2.0. HRSR 03-10-1998 - Laserfiche WebLink

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15,000 square feet of retail space (either new or renovated space) during the next three years. To be most effective in the evolution of the downtown, smaller scale and single user development should be directed to areas near Broadway and the river. As that area fills, adjacent areas would become tar- gets for retail activity, potentially absorbing another 15,000 to 20,000 square feet during the next five to seven years. Larger users and multi-tenant devel- opment might also be absorbed into the downtown nearer to Seventh Street. These larger users could potentially absorb between 25,000 to 50,000 square feet during the next five years. Downtown Monticello continues to be the focus of office development in the Office community. Many small businesses have located in converted single-family homes near the edge of the downtown and in retail storefronts in the heart of downtown. These office spaces primarily serve businesses that provide ser- vices, such as attorneys, real estate professionals, financial consultants, accountants and insurance agents. There has been no recent office develop- ment activity within the area defined as downtown Monticello. The majority of office users will continue to be primarily professional service businesses serving the Monticello community as this area is projected to grow rapidly during the next ten to fifteen years. There will also be demand from business-to-business service users whose client base may or may not be local. Some users could, in fact, have much larger client bases with a majority of their customers served through telecommunications. The presence of TDS in downtown and the technology available in their system could be a great benefit • to these users. Potential office users for downtown Monticello include medical and dental professionals (these users sometimes utilize retail-type space), telecommunications services, printing/graphics, consulting professionals (real estate, finance, insurance, legal, accounting, design and public relations, among others). These types of users should be encouraged to locate in down- town; their presence not only supports the office market, but also enhances retail business. During the next three years, Monticello is projected to be able to absorb between 10,000 and 12,000 square feet of office space, with another 2,000 to 3,000 square feet being absorbed each year for the next five years (excluding large single users). It is less important for offices users to be concentrated in a defined area than for retail users. However, it is desirable to target office users to downtown to create greater intensity of development and increase the level of activity throughout the day. The development of office uses in upper levels of buildings on Broadway or nearer the river is desirable; office uses devel- oped along Walnut Street, south of Broadway, also conforms to the plan and enhances the function of downtown. The mix of retail and office uses is critical. While we cannot predict the exact percentage of each, diversity of use within each building will yield a down- town with the greatest amount of life and vitality. In addition, a successful downtown will always have some degree of physical change present. To the • degree buildings can be created to be flexible for different uses, we begin to A New Bridge Revttaltdng Monticello's Downtown and Rlverfront - Page 3:3