DATE: Wednesday, July 16, 1997              TAG: 9707160404

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY IDA KAY JORDAN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:   93 lines

OLDE TOWNE CHARMS MARKET CONSULTANTS STUDY: AREA IS A SECRET TOO WELL KEPT

An outside assessment of downtown High Street backs up the local notion that the Olde Towne area may be the region's best-kept secret.

The study, based on research by H. Blount Hunter and Joan Buckle of Norfolk, was commissioned by the Olde Towne Portsmouth Association.

On the positive side, the study says the Olde Towne business district already attracts a lucrative, regional market as a ``crossroads location.'' Its village atmosphere is authentic, and even though others across the country are trying, the real thing cannot be replicated, the study says.

On the negative side, the area is being hurt by privately owned, poorly maintained buildings that are ``prominent spaces'' used below their highest potential, if at all, the study says.

``Potential business owners must be educated to the regional draw of Olde Towne,'' Hunter told the association. Only 25 percent of

1996 sales of about $16.5 million came from Portsmouth residents; the bulk, 75 percent, came from outside the city.

People come to Portsmouth, he said, because of several old, established stores; museums and other cultural attractions; the Commodore Theater; several ``very fine'' restaurants; and an emerging antiques district.

Hunter said the research shows Portsmouth does not have to create a regional market because it already exists.

``You need to make this traffic visible to others,'' he said. ``You need to make it too important for people to ignore.''

Portsmouth, Hunter said, has its own themes upon which to build: history, children, arts and entertainment, antiques and home decor, and maritime activities.

``You don't have to re-create any other place,'' he said. ``You can be unique.''

The assessment was ordered and paid for by the Olde Towne Association after members learned the city's economic development department had not researched the downtown corridor.

``We hope to use this information to assist the city in finding new businesses for the Olde Towne area,'' said Flo McDaniel, executive director of the association. ``It has a lot of good information, a lot of facts and numbers we need to help us sell the area.''

Downtown merchants and residents have pressed the city to fill empty spaces along High Street, most especially the buildings around the Children's Museum of Virginia, which opened in December 1994. They have expressed concern about empty commercial space around High Street Landing, the docking area that opens Friday.

Using data collected from Olde Towne merchants, Hunter calculated that an additional $12.2 million in sales could be achieved on High Street for a total annual potential of $28.7 million.

``That amount of sales will support an additional 64,700 square feet of business,'' he said. ``That is more than the 61,000 square feet of empty first-floor space available on High Street.''

Hunter counted the space from the waterfront to Effingham Street, not storefronts on side streets.

``Speculation fever,'' he said, seems to be spreading, with some owners of empty buildings holding out for higher dollars.

Within the study area, he found there were several major buildings owned by people uninterested in leasing them at ``market rents,'' which are often less than the owners want.

In addition, several buildings are far from ``highest and best use.'' Hunter cited the privately owned Hotel Governor Dinwiddie, the Professional Building and the boarded-up Colony Theater as examples.

A city-operated senior citizens center in the 300 block of High Street should be relocated from its ``prime retail/restaurant storefront,'' he advised. The center is near the Children's Museum and next to Cafe Europa, described by Hunter as ``one of the region's finest tablecloth restaurants.''

Citing what he called the ``village atmosphere,'' Hunter said the human scale and visual beauty of the historic buildings ``create a sense of place which cannot be duplicated elsewhere in Hampton Roads.''

``This type of environment is increasingly sought as an escape from the sameness of sterile suburbs and from the hectic pace of modern life,'' Hunter said.

Buckle, who produced a list of business uses appropriate to the area, said Hunter's research produced unexpected good news.

``I was surprised at how many people are coming to Portsmouth from other cities in the region,'' she said. ``Now we know the potential.''

Martha Ann Creecy, president of the Olde Towne Civic League, said she was happy to have the research.

``It has validated what many people have sensed and discussed for the past two years,'' she said. And, she added, the facts should help the city market the area. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MARK MITCHELL/The Virginian-Pilot

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OLDE TOWNE CONCEPTUAL THEMES KEYWORDS: TOURISM PORTSMOUTH

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