The phrases “downtown market analysis” and “downtown master plan” won’t set hearts pounding.
But put them together in Batavia and residents could start referring to their Fox River downtown as the “golden land of opportunity.”
In past months during a cooperative design process between residents and land planning consultants, participants struggled with ways to design a downtown master plan with elements to attract and retain visitors and, more importantly, shoppers.
Now enough data seems to pop up on a recently completed downtown market analysis to pull off the favored vision of pedestrian-friendly storefronts lining more of the downtown, particularly on one asphalt-heavy block on the city’s main drag of Wilson Street.
At least that’s how MainStreet Director Lisa Bennett and her committee members see it. The study was conducted by the Batavia MainStreet downtown revitalization program.
“The income level is there, the population is there and unlike other Geneva or St. Charles downtowns, we have the buildable land in our downtown to attract stores like Gap or others who are looking more to downtowns for new stores,” she said.
Buildable land?
That’s right, according to Bennett, because while others look at the north side of Wilson Street between Island Avenue and North Water Street and see only wide asphalt driveways between two banks and a fast-food store, her group sees buildable infill befitting a bookstore.
Bennett isn’t even daunted by the other side of restaurant, which has parking spots and the side of a strip mall.
“A developer could just add on to that side of the building along Wilson, on top of the parking spaces, for another store,” she said.
The result of both moves would provide more of the streetscape of storefronts desired by residents and visible on other portions of Wilson and nearby Batavia Avenue, she added.
But she concedes that the solution isn’t as easy on the south side of Wilson, which also is dominated by a long parking lot for a strip mall. That lot is lower than the sidewalk by several feet and is already tightly designed.
The market analysis is providing a host of other economic inspirations for Bennett’s committee members. The analysis was conducted through surveys of merchants, shoppers on the street, of residents by telephone.
In particular, the analysis identified three existing business clusters in the downtown and revealed a collective customer count averaging daily in the thousands at the four businesses serving as anchors for the study.
It also brought up, and seemed to shoot down, some misconceptions, such as the lack of variety of downtown restaurants as well as some particular hopes expressed by residents for additions to the downtown, such as a hardware store or supermarket.
The business clusters serve as an example of how the data will be important as the MainStreet committees continue with their revitalization projects.
“In the case of our clusters we can say that we have a cluster, but not all the businesses are necessarily located together,” Bennett said. “An example is our restaurant cluster, which is all over the place, so we need to cluster them in the minds of the consumer.”
Similar clusters have been created by businesses that are probably naturally sharing customers but not aware of it, she added.
“The jewelry store probably shares customers with the bridal shop, but the customers might not think to go to one and think of the other as their next stop, so we need to get the clusters working on cooperative advertising efforts or cross-promotions,” Bennett said.
