Wal-Mart and the redevelopment pipe dream

Redevelopment in Sarasota is now driven by three “Ws:” West of the Trail, Waterfronts and Wal-Mart. Though “redevelopment” is a word all claim to support, it’s a term that needs fresh thinking.

In short, redevelopment consists of knocking down a building and putting a new one in its place. Good redevelopment brings better-looking buildings and amenities such as parks and sidewalk improvements. But Sarasota doesn't need good redevelopment; Sarasota needs great redevelopment.

Great redevelopment fulfills a lot of ambitions at once: economic development, transportation options, affordability, aesthetics and positive spin-off for the neighborhood. Great redevelopment also works with market realities to get the timing, sequencing, financing and planning right as well.

California is figuring this out, thanks to its climate change laws. Whether climate change is real or a hoax (see: Inhofe), this law is churning out a new generation of redevelopment planning because every stakeholder in the process has to demonstrate lower energy use. As it turns out, lower carbon translates into a lot of things neighborhoods look for, such as walkability, better water management and lower costs.

As the highest value redevelopment sites get snapped up, outdated commercial strips are one of the most difficult but promising areas to direct investment and attention toward reinvention. Sarasota, like California, is full of them.

The secret to corridor redevelopment is to focus on certain intersections for directing retail and re-imagine the places in between. Think about it: Instead of arterials that play host to an endless, diluted gruel of suffering retail, this new model seeks concentration to get power and scale. The planning firm Freedman, Tung and Sasaki is leading the way in this type of planning.

They look for the one corner of an intersection that can play host to the outbound commute, right-in, right-out project. That location is the catalytic corner that can set the tone for the other three corners and eventually a planning area. This is elegantly laid out in “Restructuring the Commercial Strip,” a paper released earlier this year in a compendium sponsored by the Smart Growth Network. This paper is a must-read for Sarasota. I suggest the Downtown Sarasota Alliance print out copies and host a “book night."

Freedman, Tung and Sasaki are not the only ones who have figured this out: Wal-Mart has. Let’s look at three sites as they relate to downtown workers returning home:

• U.S.-41 and Myrtle – This site, the old Winn-Dixie, picks off northbound commuters returning to Bradenton. This intersection was included in the Innovation 41 plan  that called for a high-quality, walkable planning area at this intersection.
• Ringling and Lime Avenue – This site will capture eastbound commuters, though they are mostly right-in/straight out. Note that Wal-Mart’s plans are making its way through the legal process after the city commission voted the site plan down.
• Beneva and Bee Ridge – This site gets both eastbound and southbound drivers. Bee Ridge is always cited as the poster child for strip commercial redevelopment and its potential. In 2009, the county sponsored a Bee Ridge Corridor transportation and redevelopment study, replete with pretty graphics of what could have been.

As it maxes out its suburban presence, Wal-Mart (and other big box stores) are deliberately moving closer to cities, so this is not just a problem specific to Sarasota. Big box stores are poised to obliterate good planning everywhere by taking over catalytic outbound/right-in and right-out locations. They are not just taking on one site but the other sites in a planning area as well. Instead of knitting walkable neighborhoods, you get auto-oriented boxes on all four corners. A lot of politicians talk about how they support both Wal-Mart and redevelopment. But you can't have it both ways.