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Toledo primed for revitalization, but key components still missing
(Blade, The (Toledo, OH) (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Aug. 10--Bob Seyfang sees his neighborhood brimming with people on the sidewalks moving in and out of specialty boutiques, dining at outdoor bistros, and shopping at local hardware and grocery stores.
He imagines a collection of art galleries within walking distance of his loft and envisions the arrival of new neighbors with a penchant for local nightlife.
It seems a far-flung dream at the moment, considering Mr. Seyfang lives in Toledo's lackluster downtown, an area that lost much of its vibrancy more than 30 years ago. But recent national trends show the tide may be shifting development back toward urban centers.
Rising gas and energy prices have made many Americans wary of the long commutes and large, energy-sucking homes emblematic of suburban living.
The average price of a gallon of gasoline -- largely a reflection of crude oil costs -- has skyrocketed over five years, jumping 171 percent from June, 2003, to June, 2008, nationwide, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. After peaking above $4 a gallon, prices have fallen back slightly, but oil analysts predict prices will continue to climb with world oil demand up and supplies outpaced.
Some experts forecast prices above $10 a gallon within a few years.
American eyebrows have been raised.
The U.S. Department of Transportation estimated that the country drove nearly 10 billion fewer miles in May, 2008, than in May, 2007, an aversion that has become this year's faddish choice.
Living downtown in many major U.S. cities, or in the neighborhoods directly encircling the city center, not only saves on gas but can offer an attractive centrality of retail, entertainment, and residence, especially for an increasing number of young singles and empty-nesters.
In Toledo, urban living would benefit the thousands of downtown workers most but also further the hope that, with the success of the Mud Hens' ballpark, Fifth Third Field, and the $100 million hockey arena rising nearby, downtown is on the cusp of becoming a popular place to live again.
"I just see it all happening. We have to pedestrianize downtown," Mr. Seyfang said. "I think what we need to do is create a living environment where you literally don't need a car. If you want to go to Upper Michigan or Traverse City, you rent a car. If you want to go to Franklin Park mall to shop, you hop on a bus and go."
Mr. Seyfang, who migrated from the suburbs to the Bakery Building on South Michigan Avenue with his architecture firm in 1989, describes many basic tenets of an architectural movement known as New Urbanism -- a school of thought blooming across the country in the face of increasing concerns about energy costs and environmental preservation.
New Urbanism endorses the creation of heterogeneous neighborhoods with a variety of shops, offices, and accessible green space while encouraging public transportation and walking.
The study's authors predict urban populations will continue to grow -- to 401 million by 2050 -- with rural populations falling to 44 million.
Primed for growth
Mike Young, a former city planner in Toledo who works in California, sees Toledo primed for growth. He talks about the beautiful neighborhoods that for years were the city's stability.
New Urbanism
"I would live in the Old West End even now," he said. "You have people in the core who have created a very stable and comfortable environment."
Others are worried that new urban housing trends may be tainted by gentrification as the poor are forced out to abandoned suburban homes.
"If [the poor] happen to own their house in the inner city, they'll do OK because the price will get bid up," said Douglas Kelbaugh, dean of the University of Michigan school of architecture and urban studies, "but if they're renting, which they typically are, they'll get squeezed out."
"In the real estate market we're in right now, urban neighborhoods are performing better," said John Norquist, the former mayor of Milwaukee, who heads the Chicago-based Congress for the New Urbanism, an organization configured by a collection of prominent urban architects in 1993. "In the sprawl, prices are collapsing; it really is a good time for [urban] development," he said.
Statistics confirm why that may be happening.
A U.N. study of world populations released this year showed a migration in North America clearly skewed toward cities. From 1950 to 2007, urban populations rose from 110 million to 275 million, while rural populations increased from 62 million to 63 million.
Reversal of fortune?
Mr. Kelbaugh said this urban-suburban flip is happening in places such as Seattle, San Francisco, Boston, and New York and claims the only way to keep poor people downtown once the affluent decide they want to move in is to provide some sort of subsidy program.
Depreciating and foreclosed suburban McMansions could be converted into multifamily homes, and Mr. Kelbaugh prognosticates that some suburban spots might become "unsightly," dotted with empty lots and heaped with crime.
With suburbia fumbling to address mortgage blunders, higher energy costs, and baby boomers looking to downsize, urbanity seems poised to swoop into the proverbial front door left open by a cul-de-sac nation.
