Summary:

Small businesses are being priced out of the Central Corridor at the same time that large tracts of land sit vacant, waiting on redevelopment. What is needed is an economic development strategy to provide entrepreneurs with affordable space in low-cost temporary structures and access to regional customers that will enable them to grow during this transitional period into businesses that can afford to pay market rate. There is a model for this kind of development in the DeKalb Market in Brooklyn, where a developer partnered with the British firm Urban Space Management to develop a temporary community market from 22 recycled shipping containers around a central tent. The ideal site would be a 1 acre site on a future development pad that won’t be developed for 7 or 10 years owned by a big-box retail center with a regional customer base and a lot of parking. If the owner were willing to lease a site to the City, a community marketplace could be developed out of shipping containers. Trading off the parking and customers of the big-box center, and provided technical assistance by community economic development agencies, the carefully-selected community entrepreneurs would have the chance to develop their business and “graduate” into market space in a new development. Most big-box retailers on University Avenue already have more parking than they need, and as light rail starts operating, they will need even less. Many of them would also benefit from the new customers attracted to the community market in their parking lot, and might see the investment as a “loss-leader” that would pay off in increased sales and a more positive image in the marketplace. And some big-box retailers, like Target, have community foundations which might consider making a program related investment in a more permanent facility. But if and when the big box owner was ready to develop its property, the temporary structures could be moved to help revitalize another site in another neighborhood.