EDMONDS – Economic development efforts can involve long studies, spendy consultants and tenaciously trying to convince businesses to relocate.
Sometimes, however, all it takes to make a difference is to notice the small things.
That’s the approach Jennifer Gerend has taken so far to make sure downtown Edmonds expands its core of pedestrian-friendly shops and restaurants.
“Edmonds has some real major advantages,” said Gerend, who became Edmonds’ first economic development director in June. “We have the downtown that other cities are trying to develop. Projects such as Lynnwood and Mill Creek town centers – we have that already.”
What many downtown building owners didn’t have, however, was a good way of getting out the word when they had empty storefronts to lease.
Instead of getting listed in regional directories of available commercial real estate, most landlords just put a “For Rent” sign in their window and hope someone will spot it.
“There was a huge communication gap before between what was available and people who might be looking for space,” said Gerend, a 28-year-old Washington state native who previously headed a revitalization program in New York City’s Brooklyn area.
So, taking an idea she used while in Brooklyn, Gerend organized an open house to show off about two dozen available retail and office spaces around Edmonds. At the September event, about 50 business owners came through, and Gerend has heard from another 40 or so potential tenants since then.
Local merchants also call her first now when they hear about new spaces that may become vacant, so she can pass along the news.
This and her other efforts so far have won praise from some downtown business owners.
“She hit the ground running, and she’s got a lot of great ideas,” said Strom Peterson, president of the Downtown Edmonds Merchants Association and a member of the committee that helped to choose Gerend.
The downtown core of Snohomish County’s second-largest city already is healthy. It has long included a mix of residences and small businesses, and the retail vacancy rate is relatively low.
David Arista, president of the Greater Edmonds Chamber of Commerce and owner of Arista Wine Cellars in downtown, said vacant spaces in the area often are located outside the main retail core.
“It’s been getting better and better over the past five to seven years,” Arista said. “We’re getting more and more retail and services that bring in more people, especially Edmonds citizens.”
It’s also easy these days to find signs that small businesses downtown are doing well.
Peterson, for example co-owns Olives Gourmet Foods Cafe &Wine Bar, which recently doubled the size of its staff as it converted from a takeout, specialty foods shop into a full-service restaurant.
A few blocks away, workers are preparing the foundation for a new condominium complex. HOUSEwares, a shop on Main Street, just took over a neighboring space to expand.
Work to expand the Edmonds Floral Conference Centre into a facility that can hold larger events also is to begin next year. The city also has a long-range plan to redevelop the waterfront area, possibly to tie in better with the existing ferry dock and Amtrak/Sounder train station.
Additionally, merchants are proposing a rule requiring new downtown buildings to have at least 12-foot-high ceilings for their ground-floor retail spaces and restricting ground-floor areas to retail use.
Many of the existing downtown storefronts have low ceilings, which are seen as unattractive by some business owners and property brokers. Developers argue they need to build low first-floor ceilings because of Edmonds’ building height restrictions.
Gerend said the city’s planning commission will take public comment on that proposal Oct. 27.
Since settling into her job, Gerend also has gotten involved in looking at ideas for the Highway 99 corridor through Edmonds, where some lots remain undeveloped or in need of redevelopment.
As long as more people want to live in or shop in Edmonds, the city has the opportunity to improve its local economy, Gerend said. From the pace of condominium construction, attracting new residents may not be a problem, though.
“If anything, one of the challenges is people fearing change,” she said. “But economic development can be very sensitive to the fabric of the community. It can be almost seamless; it doesn’t have to mean demolition.”
That’s of prime importance to many merchants, Peterson said, because most local business owners also live in Edmonds.
“We’ve lived here and built our businesses here,” he said, “so there’s a lot at stake.”
Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.
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