Downtown Revitalization
ULI has announced the appointment of Mick Cornett, the former mayor of Oklahoma City, as the ULI Canizaro/Klingbeil Fellow for Urban Development. Cornett served as mayor of Oklahoma City from 2005 to 2018, leading a major redevelopment plan for the urban core, securing an NBA franchise to the city, creating an entertainment district that now attracts 2 million visitors a year, and generating 80,000 new jobs.
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Can third spaces help downtowns bounce back from the pandemic?
How urban planners are turning public places into vibrant centers for living, working, learning, and socializing.
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Chicago has become one of the many major cities nationwide whose downtown office market has been negatively affected by the pandemic and the associated increase in remote work. To boost development in its downtown core, the city of Chicago recently announced that it will offer $150 million in subsidies to real estate developers. The move will help develop more than 1,000 apartments in four separate adaptive-use developments.
The impact of daytime workers on certain types of retail has long been overstated. Yes, they provide critical support for lunch eateries and coffee bars, as well as select services including fitness studios and shoe repair. But downtowns could never count on this demographic for much more than that.
