1) Encourage the developement of affordable rental housing (at the right price points, new rental housing always fills much faster than for sale housing);

2) Continue step 1 over and over until critical mass is reached (critical mass includes existing housing stock and new ancillary for sale housing);

3) Once you reach the “magic number” the grocery store will appear.

The whole grocery store business is purely driven by demographics. Get the right number of families within the right drive time and it will happen. In the interim, you might be able to get an “off brand” grocery store; but be prepared for it to struggle and fail.

Just to reiterate…the wishlist was a bit of hyperbole, and a bit of single-mindedness over the more nuanced discussions of give and take in downtown money, design, business, etc.

I do stand by the comment that before we worry hard about a convention center or trolley or big boulevard, there might need be a grocer. Just might.

Yet Kris’ comment is very apt, and the most common objection raised on putting anything downtown. It is frustrating, because it is so hard to get businesses to take DT seriously if no one’s there, but for people to move there…gotta have services. Between Midtown, Bricktown, and the Thunderdome…the entertainment is there! Just need some workaday services. And in seriousness, I think Jimmy Johns’ being in the Triangle is that sort of thing.

Grolgar and LarryOKC-I am really intrigued by the ways where we can perhaps incorporate healthy urban elements into an otherwise monolithic structure. I share several people’s concerns that maybe people might not want to live right on or adjacent to a convention center, but for sure storefronts make sense on such a place. Of course there are ways to try and prevent a superblock from happening, but with money being the basic concern behind just about every decision made, and that money is very limited, I remain a bit less hopeful that the CC will be good for downtown’s overall physical geography and culture, though it might (a big might) be good for the city’s coffers, and certainly the developers’.

Thanks so much everyone for your thoughts-keep em coming!

Catch 22: No grocery store because of few downtown residents. Few downtown residents because of no grocery store.