News story made available courtesy of Poughkeepsie Journal

Builders offer vision of downtown

Wednesday, March 24, 2006

By Craig Wolf
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com

Traditional downtown shopping districts can learn a lot from their competitors — the malls.

Thursday, about a dozen local landlords and other people with interests along the City of Poughkeepsie's Main Street gathered to hear some ideas, get acquainted and team up with the city's development department, headed by Ed Murphy.

David Livshin and Glen Repko, president and senior vice president, respectively, of the Dagar Group of Fishkill, which manages 3 million square feet of shopping plazas, offered advice on retail attraction.

"Malls only exist today because of Main Street," Livshin said, listing features such as benches, trees and other ideas "largely stolen from Main Street."

Affordable rents
Reviving downtown's prospects are better than they may seem, Livshin and Repko pointed out. Rents are far lower in an old Main Street store than in a mall, where costs can hit $30 per square foot with maintenance and taxes, Livshin said. Main Street can also offer the plus of having the owner in the store.

Repko said Main Street can compete with malls on many points. Poughkeepsie may not have big retail anchor stores as malls do, but it has different anchors, such as the Bardavon 1869 Opera House, the Mid-Hudson Civic Center and even Barrett Clay Works, which was the host for Wednesday's meeting. Then there are the offices.

"We have a captive audience during the day that can trade in all our stores," Repko said.

And traditional stores, such as Eckerd's, are also locating in the city, while the major old anchor building, Luckey Platt, is under redevelopment by Alma Realty Corp.

Malls have private security forces, but, Repko said, Poughkeepsie has a police department that has scored much success over the years. "Crime has dropped so much," he said.

"We may have to supplement a bit," Repko said, suggesting the possibility of adding some private patrols.

Events should be expanded, from parades to farmers markets, and merchants will need to talk about more consistency in hours of operation and about co-operative advertising in which several parties go in together to share costs.

Ebrahim Miandoabi, project manager for Alma, said of the workshop, "Very good. It helps." He was pleased to hear the speakers' confidence good-sized anchor tenants are looking at the city because he will have a 20,000-square-foot space at Luckey Platt to lease out.

Jeep Johnson, executive director of Barrett Clay Works, commenting on Repko's ideas, said, "I feel like what he's proposing is a certain amount of unity of vision."

"Getting the building owners together to talk is a good thing," Johnson said.

Mayor Nancy Cozean said physical rehabilitation now focuses on enhancing the antique values of the buildings rather than making them over as was the case in past decades.

"Today, we're beginning to realize that the makeover part has to go," she said.

Tax incentives
Tenants can take advantage of some Empire Zone tax break incentives, said Peter Winne of the Dutchess County Economic Development Corp. "There are great benefits for the retail tenants," he said. These include wage tax credits for new jobs and state sales tax refunds on purchased materials, products and services. Also, if a tenant pays property taxes, they can be refunded to the tenant by the state.

Winne urged landlords to become familiar with Empire Zone benefits and to use them as "a great talking point" in attracting tenants.

Most business district promotional groups comprise retail business people. But Murphy said that approach did not appear to be the strongest one at this time.

"Since we don't have a strong retail base yet, it's basically going to be landlords," he told a reporter.

Murphy said there are also some elements of business development that lie primarily in the hands of landlords anyway. For example, a standard lease can be created that makes it easier to deal with tenants and helps facilitate area-wide efforts.

"If everyone's lease is different, it's going to be hard to have any cohesive approach to Main Street," he said.

Murphy said he hopes to hold more workshops.

Another event aimed at promoting retail growth on Main Street occurs April 26 with the third annual bus tour of realty opportunities. This "Real Estate Showcase" is aimed mainly at potential business tenants, and is sponsored by the city and the Poughkeepsie Area Chamber of Commerce.

Chamber President Charles North explained: "The only spaces left are for rent or for lease. We've completed step No. 1. Now we go to step No. 2: renovate and prepare for lease."

Reservations for the tour can be made through the chamber at 845-454-1700 ext. 1000.