How many vacant storefronts do you have in your community? How many blighted buildings mar the picturesque downtown your community could have or used to have? Do you have any commercial real estate “For Sale” or “For Rent” signs in your central business district? Questions we have heard repeatedly over the last several months are, “Whose responsibility is it to fill those vacant commercial spaces?” and “Whose job is redevelopment?”. Is the private sector responsible? Is the public sector ultimately responsible? When no one entity takes ownership of these important revitalization issues, who is left holding the bag in the end?
We work with communities who have neglected to enforce zoning codes on downtown commercial properties and now have vacant blighted buildings, which on their own are worth next to nothing. Taken in context with the rest of the neighborhood or business district, these properties detract from commerce, decrease the value of surrounding properties, attract more blight and crime and create public safety hazards.
In triage mode, public safety is the first priority. It is the building owners’ responsibility to make sure their properties are safe. If the building owner is absent or has refused to remediate the dangerous conditions the municipality has several options for fixing the issues including but not limited to the following:
1. Repair the property and bill the building owner
2. Repair the property and acquire it via tax deed (if delinquent) or condemnation
3. Acquire the property through a Redevelopment or Community Development Authority
4. Following acquisition, demolish and redevelop or remediate
5. If redevelopment or remediation is the course, make sure the property cash flows when redeveloped.
6. Sell or lease to recapture investment
When extreme blight is not the issue but your central business district is plagued by vacant storefronts, filling them with thriving businesses becomes the focus. Responsibility for progress on this front again lies with a variety of entities. Ultimately the building owner is responsible, but effort toward establishing and maintaining a thriving downtown can be contributed by a Mainstreet organization, a Business Improvement District (BID) or the municipality.
In communities where that organizational infrastructure is not in place or is dysfunctional it comes down to who has the most passion. We’ve seen communities where a small band of private sector citizens who are dedicated to their community rally support and effort to save the downtown. They may or may not ever formally organize, but the power of continued focus toward a goal almost always brings results. We have worked in one community where a single alderman has made it his goal to get to know and recruit as many retail and commercial businesses as possible. After several years, he has established himself as the go-to person for information and retail/commercial recruitment, all as a volunteer!
