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jody horton wrote:
> Lately strip centers seem to have been vilified by Endeavor - and all of us.
>
> So I thought I would stick up for them.
>
If traffic is the major concern (this was the primary argument against
the Endeavor variance after all), then the problem with a strip center
is that strip centers generally generate more traffic than the Endeavor
proposal would.
Yes, some strip centers can be cool, but the price of this property
would dictate businesses that generate a lot of traffic.
Less traffic = fewer sales = less profit = lower rent.
Of course there are some instances where smaller businesses --
especially utility retail -- can survive WITHOUT a lot of traffic, but
these require mixed-use, so there is a reasonable captive audience, so
to speak, of customers that can just walk to the business.
There are endless books, papers, etc. written about all this stuff. The
reason the Triangle exists is that the Austin City Council, under the
leadership of Kirk Watson, REJECTED the original CENCOR strip center
proposal precisely because it would generate too much traffic in
surrounding neighborhoods. The idea was the residential component would
allow for smaller, lower traffic businesses to survive. Tom Terkel, VP
of CENCOR, got the new urbanism religion soon thereafter and is now a
huge proponent of projects like this. Here is a fun experiment you can
try close to home. Go stand in front of any of the entrances to and
from the Triangle and get a read on how many vehicles are going in/out
of that entrance/exit. Now go stand over in front of one of the
entrances to Central Market (Central Park) and check out the traffic
through there. No great surprises; Central Market has a constant flow
of cars going in and out while the Triangle has very little traffic.
Central Market is a strip center, and the Triangle is mixed-use.
Finally, someone suggested that they preferred a strip center to
apartments, since strip centers close at night while apartment residents
come and go all night long. Actually, the opposite is true. Most
apartment dwellers have visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads at
night, while strip centers can easily have high traffic businesses that
are open 24/7, with people driving up and peeling out after buying some
late night cigs (or whatever).
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