The Myth of the Instant Main Street

Mascia says that the retail piece in mixed-use projects is not only the most challenging for developers but ultimately the riskiest for communities. "In the end, cities and developers want the same thing: a successful project, not one with big holes and vacancy signs," he says. "If there are two empty floors in an office building, nobody notices. But vacant storefronts are easy to see."

Fuzzy Vision?

Who's to say whether, 10 or 20 years from now, Ramsey Town Center will be a bustling triumph while Excelsior and Grand is a blighted area? There is no rule determining how long a real estate development must stand before it finally can be ruled a win or loss for a community.

Some developers raise questions about the mixed-use concept that go beyond the issues of where projects are located or how much retail space is too much. One concern is that the aversion to big asphalt parking lots inherent in the pedestrian-friendly concept often is not balanced by sufficient attention to where cars will park.

On St. Paul's Grand Avenue, an example of the kind of quaint shops and streetscape ambiance for which suburbs yearn, "the fact that it's hard to find a parking space is part of the charm," Mascia says. But Grand Avenue's present character evolved over many decades, he points out. Frustrated parkers are far less charmed at instant Main Street developments elsewhere.

Another question applies to projects that put residential space, as opposed to office space, directly above street-level businesses. Foster suggests that the novelty of living above a restaurant, say, might wear thin in a hurry. "If the restaurant beneath you is cooking garlic all day, you might not want to sit on your deck above it," she says. "And what about garbage trucks picking up dumpsters in the middle of the night?"

Tankenoff echoes those reservations. "Mixed-use life won't be for everyone," he says. What's more, he adds, "Not all of the people moving from single-family homes into multi-occupant buildings [in general] will like them—never mind mixed-use. What will all those baby boomer empty nesters do? The jury is still out."

Doran says he would hesitate to buy a condominium directly above a retail operation of any kind because of an inherent contradiction in time frames. Retail space usually evolves at a faster pace than residential space, he says, and the evolution can go in any direction. It is one thing to buy a new house near a strip mall filled with trendy boutiques, then watch the mall grow seedier as it ages. It is quite another thing to own the condo overhead when the boutique is finally replaced by a pawn shop.

Aside from the residential-over-retail idea, none of these developers voice any fundamental objections to the mixed-use concept itself. Most express sympathy and understanding for bedroom communities that want a downtown area to serve as a civic center of gravity, pedestrians and all. And in any case, their point of view obviously represents just one side of a complicated story.

But if they share their own common vision, it is to meet a suburban city council somewhere that realizes it might not be a great idea to try to build Rome in a day.