Kevin Kennon, executive director of the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies in New York City, said the global society is increasingly becoming more urban and predicts cities will experience major population increases in the next 50 years.
"Higher density should create opportunity to lower energy costs," he said. "People are going to want to live closer to the city."
In a 2005 report titled "Turning Around Downtown: Twelve Steps to Revitalization," Christopher Leinberger, a fellow at the Brookings Institute in Washington, wrote,
"Over the past 15 years there has been an amazing renaissance in downtowns across America."
Mr. Leinberger said that in a sample of 45 U.S. cities, the number of downtown households increased by 13 percent during the 1990s, bucking a downward trend from previous decades.
The proclivity to move to city centers has continued in the last eight years.
America's love affair with the low-density world of strip malls and spacious office parks began in the period after World War II, when President Dwight Eisenhower's interstate highway project, arguably the biggest public works project in world history, subsidized a move out of the cities and effectively banished urban development to the back of a suburban closet the country was filling with the prosperity of a booming economy and cheap gasoline.
Revitalization
With Americans catching on to the idea that smaller homes and shorter commutes could mean more money left in bank accounts, cities such as Toledo are trying to promote a vision for downtown development attractive to both potential residents and visitors.
Toledo officials have not succeeded in revitalizing downtown, but they commissioned many studies on the topic.
Doug Farr studied urban Toledo when his Chicago-based sustainable architecture firm, Farr Associates, was hired by the city in 2004 to conceptualize mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly ideas for neighborhood redevelopment.
Mr. Farr, who also penned a book on sustainable urbanism, said Toledo must first work to overcome its self-doubt. "There's this feeling that we're not worthy and that it's not for us," he said. "It's a pervasive pessimism."
Those sentiments echo the perceptions of state Rep. Peter Ujvagi, a Toledoan who represents the 47th District.
Mr. Ujvagi said the city must generate a new rhetoric in its approach to development.
"There's good news and bad news about Toledo," he said. "The good news is that we haven't made the same mistakes a lot of cities have made in terms of development. The bad news is that we're behind a lot of cities."
A lack of coordination
Despite the lofty expectations outlined in the Toledo 20/20 Comprehensive Plan, a full-fledged vision for the city in the year 2020 compiled eight years ago, Mr. Ujvagi said a lack of coordination seems to be tripping up progress.
"The pieces just aren't fitting together," he said. "You look at City Council and the county commissioners and the infighting that continues to occur. There doesn't seem to be a mechanism to come to a consensus."
Yet another study -- the 2004 Economic Development and Innovation Plan paid for by the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority -- confirmed Mr. Ujvagi's view about lack of downtown progress.
The study concluded there was a "lack of economic development planning and priority setting" and there were "many agencies but unclear roles." The latter assessment, the plan determined, resulted in "inefficiency and underperformance" for Toledo.
A success story
Other cities have been more effective in injecting life into moribund downtowns.
In Fort Wayne, Ind. -- a city with a metro population equal to Toledo's, just short of 600,000 -- a comprehensive plan released in 2002 provided the blueprints for 76 downtown projects.
Sharon Feasel, a redevelopment specialist for Fort Wayne, said the city has completed nearly 50 percent of those objectives, including expansion of its convention center and smaller initiatives such as the landscaping of city center medians.
The second-largest city in Indiana is in the middle of building a new ballpark for its Class A minor league baseball team, the Fort Wayne Wizards, in the Harrison Square area downtown. The project includes a Marriott hotel and 60 new condominiums.
"We set about the process of thinking about all of the complexities of downtown," she said. "Downtown, everyone has to do everything together, and you have to mix all uses, all races, all incomes, mix all everything.
"We just literally set about trying to promise that this wasn't going to be a plan that sat on the shelf."
Ms. Feasel said the plan has experienced so much success that Fort Wayne produced an update -- Blueprint Plus -- zeroing in on more specific parts of downtown, including the waterfront along the city's own stretch of the Maumee River.
Lowering the hurdles
For Toledo to duplicate Fort Wayne's success and experience the urban growth seen around the country, it needs to lower the bars to downtown development.
"[Cities] should have streamlined procedures for development they decide they do want," said Jonathan Levine, chairman of the University of Michigan's urban planning school. "Anything the city can do, they do for developers because it costs them when there are delays."
To encourage growth, many developers argue they must receive assistance from the city. This help can come first in the form of building codes.
Tom Lemon, principal planner for the Toledo-Lucas County Planning Commission, affirmed the city keeps a close watch on the building code -- last rewritten in 2004.
