Metro Pulse/Insights/Downtown redevelopment

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by Joe Sullivan

One of the biggest criticisms of the Worsham Watkins downtown redevelopment plan in some quarters is that it superimposes a mall-like regimen on the city. Rather than letting downtown's destiny be dictated from on high by master developers, these critics contend, much better to let it bubble up from many small wells of local entrepreneurship all contributing to revitalization with a distinctive local character. Indigenous, organic growth is their mantra, drawing upon the lexicon of the new urbanist movement nationally.

Asheville is often cited as a model, and downtown Asheville's renaissance over the past two decades is certainly remarkable to behold. Where 75 percent of downtown building space was vacant and decaying as recently as 1984, pervasive restorations of old buildings with new tenants have made it 90 percent occupied today, reckons a leading commercial Realtor, Chuck Tessier. Even on a Saturday, the scores upon scores of small, mostly locally-owned shops lining downtown's streets are bustling with activity. Sidewalk cafes are brimming, and posters herald a diversity of nocturnal activity.

Scrape through the surface of it, though, and Asheville's downtown renaissance anything but fits the indigenous organic model that new urbanists so idolize. None of the half dozen or so developers who've poured most of an estimated $200 million into historic building renovations were Asheville-based, recalls Dick Gilbert, property manager for one of these developments. And the restaurateurs and retailers who established most of downtown's landmarks had mostly gotten their starts elsewhere before locating in Asheville.

The pioneer developer, according to Tessier and Gilbert, was an Ann Arbor-based group, the Schneider Nine. "They went through two bankruptcies along the way, but things have ended up working out well," says Gilbert of their development along Biltmore Avenue. One reason for the eventual success: landing anchor tenants like the nationally acclaimed Blue Spiral Gallery whose proprietor, John Cram, had spent 19 years building his business at Biltmore Village adjacent to the Biltmore Estate before extending to downtown in 1990.

The cluster of boutiques known as Shoppes on Wall Street which Gilbert manages was developed by a Winston Salem-based specialist in historic restorations, Southeastern Historic Properties. Other out-of-town developers acquired the buildings that housed downtown's long-gone department stores, stripped away the aluminum siding and restored them to mixed office, residential, and retail use. More recently, the reclusive heir to a Jefferson Pilot Life Insurance fortune, Robert Price, has made a major commitment to downtown residential developments that have contributed to growing the city's population of urban dwellers to nearly 2,000.

Also contributing to downtown's achievement of critical mass was the caliber of the entrepreneurs, like Wisconsin native Cram, who moved here from far and wide. Emoke B'Racz, who's become an icon as proprietor of Malaprop's Bookstore/Café that she launched in 1982, had previously been a buyer for Waldenbooks in New York City after emigrating from Hungary as a teenager in the 1960s. Bill Byrne, founder of the landmark Café on the Square restaurant, had been a chef in San Francisco. While native Ashevillians contributed as well, downtown's uplift didn't just arise from the pipedreams of would-be local merchants.

Another thing that Asheville has going for it that Knoxville doesn't at present is lots of visitors—5,000,000 of them last year according to the city's Convention and Visitors Bureau. While Knoxville's CVB claims 12,000,000 annual visitors to the six-county metropolitan area that includes Sevier County, it's hard to believe that a big percentage of them set foot in downtown Knoxville. Asheville's tourism attractions—the Biltmore, the Blue Ridge Parkway, numerous craft fairs and festivals, and now downtown itself are all right at its doorstep, not 30-something miles away. An unscientific survey (by yours truly) of downtown merchants last Saturday drew estimates that 50 percent to 75 percent of their business is derived from out-of-town visitors.

Knoxville's new convention center, an HGTV center, and a Winter Garden that are part of Worsham Watkins' grand design are, of course, intended to augment Knoxville's pulling power. And Knoxville is certainly not devoid of entrepreneurial talent. However, because the success of the $160 million convention center and making downtown a more attractive destination are integrally interrelated, the community can't afford to wait a decade or more in hopes that Asheville-style development will evolve—especially when Worsham Watkins says it's already lined up $300 million in financing.

To the extent that organic growth is defined to mean allowing private enterprise to flourish without a lot of governmental intervention, then the Asheville model may be applicable here. There, the city provided supporting infrastructure such as parking garages and streetscapes. But it didn't go around snatching people's property or telling them what to do with it, as Worsham Watkins is proposing. Neither condemnations nor restrictive covenants, or for that matter local tax abatements, were part of Asheville's scheme of things. Developers acquired their sites on the open market, and now landlords and Realtors seemingly maintain a considerable measure of quality control through something akin to gentlemen's agreements. "We want specialty retail, not T-shirt shops," says Tessier.

Before the city starts condemning downtown property to hand over to Worsham Watkins, its present owners should have the opportunity to submit development plans of their own. These plans, as with the plans that were contemplated when the city declared Market Square a redevelopment area two years ago, should start with provision for the ongoing structural integrity and appearance of all historic buildings. Such plans should also include commercial uses of at least the ground floors of all buildings consistent with the laudable public purpose of making Market Square a lively, festive place. Restrictions on the types or hours of business operation on the square may also be appropriate (but the Public Building Authority and Worsham Watkins are overdue in spelling out exactly what restrictions they have in mind).

Only if present owners are unable or unwilling to submit conforming plans should the city exercise its powers of eminent domain. And even in that case it would be much better if the developers acquired the property on the open market rather than through governmental intervention.