Planners value downtown areas, and it shows

Idaho’s largest cities are showing new life.

Downtowns across the country were largely abandoned in the 1960s and 1970s. Some slowly started making their way back in the 1980s, and others got a new look from planners in the 2000s and 2010s.

Boise, Meridian, Nampa, Caldwell, Eagle and Kuna are seeing their downtowns spring back, mirroring the national picture. Boise got a head start in 1985, and the rest of the Treasure Valley joined the revival carnival in the 21^st century.

Unlike many new western suburbs that have no definable downtowns, Boise and its surrounding cities are all historic cities with established, if variably thriving, downtown areas.

“Between (Boise) and Caldwell, there is a lot of new construction and building rehabilitation,” said Jerry Miller, economic development specialist at Idaho Department of Commerce. “We’re seeing a good mix of retail, entertainment and services.”

Miller said one of the best things happening in Nampa and Lewiston was library projects.

“Libraries attract a wide variety of demographic,” he said. “It generates those frequent trips.”

Main Street America

Nampa, Lewiston and Driggs are the three Idaho cities enrolled in the Main Street America program offered by the National Main Street Center, an offshoot of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.  Mountain Home is in the Idaho Downtown Improvement Network,  an entry level program for communities to achieve affiliate status in the Main Street program, said Miller, also program manager at the Idaho Main Street Program.

“If you add up all the business in downtown Nampa, there are more businesses than at a mall,” said Kathy LaPlante, the senior program officer at the National Main Street Center.

Main Street America assists member cities with its four-point approach in organization, promotion, design and economic restructuring to build a sustainable and complete community revitalization effort, according to the organization’s website.

LaPlante has watched the evolution of downtown revitalization since 1989, first as executive director of a downtown business association. She started the Main Street program in New Hampshire, and for the last 10-plus years she’s been at the National Main Street Center.

“Back when I first started, a lot of communities came on the Main Street program because their downtowns were in such a horrific state,” LaPlante said. “They lost their clothing stores. All city investment was going to the perimeters of communities. So many communities came to Main Street because they were desperate. Now they come to … maintain and bring about revitalization.”

Many cities have had high-profile revivals. But many have yet to recover from suburban sprawl or freeways rerouting traffic away from downtowns. Some downtowns have been bulldozed altogether.

“There are probably 20,000 cities that can benefit from revitalization,” LaPlante said.

“Every community has a downtown or business district,” Miller added. “It is either an attraction for the community or it’s a repellent for economic activities. Blighted, declining downtowns repel businesses and skilled workers. ”

Downtown organizations drive downtown revivals

Downtown organizations – such as the Downtown Boise Association, or DBA – have succeeded in turning attention back to downtowns over the past couple of decades.

“It was the work of International Downtown Association member organizations that motivated the general interest of urban property owners,” said David T. Downey, CEO of the association. DBA is one of IDA’s 600-plus members. “These organizations have been in place for 20-30 years slugging it out while central cities still were not great.”

The DBA was established in 1986, concurrent with the construction of the Grove Plaza on a four-block vacant lot. From the start, the DBA pleaded with remaining businesses to stick with downtown and launched the Alive After Five concert to draw people into the city after business hours.

“What’s so spectacular with what is happening in North America is we are seeing revitalization of our urban cores,” Downey said. “The challenge that has emerged from success is more residents are living downtown. The sidewalks don’t roll up at nightfall but there are also urban residents. There is the conflict of those looking to sleep and those looking for nightclub music at 2:30 a.m. … . People want to be downtown but they may not understand what that impact might be.”

Downtowns revive as suburbia hits rock bottom

Back in the 1970s, into the 1980s, downtowns across the country, at best, still were office centers, and at worst, nothing more than a place to report for jury duty. The suburban mall was king in America.

Boise futilely tried to tap into the mall frenzy by bulldozing four blocks of downtown in the 1960s and 70s to entice a downtown shopping mall. But as in other cities, Boise’s mall went to what was then the edge of town.

But interest in malls has waned.

“There are 5,000 vacant malls,” LaPlante said. “People have gotten tired of national chains. They are just everywhere. They want a genuine experience.”

They find that experience at old warehouses and other repurposed buildings in historic downtowns.

“Why not have these buildings on the tax rolls, where they should be?” LaPlante said. “It has really taken the will of the community to do it. The common denominator is the private community coming together.”

Revitalized downtowns in themselves have become major attractions for locals and visitors in hundreds of cities. But they have also become powerful economic development tools far beyond city cores.

Business improvement districts, where downtown property owners tax themselves (a concept dating from the 1970s) and government incentives drive downtown revitalizations.

“The importance of downtowns goes beyond the boundaries of downtowns,” Idaho’s Miller said. “Companies want to attract talent to a community. Having a vibrant downtown is a plus when it comes to that check list.”

LaPlante confirmed this notion.

“It drives the economy for the whole city,” she said. “If downtown looks great, the whole community is healthy. How your downtown is will drive industrial development across your community.”