Mayor pushes retail
By John Temple Ligon
Temple@TheColumbiaStar.com

Mayor Bob Coble

Following lunch inside Seawell's last Monday, April 9, the Columbia Rotary Club heard from Mayor Coble on his plans for further development of downtown retail. Coble essentially picked up where Terry Brown left off last November at the Center Center Partnership.

Brown, CEO of developer Edens & Avant, last fall asked the city for more help with tax- increment financing of infrastructure and amenities. Also, Brown cited a city incentives package as a means to lure more retail developers to take on more risks with larger retail projects.

Coble reiterated Brown's pitch to the Center City Partnership, and he narrowed his presentation to five barriers and challenges, as he called them: (1) Coordinate effectively with the private sector. (2) Downtown Columbia needs the correct mix of incentives such as loans and façade grants, and tax-increment financing must come into play to help pay for streetscaping and green space. (3) Even with additional parking planned and under construction, the city must do a better job in making parking more customer friendly. (4) Security and the perception of security is a clear challenge. (5) Called the Wayfinder Program, the city has approved and paid for a new signage system for the downtown area.

The mayor concluded by reaffirming the city's next big step to a stronger downtown, a vigorous new retail strategy.