Downtown Revitalization Services

Downtowns are the economic soul of any community, and commercial districts can be equally reflective of local vitality. Chuck D’Aprix has a long-standing affection for downtowns and commercial districts and it is clearly reflected in his passion and conviction when talking about downtowns and commercial districts. His passion for downtowns and commercial districts can truly be observed as he tours a district and begins to toss out idea after idea for improvement.

Chuck may have a bit of a bias for the Main Street Program given that he served as a Main Street Manager years ago, consulted for the National Main Street Center across the country and taught in their certification program—but he embraces any and all approaches that help to revitalize and renew downtowns and commercial districts. In fact, he has immersed himself in downtown and commercial district revitalization techniques and approaches---including another favorite, the Project for Public Spaces approach. The International Downtown Association is another creative advocate for downtowns and commercial districts. Chuck is fully familiar with the best practices in downtown and commercial district renewal from across the country. He sees New Urbanism as another incarnation of commercial district revitalization—they just happen to be outstanding new commercial districts in many cases.

Chuck sees a common thematic thread to downtown and commercial district renewal—and that is creativity, innovation, hard work, rule breaking and grass roots support. He brings those tools with him in his downtown revitalization satchel.

Chuck is an expert in the incentives of downtown revitalization, including, but not limited to: Business Improvement Districts(BIDS), Tax Increment Finance Districts(TIFS), Revolving Loan Pools, Small Business Programming, Retail Development Programming, Historic Preservation, Smart Growth(in all its forms), Tax Credits, Enterprise Zones(where appropriate), and of course, Foundation and Bank support.

Chuck is pleased to field questions from those engaged in breathing new life into our downtowns and commercial districts. He openly shares information and directs people to the appropriate source(s) for additional information if he does not have the answer.

That said, many communities choose to hire Chuck D’Aprix as a consultant on issues related to downtown revitalization and commercial district renewal. To that end, below are some services that Chuck offers—but remember he is a free thinker, a maverick and often develops ideas as he gets to know a community. You will find him a welcome addition to your revitalization efforts.

Chuck fully understands the budgetary constraints that many downtown and neighborhood programs have and is willing to work within very tight budgets given his devotion to downtowns and other commercial districts. So, let us look at some services.

BUSINESS ATTRACTION

Chuck D’Aprix and his associates get more calls about business attraction for downtowns and commercial districts than anything else. Chuck is an expert on attracting businesses to downtowns and commercial strips. He develops individualized business attraction programs and employs a sophisticated approach of linkages, district evaluation, business needs analysis, coupled with creativity, innovation and plain old hard work. You will often see Chuck walking your downtown or commercial district—observing, listening, taking notes and planning. His approach is hands-on. He becomes part of the district-- something impossible for large consulting firms to do. If you are frustrated with your downtown business attraction program—call Chuck. While he believes that attraction of large industries and corporate headquarters to communities is unrealistic and a waste of money, he knows that downtowns and commercial districts can attract new business—and he is the innovator to make it happen.

DOWNTOWN ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Entrepreneurs can be the key to the revitalization of your downtown or commercial district. However, too many communities have a “mish-mash” of programs to attract and support entrepreneurs. Chuck D’Aprix has studied the role of entrepreneurship in downtown for years—in fact he traveled the country studying downtown and commercial district entrepreneurs. His observations will soon be set forth in a book. He has even established a separate organization to help attract, retain, nurture and grow entrepreneurs in downtowns and commercial district. Visit THE DOWNTOWN ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROJECT. The entrepreneur can be the key to your downtown or commercial district comeback—and more often than not, it is easier to develop entrepreneurs than attract new businesses. While you are at it consider a downtown incubator—Chuck D’Aprix can help.

SILO BUSTING

On the Economic Development Services page of this website, we talk about a service we offer called “SILO BUSTING.” The concept is very simple, but most downtown professionals can relate to its need. In many communities, many people are doing their own thing. The Chamber person is doing her/his thing, the Planner his/her thing the Economic Development person his/her thing, the elected officials their things (sometimes at odds with each other). Everyone is in their own SILO. We have a SILO BUSTING program that brings people out of their silos, gives them a breath of fresh air and allows for more efficient economic revitalization and community planning. With the SILOS busted—there is plenty of credit to go around and fewer turf battles. WE HATE TURF BATTLES AND SO SHOULD YOU!! We can help.

DOWNTOWN ALERTNATIVE USE ANALYSIS

As a vociferous advocate for Smart Growth, Chuck D’Aprix understands that downtowns and commercial districts need to become multi-dimensional. They can be centers of shopping of course—but second floors can be used for housing or other uses, these districts can be centers of transportation, centers for the arts, and community meeting venues.

They can provide the often mentioned “third place”—and are ideally positioned to serve as places for incubators and alternative businesses. Chuck D’Aprix will work with your community, break out of the box, and develop alternative uses. You will have a truly creative and diverse district.

MARKET ANALYSIS

Although Chuck D’Aprix thinks that market analyses are over done, raise expectation and yield too little data, he can perform analyses as well as anyone. We urge you to read the ECONOMIC DEVELOPLMENT SERVICES SECTION on this site to understand Chuck D’Aprix’s views on and approach to market analyses. Or you can just hit this link and read about it.

THE “LANDMARK BUSINESS” RETENTION PROGRAM

Almost every downtown in the United States has a landmark business that has survived generations only to face extinction due to changing market conditions, family deaths or loss of interest by current owners. We have developed an approach to assist communities in saving these LANDMARK BUSINESSES –in some incarnation—in order to preserve a piece of local history. If you know of such a business that needs to be saved, please call.

Preservation is more than about buildings. Long time community institutions can be saved and we can show you how.

THE DOWNTOWN BUSINESS RETENTION PROGRAM

Retaining businesses in a downtown is a tricky business. We developed an 18-point approach that flags problems early on in order to get these businesses the assistance they need—or frankly helping them close in a manner that limits disruption. Too many downtowns have no idea when a business is in trouble—until it's too late. Our approach assists you in identifying the needs of existing businesses (no not through lame surveys or focus groups!) through a thorough sophisticated approach we developed. The ultimate goal is to keep these businesses open so they can be viable members of the community for decades to come.