^ The project just HAS to go through.
Here's an Ithaca Times article about updating the downtown vision statement:
2020 Vision
By: Colleen Corley
02/20/2008
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A view of downtown from the Seneca Street parking garage. (Photo by Rachel Philipson)
With the exception of The Commons, which was built in the 1970s, downtown Ithaca has in many ways become the sum of its most recent parts: Seneca Place, the parking garages and Cayuga Green are perhaps the most noticeable. Break these new landmarks down even further and they become even more recognizable - just consider the addition of Starbucks across from The Commons.
Each new development - and every landmark shop or building - has been flirting with the hope of downtown vibrancy for years. But how to build and maintain a strong downtown in the midst of a changing local economy - that is the question, notes Gary Ferguson, executive director of the Ithaca Downtown Partnership, which changed its name to Downtown Ithaca Alliance this week.
The Alliance's first 10-year strategic plan, implemented in 2000 and updated at the end of 2003, is reaching the end of its viability and relevancy, Ferguson explained.
"There's been substantial change in the last 10 years, about $100 million in investment and growth - planned growth - in downtown," Ferguson said. That amount of investment is the biggest in the history of the city.
The Downtown Ithaca Development Strategy 2000-2010 was an ambitious plan when it was first proposed. "I think people were sort of saying, yeah, [do] whatever you want," Ferguson recalled of the proposal to develop a strategy of planned economic growth. The lackluster reaction was perhaps a response to fact that there had been no dedicated initiative combining government and business efforts in years. Since the mid-'70s to early '80s, when landmarks such as The Commons, Center Ithaca and Dewitt Mall were built, there hadn't been much new investment there. At the time, though, the buildings were innovative and ahead of the curve.
"That's when the downtown we knew of came to fruition," Ferguson said, noting that it was also the time when downtown became pedestrian-heavy. "There was a window in there when a lot of stuff got done...At the time they were really pioneer projects," he said. Mixed-use was not yet considered the economic staple it is today, and Ferguson explained that the success of the buildings almost allowed downtown to "coast" for the next 20 years.
Almost. "Running into the year 2000 or so, in all honesty, it just sort of ran out of gas," he said. "There had been no more reinvestment. You can only ride on that for so long [until] the community starts changing in other ways. If you don't keep reinvesting, it happens somewhere else." And it was happening elsewhere: on Route 13, in Collegetown, on West Hill. Buildings were going up, retail was coming in and people were spending their money in other places.
In 1999 Ferguson came to Ithaca to see what difference could be made in the future of the city. There was 25 percent vacancy on The Commons, the highest it's ever been, he says. "One worried that it didn't have a strong future," he explained. What was missing was not just the capital investment; it was confidence in the future success of downtown. "That's one of the reasons why plans exist - to provide the private sector with confidence," he added.
So they developed a plan to instill confidence in people - people with the money, people in city and town government, and people who would become the lifeblood of downtown commerce.
In the first 10-year plan, the Alliance focused on many areas of the economy: retail, office and housing development; tourism, entertainment and the cultural arts; the environment; infrastructure and transportation; the city's reputation. Some of the goals included adding at least 50,000 square feet of new retail space, including the consideration of a locally grown general merchandise department store, and the construction or renovation of 300,000 square feet of housing product.
As might be expected, Cornell University was the first major investor to sign on to the Alliance's dream. Though the Seneca Place project wasn't the first one to come out of the ground - the renovation of the Gateway Plaza building was - more development quickly followed after Cornell's pledge of support.
"All these things kind of played together," Ferguson said. Developers such as Mack Travis, in particular, were "enamored that there was this long-term vision that [they] could have confidence in."
As buildings started coming up out of the ground, Ferguson said, people started to take notice. "All of the sudden [the 10-year plan] had more cache, more prominence and importance than the first time around," he said. So they revisited the plan at the end of 2003 and beginning of 2004. The Alliance added a new section to its list of goals about historic character and revisited other areas. The retail goal was bumped up to 75,000 square feet by 2010, and certain types of developments began to be targeted. The Alliance wanted convenience goods to support people who live and work downtown, and at least five new businesses added to the mix, including a drug store and expanded grocery store. Office space was essential to the plan, as was residential.
"It was all predicated on density," Ferguson explained. "We had to build up pedestrian traffic downtown that could survive no matter what happened to the strip, no matter what happened to the national economy, [no matter] the infiltration of new business coming into the community. We had to survive that, and the best way we could think of to do that is to build our own downtown traffic." The Downtown Ithaca Alliance wants downtown to sustain itself, not only depend on tourist traffic. People should live, work and spend their money downtown.
But how successful have the plans been? Well, it's relative. In the past decade, Ithaca has seen the addition of about 20,000 to 25,000 square feet of retail. "There was a lot of talk about it - 'Why the hell are you building more retail space? You've got vacancy on The Commons,'" Ferguson recalled. "We can argue about, oh, that was good, that was bad, it's full, it's empty...but in the meantime, in the area around downtown - highway or the suburbs - there was almost 2 million square feet [of growth]." The region is growing, but the percentage of that that has occurred downtown is tiny.
Ferguson discussed the inherent conflict that many small towns like Ithaca are facing: the discrepancy between what residents want and what they think they want. In a town like Ithaca with a strong ideological presence, this discrepancy can sometimes be even more pronounced.
"[Density] is where a lot of the discussion in the community came to pass....'Can't you put a Wegmans downtown?' Well, which two blocks would you like me to get rid of?" Ferguson asks. "We want downtown, but we don't want density."
And this list goes on, at least anecdotally: We don't want big-box retailers, yet the parking lot at Wal-Mart is packed. We don't want chain restaurants, but a party of four can't get into Chili's on the weekends without a significant wait. We don't want cars, but we don't want to ride buses and there aren't enough bike paths.
"This is a community that prides itself on bookstores. Where's the No.1 place where people in Tompkins County buy their books? The Internet," Ferguson added.
Developing a long-term plan allows for some of these inconsistencies by setting goals for what people really want, all things considered.
"The good news is in Ithaca we're actually having this discussion, which means we have an opportunity to succeed," Ferguson said, contrasting Ithaca's future growth to that of Elmira, Binghamton and Utica.
As the Alliance begins to develop its new 10-year plan, it hopes to continue to survey Ithaca's residents to find out how they shop, where they spend their money and where they live, what they consider sustainable and what they are willing to give up. "We want...the public to understand this and for them to have some sense that this is something they feel comfortable with," Ferguson said.
In the 2003-2004 edition of the 10-year-plan, the Alliance identified for future development and growth 13 possible locations, including the Rothschild triangle and the air above the Green Street Garage; West State Street corridor between Geneva and Albany; the southwest corner of Cayuga and Green; and northwest corners of both the Buffalo and Tioga intersection and Seneca and Cayuga. Whether those will still be on the list of potential growth sites is, in part, up to residents. The Downtown Ithaca Alliance will sponsor forums on different topics - such as transportation, density, character, retail, housing, for example - and continue to look to other cities' examples of how to create a vibrant downtown.
With the Town and City of Ithaca and the Alliance all about to embark on creating their respective next-10-year plans for growth, sustainability and development, the next decade might just be the one where Ithaca's downtown finally comes into its own.
©Ithaca Times 2008