"We're trying to build some flexibility into the zoning code," he said.
Business and jobs
Struggles to invigorate downtowns bring appreciation for what most urban planners agree is the key ingredient in the downtown cheesecake: jobs.
Mr. Kennon of the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies said successful downtowns will find ways to attract businesses that bring employment to the city center.
"That's where you've got to start," he said. "People will move where they have to work. The economics of this are really critical."
The convenience of a shorter commute, and the gas savings associated with it, may already be enough to lure professionals out of the suburban woodwork, particularly younger workers looking for the additional buzz only a downtown can provide.
The millennial generation -- 78 million born from 1977 to 1996 -- has started becoming a major part of the work force as baby boomers -- 82 million born from 1946 to 1964 -- begin to take a bow and pack up their desks. The group of fresh workers might be more apt to look for residences downtown if their jobs are already there.
Norman Krumholz, a professor at the Cleveland State University school of urban affairs, said people come downtown first for the jobs and then for the amenities.
"The energy problems will probably make people make choices that are closer in, but the jobs are now in the suburbs," he said.
Positive developments
Downtown Toledo employment has dropped from more than 40,000 workers at a peak in the early 1950s to less than 20,000 today according to the Census Bureau.
But Mr. Ujvagi, who counts himself an avid urban enthusiast, deems one area particularly promising for northwest Ohio.
"The thing we've done right, by the way, is on solar energy," he said. "There are some pretty exciting things about to happen off Nebraska Avenue and Dorr Street that can make a real difference."
A solar energy start-up, Xunlight, plans to construct a production line for thin-film, silicon-solar modules at its facility at 3145 Nebraska Ave. near downtown and looks to eventually add to its 45-person work force.
And there's the nation's largest manufacturer of solar cells in nearby Perrysburg Township -- First Solar -- which employs more than 600 workers and had Wall Street's fastest-growing stock in 2007.
All signify Toledo's hope that companies spun out of places such as the University of Toledo's Clean and Alternative Energy Incubator could fill the numerous empty buildings that blight downtown and the neighborhoods surrounding it.
Making an urban splash
While jobs offer a dependable verve for the city from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., other amenities will help to attract downtown visitors and solidify the relocation decisions of suburban ex-patriates.
Satisfying the housing demand, particularly for empty- nesters looking to downsize and young professionals looking for starters, is likely the next step in downtown growth.
In Toledo, housing in the Warehouse District as well as future downtown residential projects in the Triangle Building and Water Street Station, and at the East Toeldo Marina District, could prove enticing to suburban pilgrims.
With jobs generating activity during the day, and residents filling the void in the evenings, downtowns suddenly become more attractive to other businesses, much as they were 50 years ago when they served as the hub of industry.
Most urban planners agree revitalization then typically goes to entertainment -- restaurants, nightclubs, theaters, sports venues -- followed by retail, a far more fickle downtown staple, all on the heels of other developments to complete the city center package.
In places such as Brooklyn and Chicago, large chains Target and Home Depot already have made an urban splash.
In 2003, Home Depot -- America's largest home-improvement retailer -- opened a two-level store in the Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood, shedding an untenable big-box design in exchange for ceiling-to-floor glass windows and an interior escalator.
Retail giant Wal-Mart has experimented with urban stores in places such as Fort Worth, Texas, and Long Beach, Calif.
All of these elements create variety and build the micromarkets typically associated with downtowns.
"[Downtowns] can offer a whole bunch of social services and address economic issues in ways the suburb simply cannot," said Mr. Kennon of the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies.
"Every mall looks like every other mall, and if you want some variety in your life, the city is better at bringing variety."
Key components
While probably missing some of the necessary glue including a thriving nightlife, adequate green space, and inexpensive parking, Toledo appears to have many of the key pieces needed to make an effective downtown sales pitch.
Very few cities in the country the size of Toledo have a ballpark, a convention center, a world-class art museum, a picturesque waterfront, and a budding arena to attract visitors and residents to the city.
Mr. Seyfang, who now thinks about downtown issues on a daily basis as not only a resident but also as the leader of the Toledo Design Center, still believes he will have more company on the streets and sidewalks soon.
"The thing is, we've got an opportunity, right now, that very, very few cities anywhere in the country have," he said
"At some point, people will change the way they live. It's bound to happen."
Contact Matthew Eisen at:meisen@theblade.comor 419-724-6077.
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Copyright (c) 2008, The Blade, Toledo, Ohio
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