Take a drive down Main Street in Vancouver and you'll likely find yourself saying, "I didn't know that was there."
From a new sports bar and grill, slated to open at the former Pepper's restaurant at Eighth and Main, to the Schofield Building, countless properties in the area are either renovating their spaces or welcoming new tenants. This healthy revitalization is exactly what the Vancouver Downtown Association (VDA) was hoping for when it began a new kind of dialogue with property owners
last March.
"It's all part of an effort to look at downtown Vancouver like one store rather than a collection of blocks of real estate," said Lee Rafferty, executive director of the VDA. "You have to figure out how people move from place to place in your store and how to make those connections work best."
Rafferty said the "one store" concept came from Michele Reeves, a local consultant the group hired last spring.
"The result is property owners seeing how their actions affect their neighbor's prosperity, which greatly affects their potential to lease to new tenants," said Rafferty.
Max Mikhaylenko, owner of MaxM Studio, moved his photography and design studio from downtown Portland to Seventh and Main in Vancouver just over a month ago. He said renovations to the building he now operates from played a major role in his decision to move there.
"The property owners renovated and got rid of the ugly awnings this building had. If they hadn't done that I wouldn't have even considered moving here," said Mikhaylenko. "I also like that
my clients can see the park
across the street and there is plenty of parking."
Though Mikhaylenko has only operated out of Vancouver for a number of weeks, he has already embraced the idea of working with neighboring small businesses to maximize opportunity downtown.
"I want to do everything I can on my end to make this area more attractive," he said.
That's exactly the kind of attitude Rafferty said she is excited about.
"This is a downtown that has done some great things over the years," she explained. "But it's not just the good old days. These are the good new days, and we have a very bright future because of the work ethic and creativity that's in this downtown core."
