The Downtown Investment Authority is considering a targeted incentive program aimed at creating two vibrant restaurant and entertainment corridors in the heart of downtown.
Under the program, which Downtown Investment Authority CEO Lori Boyer presented in a Tuesday morning subcommittee meeting, retailers would be enticed to concentrate along Laura, Hogan, Forsyth and Bay streets by providing free or discounted city parking, rent control, grants for facility improvements, grants for sidewalk uses and incentives pegged to square footage and use type.
Boyer chose the two areas, known as the Laura and Hogan Corridor and the Elbow, because they had a significant inventory of vacant space while also having a concentration of retailers to build upon, were located near the city-owned Ed Ball and Yates garages and are oriented towards the sites of the former courthouse and the Landing, both of which the DIA expects to sell this year for development and riverfront activation.
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