How can downtown attract more visitors? Bring the old Bradenton back, analyst says
Transforming downtown Bradenton into a vibrant and diverse recreational center is going to take some big ideas, and city officials are ready to use new ideas as a launching pad.
Realize Bradenton partnered with Kennedy Smith, an expert in the field of commercial revitalization and co-founder of the CLUE Group, to conduct a study on how “to make the historic heart of Bradenton more economically prosperous and vibrant.”
Smith’s project kicked off in November but was cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic. In the meantime, however, she came up with recommendations that could boost Bradenton’s reputation as an entertainment center.
After a series of interviews and her own observations, Smith’s guidance was clear: turn Bradenton back into what it once was.
“I think you begin to see the main point people were saying is that we need a wider variety of things and more things to do in the downtown core,” Smith said, presenting her recommendations on a Zoom call May 7.
In order to improve the experience in downtown Bradenton, business owners and city officials need to consider encouraging a better mix of uses. Old Main Street’s number of bars is one factor, but a bigger problem is the loss of continuous storefront space, according to Smith.
Historic photos reveal an array of business and gathering spaces in downtown Bradenton that don’t exist anymore. Those losses have had an effect on Bradenton’s downtown.
“Because of demolitions and new construction over the past couple of decades, downtown Bradenton has lost some of its connective tissue that it would have had 30, 40 years ago with rows of contiguous storefront spaces, and it really needs those back,” Smith said.
“There are some pretty big stretches in downtown Bradenton where there’s just a vacant lot or a blank facade, things that kind of break up that contiguity and make it difficult to understand as a shopping district,” she added.
The city of Bradenton’s parking garage could be a place to realize that vision. The small retail storefronts along Old Main Street are a prime opportunity for introducing creative ideas in a connected stretch in order to attract visitors.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity to place the kinds of business that you think might work well in downtown Bradenton, for example looking at those creative industries,” Smith said, suggesting that Bradenton City Council could allow entrepreneurs with unique ideas to use those units with free or subsidized rent before they move to a permanent location.
Some of Smith’s other ideas include using the city’s Municipal Auditorium as a performing space, forming a non-governmental organization focused on developing the downtown area and encouraging more residents in the downtown core area. Because the study was interrupted by COVID-19, Smith will keep monitoring the Bradenton area and tweak her recommendations for the next few months.
Smith’s study was funded by a $30,000 grant, according to Johnette Isham, executive director of Realize Bradenton.
“We are grateful for the funding from the Knight Donor Advised Fund at the Manatee Community Foundation and the coordinating partners: City of Bradenton, Manatee Chamber of Commerce and Realize Bradenton,” Isham said.
This story was originally published May 12, 2020 at 9:54 AM.
