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(Back
to Questions and Answers)
Weekly list of Questions from the Star
Community Newspapers in 2008.
Week 2: Retail Revitalization
(each Question 100 words Max).
QUESTION 1. Pick a corner in your city or town that you’d like
to see redone or revitalized. What needs to be fixed?
ANSWER: I would like to see older retail centers with a large
amount of empty lease space to be redeveloped. With the new changes coming
to I35, we have an opportunity to give a facelift to Lewisville along I35.
Depending on the final path of the highway improvement, the Lakeland plaza
area at I35 and business Hwy 121 may be a good candidate for some help to
bring new business to the area and add more tenants.
QUESTION 2: Tell what strategies you will offer to the council to
improve sections of your city or town. How will you attempt to keep your
residents pleased with the results?
ANSWER: We should start with ideas that other cities have used
to redevelop a similar area. Since these areas are privately owned, there
will have to be a private-public partnership formed with the owners to help
revitalize or redevelop an area. Analyze “high impact” options to implement
first to impress citizens and get them on board and notice results. Newer
trends in the design of shopping centers could be incorporated to bring
more people to the area.
QUESTION 3: Which is more important to your area: bringing
in new development or fixing up already existing development? Why?
ANSWER: Both are important but we should give more attention
to existing retail areas. With so many empty retail buildings in Lewisville,
I think constructing new buildings will only create more empty retail buildings.
If these buildings do not get tenants, then the owner may go out of business
which may lead to dilapidated properties. I do not think we should inhibit
investors who want to build in Lewisville either. If they want to build,
then we should encourage them to do so while we work to improve older areas.
Fixing up properties will bring new development.
QUESTION 4: How do you rate the current state of your city
or town, in terms of retail revitalization? How much work do you think needs
to be done?
ANSWER: Lewisville is getting closer to a point where most
of the city is built up. While we still do have some room to build up new
areas, we should start focusing on redeveloping older areas. Historic Downtown
area was a good start for revitalization. Lewisville has a great location
in the metroplex and the city is a great place to invest.
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