Business and government leaders Friday morning got a glimpse of
a potential evolution for downtown along with ideas to better
market the district and pay for possible improvements.
Business and government leaders Friday morning got a glimpse of a potential evolution for downtown along with ideas to better market the district and pay for possible improvements.
Consultants with Irvine-based RBF Consulting laid out the final pieces of a more-than-year-long process to develop a new strategy plan for downtown before a breakfast crowd at Paine’s Restaurant. The city, Hollister Downtown Association and local businesses put up the $200,000 cost to hire the company.
The presentation focused on economic development ideas and steps toward implementing the proposals.
Consultants talked about such “catalyst projects” as the following: developing the grassy plot at Fourth and San Benito streets into a “Plaza Project” with office space on the upper floors and retail space on the bottom; renovating the Granada Theatre; using the former Broken Wing building – originally the Pendergrass Hotel – as retail on the ground floor and a small hotel in above floors; and redeveloping the cannery area, if it becomes vacant at some point, into a mix of retail and housing.
As a funding source to get improvements done, they focused on a suggestion to start a business-improvement district – a commonly-used organization in other cities that collects a special tax from members. They also directed leaders to examine alternatives for a paid parking system.
Margaret Bulat, an RBF planner, made suggestions relating to marketing such as hiring an economic strategist who’d be independent from Hollister’s current economic development manager, Jeff Pyle.
She recommended support of small-business incubators – which start with hopes of expanding and moving elsewhere later. And she talked about streamlining the permit and licensing process to prevent potential businesses from being turned away.
The consultants also talked some about demographics and made suggestions related to Hollister’s population.
They noted how 33 percent of the city’s people, according to the 2000 census, are under age 18 and said it’s a reason business leaders should do more Internet marketing, such as updating the HDA Web site and using social networking and blogs to better reach that audience.
“You’ve got to tap that resource,” Bulat said.
She also pointed out how most downtown businesses cater only to daytime crowds, which she said leads to “sales-tax” leakage when consumers go to other communities for shopping when they can’t do it here. She contended the problem is compounded because 60 percent of Hollister residents work out of town.
“Most of your businesses in the downtown don’t cater to those commuters,” she said.
One of the marketing strategies in the PowerPoint presentation that gained moans from the audience was a recommendation on a list that leaders look into holding “classic car shows and motorcycle rallies” downtown.
Listeners responded that way because the city’s signature event is the Hollister Motorcycle Rally in July – which attracts tens of thousands of bikers to downtown – while the HDA’s own Street Festival in August is a popular event in its own right that showcases classic cars lined along San Benito Street.
Bulat responded to the crowd by acknowledging she had only known the city used to have a motorcycle rally. Hollister revived the event in July 2007 after canceling it for a year, while rally organizers estimated the 2008 crowd was as big as any in its 11-year history.
