Nov 12, 2007

Downtown retail is developingBy Beverly FortuneKentucky.com

University of Kentucky students had lunch in September from Firehouse Subs, one of the rental tenants in the Center Court development on South Upper Street.

At first glance, the news about retail in downtown Lexington hasn’t been fantastic lately.

While a lot of construction activity is going on downtown, one developer has downsized the amount of retail in his multi-use project, another is converting planned retail to residential units, and a third said his project couldn’t get off the ground in part because of lack of retail interest.

But don’t tell Lisa McLean that downtown retail is in trouble.

Since McLean moved her children’s clothing store, Bella Bliss, from Midway to North Limestone a year ago, business is up 25 percent — mainly from walk-in customers.

“It’s been amazing. We’re thrilled to be downtown,” she said. “We didn’t get foot traffic in Midway. It was mainly browsers. But here people come and they buy.”

Some of the bigger construction projects downtown have struggled to attract big-name retailers, but business owners in pockets of the urban core — the stores in Lexington Center, the Limestone area and the business district near the University of Kentucky, for example — say the downtown retail climate is robust. As with all things in real estate, location is the key.

Developer Bill Lear said the importance of place for downtown retail “can’t be overstated.”

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