Southwestern city leaders share downtown successes with Las Vegas counterparts
The cities of Denver, Phoenix and Santa Monica, Calif., might not appear to have much in common with Las Vegas, but when it comes to downtown revitalization strategies, similarities abound.
On Tuesday evening, downtown redevelopment leaders from those three Southwestern cities joined their Las Vegas counterparts to discuss what makes for a successful downtown.
Tuesday’s event at the Detroit Ballroom inside D Las Vegas hotel-casino drew about 150 people, including business leaders and public officials. It was hosted by the Downtown Vegas Alliance, a nonprofit group that works with business leaders to spur economic growth downtown and sponsored by Zappos and D Las Vegas.
John Desmond, executive vice president of the Downtown Denver Partnership, said successful downtowns foster diversity, walkability, cultural exchange, mix of uses and social interaction between all levels of society.
“When I walk down the 16th Street Mall (in downtown Denver), I encounter everyone from homeless to hipster millennials to corporate CEOs,” Desmond said.
David Krietor, president and CEO of Downtown Phoenix Inc., said there has been a major shift in Phoenix from suburbanites who would never consider an urban lifestyle to a wave of college-educated millennials willing live downtown and bike share and ditch cars altogether.
“We’re now building residential in downtown Phoenix with less than one car per unit, which was just unheard of,” said Krietor.
Todd Kessler, chairman of the Alliance and a Resort Gaming Group/Downtown Project executive, described the four cities as sharing a “rags to riches” story. Kessler said that he saw a similar trajectory between downtown Santa Monica 20 years ago which was then rampant with crime and downtown Las Vegas which has made major strides to shed its negative perception in recent years.
Kessler added that he was inspired by Arizona State University’s decision to move parts of its campus to downtown Phoenix over the past ten years. Kessler acknowledged that the University of Nevada, Las Vegas would have a medical school in the nearby medical district but said he wanted the college to commit to building campuses in the heart of downtown, such as a business or law school to spur more growth.
As more development happens in downtown, Kessler said that the vision of the Downtown Project, which sought to establish downtown as a thriving startup magnet could yet come to fruition.
The westside region of Los Angeles, which includes Santa Monica’s downtown area, is known as Silicon Beach and has attracted notable tech companies such as Google, Yahoo, and Facebook.
Kathleen Rawson, CEO of Downtown Santa Monica, Inc. said that Santa Monica’s downtown appeal to tech companies has to do with its walkability, transit, housing and diversity and scope of restaurant choices.
“We’ve created this ecosystem that’s completely compatible with that type of working environment,” said Rawson.
Downtown Las Vegas continues to pursue tech companies, but Kessler said, “It’s very challenging to attract those kinds of people unless you have that kind of environment. … Those things are finally coming,” Kessler said.
Contact Alexander S. Corey at acorey@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0270. Find @acoreynews on Twitter.
