Indianapolis Neighborhood Business Districts: Examining Retail Viability
By Ian Colgan | Market & Economic Analysis | Jun 29th
Development Concepts has done a considerable amount of research regarding the economic factors that drive successful neighborhood business districts. A Neighborhood Business District, as we call it, is a concentration of retail, dining and other services serving local residents, located outside of a Downtown area. If they are large enough, they can be retail, dining, arts and entertainment destinations that draw in visitors from across a metropolitan area. Nationally, well known examples of NBD’s are Lincoln Park in Chicago, South Street in Philadelphia, Fells Point in Baltimore, or Capitol Hill in Seattle. NBD’s represent the types of neighborhoods that have become highly desirable across the country – urban amenities easily accessible by walking or easy driving distance by nearby residents.
Through our research, we have identified a series of indicators that can be used to understand the retail viability of a particular NBD – whether established or planned. With the knowledge of the core factors that generate viability for successful NBD’s, we have created a “Retail Viability Report” for 16 existing and potential NBD’s in the City of Indianapolis. It is our intention to share the understanding of how NBD’s work economically so that Indianapolis can move towards a more sustainable future.