Main Street to the new Development through variety of open
spaces/gathering spaces and internal streets. The concept also demonstrates the
directions of future redevelopment within the historic district and new development
on the south east.
Parking structures should be provided in the periphery with artificial façade
treatments, and street level retails. If possible, parking structures should be provided
next to office building or retail uses to avoid glare and noise problems to neighbor
houses.
Open spaces like pedestrian streets and gathering spaces should be provided as focal
point of the circulation. Facades of streets and open spaces should be designed with
rich details and variations for visual drama. The design of gathering spaces should
offer variety of public sitting areas, spaces for street performance, interactive and
animated landscape and lighting, and sense of curiosity to enhance activities and
participation. To provide a sense of arrival and identity, gateways should be
designed at the junction of Main Street and Liberty Street and Main Street and
Central Parkway. One additional gateway feature may be provided at the approach
from the Reading Road.
134
II. Parking
• The location of parking should be conveniently located, safe and well lit.
Parking structures and sites should be on the periphery on the main activity
areas. Multiple locations and accessibility should be provided for safe access
from any part of the district.
• There are number of vacant lots and surface parking around Main Street
Entertainment District. The sites adjoining to residential areas should be
landscaped to avoid any problem of glare and noise. First floors of the parking
garages should be developed by small businesses to cater neighborhood
market to avoid dead facades.
• Revised zoning of Cincinnati provides guidelines for minimum parking spaces
for different land uses. Parking requirement in zoning is derived from the
building floor area, however in reality the location of development,
availability of public transportation, and actual numbers of visitors affect the
demand for parking spaces. Urban entertainment areas cater more number of
visitors than other retail developments of same size. Considering these factors
sufficient parking should be provided for convenience of visitors and local
residents.
• The concept of shared parking should be coordinated with surrounding offices
and other small businesses to eliminate the need for extra parking that sits
unused at certain hours.
135
III. Streetscape improvement
• Side walks of the entertainment district should be widened to extend activities
on to the streets through a provision of outdoor eating places and displays.
• Custom made street furniture should be designed to enhance the character of
Main Street historic district.
• Sufficient amount of places should be created for “to see and to be seen.”
• To create safe pedestrian environment on the streets, traffic should be
controlled by allowing only small vehicles. All the loading and deliveries
should be catered from the back side of the building.
• Safety and cleanliness should be maintained throughout the day. However,
excessive presence of police or security cameras should be avoided.
• Main Street Entertainment District website should broadcast live cameras,
showing 24-hour street activities, to market the activities on streets.
• Building on the streets should interact with the streets by multiple entrances,
use of transparency, extended display on street, and through signage.
• There should be a similarity in the design of new development and historic
district. The project may promote the same type of streetscape and signage for
the streets connecting major attractions in Over-the-Rhine and downtown to
promote a walking tour (see Figure 25, p117).
136
IV. Retail design
• Retail planning and design is as important as choosing tenant mix. Retail
design directly affects the distinctiveness of the product, drawing power and
depth of penetration. A professional retail designer should be hired to design
the activity clusters and itineraries to create a retail drama within the
entertainment district.
• Retail layout of the tenant location and their physical relationship is very
important to create a retail-drama. Retail-drama is an experience, which
determines movements within the entertainment district by generating
experiences, excitements, curiosity, and points of interest.
• The success of multi anchored project is depends upon the duration of the
visit. For any successful entertainment destination the duration of time should
be at least three to four hours. The destination must have alternate activities to
keep the visitor involved in the retail-entertainment drama created by retail
design.
• Retail programming within the entertainment district should configure
daytime activities, retail, entertainment, nighttime activities and restaurants in
a way so they work in a complementary way with each other to enhance the
overall experience.
137
V. Graphics and signage
• An effective logo should be designed to represent Main Street Entertainment
District. An effective branding creates a strong image on visitors. Logo should
be provided on brochures, benches, trash cans, way findings, and bulletin
boards.
• Way finding maps provided on street consisting major attraction and
transpiration nodes of downtown Cincinnati.
