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Survey Says: Get More Stores

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By SHANNON BEHNKEN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 1, 2008

Updated: 05/01/2008 06:00 am

TAMPA - Ellen Brown thought condominiums - and all the people who would live in them - would save her bookstore downtown.

The thousands of new residents would attract more retailers and restaurants. The streets would be packed at night, and Brown's Old Tampa Book Co. on North Tampa Street would be right in the middle of the excitement.

The dream hasn't come true yet, though. Thousands of condo units in luxury towers and small, trendy lofts were built. But at night, Brown says, they're dark, and her business, which depends mostly on Internet sales, has yet to pick up in-store traffic.

"There was this sense that the building of condominiums would make everything better in downtown," said Brown, who has run her bookstore for 14 years. "That clearly didn't happen."

The people who did move into those shiny towers say they like where they live, they just expected more neighbors and neighborhood stores.

The Tampa Downtown Partnership on Wednesday released its first census of downtown. Downtown residents want more retail, more restaurants, more cultural events, said Patrick Hill, president of Hill, Coniglio, Polins & Associates, a Tampa company the partnership hired to conduct the study.

"You can't buy a blouse downtown," Hill told a group of developers and business people gathered to hear about the census at the St. Pete Times Forum. "People want to be able to do that in their neighborhoods."

The surveys were mailed to 4,900 residences in the area that includes downtown, Harbour Island, part of Davis Islands and two condominiums on Bayshore Boulevard.

About 1,700 of those residences are condos and lofts in the downtown core, according to the report.

In January 2007, the partnership estimated 600 people lived in the downtown core.

The report says 212 residents responded. Surveys also were sent to 50,800 downtown workers, and 1,074 turned in surveys.

Hill said the study shows that downtown was well on its way to becoming a revitalized, vibrant place, but much of that change was hindered by the housing crunch and slowing economy.

Many developers have put condo plans on hold, some have sold their sites, and three developers filed for bankruptcy. Of the units that were built, hundreds of them were bought by investors, and many of those buyers have been unable to find renters.

But it's not just residents who contribute to the health of downtown's economy, Hill said. In Tampa, he said, it's the workers who keep many businesses open.

"Can you imagine this place without all the workers?" Hill asked.

Of those who work downtown but live elsewhere, 12.5 percent of respondents said they were interested in moving downtown. Lack of retail services in downtown and trouble selling their own homes in the suburbs were cited as reasons they had not moved downtown yet.

In January 2007, the partnership projected that 1,200 people would be living downtown by early 2008. Cushman & Wakefield forecasted 5,000 residents by the end of 2008 and 7,500 by the end of 2010.

It's likely going to take much longer now, said Patrick Berman, a senior director Cushman & Wakefield.

Downtown residents don't necessarily need retail to move to downtown. "People are used to driving to the grocery store or mall," Berman said.

But retailers, he said, won't come without residents.

Berman said large grocery stores and retailers want about 5,000 people living in the downtown core. Downtown workers are great for the lunch spots and they do sometimes stay for dinner and nightlife, but that needs to be in addition to permanent residents, he said.

"There's no question that we have potential," Berman said. "Things are starting to happen, but many of these condos are largely vacant, and retailers want people in them."

Reporter Shannon Behnken can be reached at (813) 259-7804 or sbehnken@tampatrib.com.

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