The New Vibrant Downtown

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All over America -- in fact, all over the world-- aspects of a new and revitalized downtown are taking shape. In big city downtowns, blockbuster museum shows, new sports arenas, and a new generation of "urban entertainment retail" stores are symbols of this new vibrancy. In small downtowns, new restaurants, restored movie heaters, and a new generation of "interactive" libraries are bringing people back to town centers.

The story of downtown success is teeing told in many places. In its year-end edition, New York magazine proclaimed on its cover "New York is Back" The cover story proclaimed "the death of the city has been declared so often that almost no one realizes life here is actually getting better-safer, nicer, tastier, cheaper, snazzier, more sensible and exciting than it has been in years -- New York is back."

More recently, The Wall Street Journal ran a lead story entitled "More Stores Spurn Malls for tile Village Square." It reported on how national retailers are setting up shop in a place they have long neglected--Main Street. The story points out that stores, ranging from the Gap to Starbucks, are beginning to look at investing in smaller downtowns and affluent suburbs. The article quotes Steve Guttman, president of Federal Realty Investment Trust which has been buying …