• A signage ordinance should be designed to provide signage guidelines for
various businesses. Large signage covering major part of façade or significant
architectural details should be avoided.
• Use of signage is in Historic District is a very sensitive issue. However, new
development should provide super signage to create visual excitement and to
create a bold statement about the entertainment district.
138
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APPENDIX
i
Table: A
Major attractions- Basin Area, Cincinnati
No Name Address
1 20 days & 20 Nights (Enjoy the Art) Enjoy The Art 1338 Main St.
2 537 Gallery 573 E. Pete Rose Way
3
American Music Scholarship
Association 441 Vine St.
4 Aronoff Center for the Arts 650 Walnut St.
5 Art Academy of Cincinnati Chidlaw Gallery, 951 Eden Park Drive
6 Art Work 811 Race Street
7 Base Art Gallery 1311 Main St.
8 Base Gallery 1227 Main St.
9 Betts House Research Center 416 Clark St.
10 Blue Wisp Jazz Club 318 East Eight St.
11 Broadway In Cincinnati 120 E. 4th St.
12 C·MODERN Gallery 1412 Main St.
13 Carl Solway Gallery 424 Findlay St.
14 Carol's on Main 825 Main St.
15 Cathedral of St. Peter in Chains 325 West Eight St.
16 Children's Theater of Cicninnati 2106 Florence Ave.
17 Cincinnati Art Association 1100 Race St.
18 Cincinnati Art Museum 953 Eden Park Drive
19 Cincinnati Ballet 1555 Central Parkway
20 Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra 1225 Elm St
21 Cincinnati Fire Museum 315 W. Court St.
22 Cincinnati International Wine Festival 315 West Court Street
23 Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park 962 Mt. Adams Circle
24 Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival 717-719 Race St.
25 City Art Education Center 501 East 13th St
26 Classical Music Hall of Fame 4 W. Fourth St.
27 Closson's 401 Race St.
28 Contemporary Arts Center 115 E. Fifth St.
29 DAAP GALLERIES DOWNTOWN 314 W. Fourth St
30 Dayton Visual Arts Centre 40 W. 4th St.
31 Design Smith Gallery 1342 Main St.
32 Englewood Arts Commission 215 E. 14th St.
33 Enjoy the Arts 1338 Main St
34 Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati 1127 Vine St.
35 Gabriel's Corner 1425 Sycamore St
36 KZF Gallery 655 Eden Park Way (Balwin Buildingng)
37 Linda Schwartz Gallery 315 West Fourth Street
38 Media Bridges 1100 Race St.
ii
39 Museum Center at Union Terminal 1301 Wstern Ave.
40 a. African American Museum
b. Cincinnati History Museum
c.Cincinnati Railroad Club
d. Cinergy Children's Museum
e. Museum of Natural History and
Science
f. Omnimax Theatre
g. William Malloy Sr. Gallery
Music Hall 1241 Elm St.
41 a. Cincinnati Opera
b. Cincinnati Pops Orchestra
c. Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Next Generation Dance Company 1100 Race St.
42 Over-the-Rhine Senior Center 1720 Race St.
43 Peaslee Neighborhood Center 215 E. 14th St.
44 Pendleton Art Gallery 1310 Pendleton
45
Public Library of Cincinnati and
Hamilton County 800 Vine St.
46 Reyne Gallery 17 E 8th Street 3rd floor
47 Roho Photo Gallery 1209 Central Ave.
48 School of Creative and Performing Arts 1310 Sycamore St.
49 Showboat Majestic Docked at public landing
50 SSNOVA 2260 Central Parkway
51 Suzzana Terrill Gallery 1315 Main St.
52 The Foundation Gallery 200 W. Fourth St.
53 Weston Art Gallery 650 Walnut St.
54 William Howard Taft Birthplace 2038 Auburn Ave.
55 Street Events: exhibitions and festivals Down Town
Source: http://www.cincinnati.com/visitorsguide/attractions_guide.html and individual business
websites
