So much for keeping Santa Cruz weird. If nationally recognized retail expert Robert Gibbs is right about us, much of the town’s population can be summed up in two words: “urban chic.”
His recent market analysis, which has made waves since he presented it at the Sept. 27 city council meeting, says this group features “professionals that stay physically fit, own Apple computers, drink premium wines and Starbucks coffee.” These well-heeled shoppers also “take advantage of city life, visit museums and shop at Nordstrom, Ann Taylor and Macy’s.” But for a number of reasons—including bad infrastructure and a retail mix that doesn’t appeal to them—Gibbs says those shoppers are leaving the city in droves for places like Santana Row in San Jose. His $32,000 study, paid for with city redevelopment money, offers several solutions aimed at turning downtown Santa Cruz back into a bustling shopping destination again.
One of them would require a sharp change in policy. “One of our assumptions was that Pacific would be turned into a two-way street,” Gibbs said at last week’s meeting, describing one of the solution scenarios. Making the street two-way, he said, would boost business 20-30 percent.
The announcement comes on the heels of the latest attempt to stimulate the downtown economy. The council’s decision last month to reduce the parking fees charged to downtown businesses follows the July move to make Pacific Avenue more inviting to dog owners, a la Carmel and Los Gatos. It’s all part of the general hand-wringing over the health of Pacific Avenue, where gaping holes in the former Borders and the E.C. Rittenhouse buildings stand as constant reminders of the recession.
Gibbs doesn’t expect to see either of those two prominent vacancies filled until the street becomes easier for people in cars to navigate. The current set-up, he says, is frustrating overstretched workers and busy moms who are juggling jobs and babies with their everyday shopping. “They don’t want to loop around one-way streets. They just won’t do it,” says Gibbs.
Transportation advocates from People Power, as well as activists like Reed Searle and Ron Pomerantz, who ran for city council last year, see a different vision for Pacific. Environmentalists have been clamoring for years to instead close traffic on the street in favor of a more pedestrian-friendly destination like the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica or the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder. “I think the community is going to find it a pretty ridiculous idea,” says Pomerantz of a two-way option. “Let’s have the hearing, but if we have the hearing, we’re going to talk about closing the street, too.”
Gibbs’s 104-page report covers a lot of ground besides two-way streets. It says Santa Cruz as a whole can accommodate 584,000 additional square feet of retails amounting to $237 million per year in revenue, which would lead to a big boost to city coffers. But Santa Cruz could also choose a no-build option, perhaps even finding ways to better tap into markets with existing stores.
The report notes that 77 percent of the money Santa Cruzans spend is leaked to other cities. It says downtown could support a Target or H&M, that the beach district could support a Dave & Busters or an ESPN Zone and that. the Westside could handle a JC Penny. None of those, of course, would go in without a fight. Gibbs also stresses that the city needs to update its signage on the Ocean Street corridor—many beachgoers don’t even know there is a downtown—and strongly endorses the city’s Wayfinding signage program, currently in the planning process, to do just that.
City council agreed at last week’s meeting to schedule a study session on the report. “I really don’t want this to be seen as the Pacific Avenue two-way study,” said Councilmember Don Lane. The session will give the city time to figure out just which direction both Pacific Avenue and the latest market analysis will take.
“It’s a fantastic idea,” says Jon Stansbury, a partner with Terranomics Retail Services, which handles rentals for properties like the Rittenhouse building. “I think it’s not only important. I think it’s critical in revitalizing Santa Cruz, which is stagnant.”
