The Sky Loop: What Effect on Downtown Retail?

Downtown retail has gotten weaker in the last 20 years, as a number of smaller stores have closed, McAlpin’s closed on Fourth Street, and its replacement, Dillard’s, failed to relocate downtown. Presently the anchors are Saks Fifth Avenue, Lazarus and Tower Place Mall.

A seven year effort to obtain a downtown Nordstrom’s on the Fifth & Race site culminated in a $50 million subsidy, including about $20 million for an adjoining 480 space parking garage. With much grumbling as to the high cost, it was finally approved by Cincinnati City Council a couple months ago. In the meantime, Nordstrom’s had also announced a second store in the area, a suburban site in Deerfield, OH, about 25 miles north of downtown. Then, in November, 2000, Nordstrom’s cancelled plans for the downtown stores in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, leaving Cincinnati with $10 million invested so far, and a hole in the ground. In December, it cancelled the Deerfield store as well. These cancellations were caused by financial setbacks at Nordstrom’s, and they said they would still like to reconsider a downtown store in a year or so.

So why is it so hard to get quality retailers to commit to downtown Cincinnati?

The Downtown Retail Market

In September, 1993 the City of Cincinnati commissioned Marketing Developments, Inc. to conduct a comprehensive market research study to better define who the downtown customer is, downtown spending habits, desired shopping opportunities, and attitudes about downtown. (The Downtown Cincinnati Retail Marketing Plan.) 2,000 area residents were interviewed. These facts were developed as part of this study:

1. The largest concern for downtown shoppers was parking: the cost, and the shortage of it near the retail hub.
2. Safety was a consideration, but a minor one.
3. 91,000 downtown workers spent an average $1,372 per year, vs. an average $1,806 per year national average, according to ICSC, on the following items:
   1. Lunches $712 (National average: $1,040)
   2. Clothing/Household $403 (National average: $650)
   3. Dinner/Drinks $257 (National average: $116)
4. The current retail mix was not large enough nor unique enough to bring area residents downtown just to shop.
5. 36% of downtown pedestrians were downtown workers; 47% were local residents downtown for shopping, dining or entertainment; and 17% were out of town tourists.
6. Only 20% of local residents who live downtown are in an income bracket high enough to shop at Lazarus ($35,000 +).

This study then went on to develop a very comprehensive, detailed market plan, based upon the situation as it existed in 1993. Key elements of this plan were as follows:

1. Form a Downtown Management Corporation to coordinate and implement the marketing plan, and in time, form a Business Improvement District.
2. Focus on downtown workers first, then conventioneers and visitors, and finally, close-in residents with income over $35,000.
3. Forget about attracting suburban residents for now, because the combination of parking inconvenience and inadequate retail mix would make it impossible to bring them downtown in any significant numbers just to shop.

How much of this plan has been implemented in the last seven years we do not know, but we are aware that a Business Improvement District was considered for downtown and something like this was funded with about $10 million from the major downtown corporations, to support downtown development in general.

This study is still very relevant today. In fact, downtown retail has probably gotten even weaker.

So how could the Sky Loop help??

Downtown Parking Issues for Suburban Shoppers

The 1993 Study gave up on this group, for two reasons: the lack of an attractive retail mix, and the cost and difficulties of parking.

Nordstrom’s no doubt sees the same limited retail market, and decided that the Mason location had more promise. This tells us that we have a chicken and egg problem: we can’t get more folks downtown to shop because there aren’t enough unique retailers, and we can’t get more unique retailers because we can’t get more folks downtown to shop!

But there were two reasons suburban shoppers won’t come downtown: the other was parking. The Sky Loop would solve the parking problem by making all parking lots and garages in the downtown area, on both sides of the river, easily accessible to all.

Convenience Issues for the Downtown Office Worker

The 1993 Study said, focus first on the downtown worker, as that was where the biggest opportunity for increased sales could be realized the quickest. It said that you have to get these workers to shop more at lunchtime, as they go straight home after work, and won’t change this habit. It had lots of promotional ideas, but little to say about the biggest impediment to downtown workers shopping on their lunch hours:

Saks, Lazarus & Tower Place are all three blocks west of the major office buildings between Main and Sycamore, 4^th & 5^th Streets. As each block is about 500 feet long, this is a distance of about 1,500 feet or more, with three traffic lights as well.

An old rule of thumb for retail is, don’t make the customer walk more than 400’. This works for spacing B-shops between anchors, or the farthest parking space to the front door of the store or mall entrance.

It probably takes, on average, 10-12 minutes each way for a walker to go from one of these office buildings to the retail area. If the shopper has only 1-1.5 hours at lunch to eat, shop and get back to work, this means he/she will spend 20-24 minutes of this valuable time just getting there and back.

Things that make this walk more burdensome include: rain, snow, heat, cold, and packages.

Suburban shopping centers and malls, with their free parking, ability to get around to many shops inside or under cover, and parking near entrances, have spoiled shoppers enough that they won’t endure even the moderate inconveniences described above, at least not on a regular basis. After all, downtown office workers live in the suburbs, and usually shop there as well.

The Sky Loop will make it much easier for downtown workers to get to and from the retail district.

Conventioneers and Tourists

The 1993 Study ranked this group as second to downtown workers in importance. They are already downtown, so the trick is to get them to shop more than they do now. Again, the 1993 Study suggests some promotions that can be done, but does not address the convenience problem.

Today there are many more hotels than the Hyatt, Regal and Westin, clustered near the retail district. Many of the newest are in Covington and Newport, such as the Embassy Suites, Marriott, Comfort Suites, and a host of them in Covington along 3^rd Street, west of the I.R.S. These represent thousands of hotel rooms, and no convenient way to get to Cincinnati’s retail district. The Sky Loop will get them there in 5 minutes. (See our Simulations page and Simulation Statistical Results.)

Downtown Living and The Banks

The 1993 Study ranked downtown residents third in importance, because there weren’t that many of them, and 80% were low income.

Nevertheless, there are clusters of high income downtown housing now, primarily at Garfield Place, along West 4^th Street, One Lytle Place, and Adams Landing. There are big plans for more housing along the riverfront, as part of the new plan known as The Banks.

For these folks too, convenience of downtown shopping will be an issue. It should be noted that, except for West 4^th Street residents, all of these people are now or will be three or more blocks from the downtown retail area.

Their choice today is to walk several blocks to downtown retail, or get in their cars and go to Hyde Park or Kenwood. We suspect most of them choose the latter today.

The Sky Loop will get all of them to the stores much quicker and easier.

Net Effect Today on the Smaller Retailers

Any shopping area depends on its anchors to draw the people, with the smaller stores getting their share of business from shoppers who come to the area. While some smaller stores profess to be “destination stores,” this is the exception rather than the rule.

With the anchors generally a weaker draw downtown today than years ago, it stands to reason that the smaller stores have suffered from less traffic generally.

The Sky Loop Committee would suggest that the first order of business is to strengthen the draw of the anchors; this will be more help to the smaller stores than any other single thing. In order to do this, the downtown retail market needs to be expanded, in these ways:

1. The downtown office worker, conventioneer, tourist and resident all need to shop downtown more often, and spend more time for shopping and less time getting there and back.
2. The suburban shopper (potentially a much larger market) needs to have a reason to come back downtown, e.g., more fashion stores downtown, and more convenient parking.

For the smaller retailers, an overall plan for a downtown retail district needs to be developed, with all retailers (except restaurants and some service establishments) encouraged to locate in this district. Creating a more compact retail area will serve to make it like a suburban shopping center or mall, with more convenient access when walking between stores is the only alternative.

Role of the Downtown Skywalk System

While this is for others to debate, we would suggest that, if retained, the Skywalk system must once again be perceived as safe, and pieces removed over the years that make it less useful should be restored.

If it is retained, then it should be integrated with the Sky Loop, if built. If it is removed, as some would advocate, then it would be simpler for the Sky Loop system, as a constant elevation would be maintained.

Effect of the Sky Loop on Downtown Retail

The Sky Loop as proposed by SLC is a Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system, with three person cars, stations inside major office buildings, stores, hotels, and the Cincinnati Convention Center. Other literature at our website describes in detail how it works.

As it pertains to downtown retail, SLC believes the Sky Loop will be the most important boost to downtown retail in the last 30 years. Here’s why:

(See our Sky Loop Networks page and associated Station List.)
1. The downtown office worker will be able to get a Sky Loop car from inside his building (or maybe across the street) (stations 24 or 30) directly to the Skywalk level of Fountain Square or Tower Place Mall (stations 25 and 28). With two minutes maximum wait time and three minutes to get there, this cuts the travel time from 10-12 minutes to 5 minutes each way, all out of the elements and above traffic and lights.
2. Conventioneers and tourists will be able to get from inside their hotel (or just outside), or from the stadiums, Newport Aquarium or Millennium Monument, to the retail district in 5 minutes.
3. The Banks residents would use stations 17, 19 or 22 to access stations 25 or 28, in lieu of a 5-6 block walk.
4. Suburban shoppers would park in safe and cheap parking garages between the stadiums (7,800 spaces proposed), at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center (1,600 spaces), or the Newport on the Levee (2,000 spaces), then take the Sky Loop at stations around the stadiums (15 through 22) or the Kentucky garages (3, 8 or 10) to stations 25 or 28. This convenience should bring them back downtown, providing fashion stores also come back downtown.

After the Sky Loop is built, we think the added convenience to all will in fact encourage additional unique retailers to locate downtown, completing the solution to the “chicken and egg” problem mentioned earlier.

Additional Help for Smaller Stores Downtown from the Sky Loop

The primary benefit to smaller stores would come from greatly increased downtown shopping derived from the overall convenience to downtown workers, conventioneers, tourists and suburbanites from the Sky Loop system. This expansion of the “trade area” would be felt by all downtown retailers.

However, in addition to expanding the overall downtown retail market, the Sky Loop should offer special help for all downtown retailers in the form of advertising on the Sky Loop system.

Each station should have a retail advertising board, with a map showing the location of all retailers along the route. The kiosk system presently promoted by the N. Ky. Chamber, N. Ky. Convention & Visitors Bureau, and Forward Quest, should include a kiosk in every Sky Loop station.

Finally, as the Sky Loop has sophisticated computer controls, it may be possible to have a computer advertising system in each station, with the rider calling up his desired store, and the computer telling him which station to go to from his current location, and how to find the store once he gets there.

These aids would be particularly beneficial to the smaller retailers, who might otherwise be bypassed by an elevated system.

We hope this will provide food for thought for all downtown retailers, when asked to support the Sky Loop.

The Sky Loop Committee
Chip Tappan, Chairman
Revised 12/6/00

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Copyright © The Sky Loop Committee of Vision 2015