Tim Kabat is excited about his new job, and he thinks downtown business owners are excited, as well.
Kabat officially begins his duties Monday, Feb. 8, as executive director of Downtown Mainstreet Inc., a nonprofit organization whose primary mission is downtown redevelopment. He succeeds Bud Miyamoto, who resigned last fall to accept a position with a local construction company.
Kabat previously worked as the Planning and Development Department Administrator for the city of La Crosse. He was born in La Crosse, grew up in Holmen, earned an undergraduate degree at UW-La Crosse and a masters at the University of Illinois. Before landing a job with the city, he held positions in South Bend, Ind., West Palm Beach, Fla., Baraboo and Madison. He is counting on all of those experiences to help him in his new role.
He also is counting on the help of downtown business owners, many of whom he has already met. "I think they are excited," Kabat said. "As with any change, ... people see fresh opportunities. There's a real energy there."
Kabat listed his top priority as getting back to the basics of the Mainstreet program: promotion, design, organization and business assistance. He will work closely with groups such as the DMI Special Promotions Committee, and sees opportunities not only to build on successful events such as the Spring Fling, Historic Downtown Day and others, but also to "hopefully add some things to celebrate the great downtown that we have."
Kabat plans to spend time going around downtown, meeting people and building relationships, gathering information and reaching out for ideas and solutions. He encourages business owners and residents "to give me their 2 cents worth" about the downtown. "There are a lot of ideas out there," he said. "People really are passionate about downtown."
Kabat recently sat down with Second Supper and discussed a variety of downtown issues. Here are brief summaries of some of his comments:
All those vacant buildings
It has been five years — and a recession — since the city's most recent analysis of the downtown retail market, and an update is needed to help better understand the business community's needs, Kabat said.
The growing number of vacancies is obvious, however, and Kabat plans to explore new ways to develop the downtown retail opportunities. He said, for example, he hoped to raise awareness of assistance programs put in place by the city to help building owners downtown.
He also plans to be involved in a potential program proposed by Mayor Matt Harter to create rent subsidies for businesses. Kabat said the mayor's proposal, still being refined by city officials, could "help those situations where a project is very close" and just needs a financial break to get started or to succeed.
One of the challenges in filling the downtown vacancies, Kabat noted, was that many of them are large spaces; too large for owners considering, for example, a leap from home office to storefront.
"Over time, I'd like to work with building owners to create smaller spaces," he said.
A retail business incubator program also has been talked about and might need to be explored further, he said, noting that the small retailers' already difficult road to success has been made even more difficult by the struggling economy.
Parking ramps and the two-hour shuffle
As a member of the city's Parking Advisory Committee, Kabat expects to be deeply involved in and active regarding parking issues affecting downtown. "The supply is there," he says. "The issue is how do we get the folks who work downtown to park in the ramps."
He wants to work closely with city on efforts to promote the free parking opportunities and to ensure ramps are kept clean, well lit and safe.
He said the city has made some made some progress in recent years, citing unlimited Saturday parking and striping on key streets to better identify parking areas.
While many downtown business owners complain about the vigilance of the city's parking officers, Kabat said it is important to ensure street spaces are available for customers and to discourage employees, or even owners, from doing the "two-hour shuffle."
The marketing of downtown
Kabat would like to see the downtown develop even more as a destination for dining, including the addition of ethnic restaurants. "We have a mix of high quality restaurants," he said. "We hope that is something that continues." He also foresees DMI working to further that image through joint marketing with restaurants on projects such as a downtown dining week, for example.
Downtown holds opportunities for other businesses as well, he said. With La Crosse residents and visitors likely to enjoy the "gorgeous outdoors" we enjoy, he sees Three Rivers Outdoors as a shining example of businesses that can serve those customers. "Related types of businesses, too, such as rentals, etc., also can take advantage of our great outdoors," he said.
Like the 2004 downtown study, a new study would likely show other opportunities. Kabat noted that the 2004 study saw a need for a higher end kitchen store and children's clothing store, both of which have since opened on Main Street.
Who can afford to live downtown?
With the number of condos being developed or planned for the downtown area, as well as mixed use projects such as the transit center, Kabat sees downtown as an emerging neighborhood that over the next several years will attract all types of residents, but especially empty nesters and young professionals. With growing businesses such as Logistics Health Inc. and Kaplan providing jobs downtown, he sees a corresponding residential growth that will take advantage of current and future vacancies.
However, affordability will be a critical issue, he agreed. He said he would try to work with government officials and individual building owners to develop a good mix of rental rates to help ensure a good variety of residents can afford to enjoy the benefits of living downtown.
Those rowdy late-night crowds
One of the obstacles to developing downtown as a neighborhood is the late-night noise, drinking and accompanying problems created by thousands of young people enjoying the downtown bar scene. For area residents, the partying can detract from the quality of life downtown. While there is no easy solution to handling those kinds of issues, Kabat said he was looking forward to building a relationship with the tavern league to discuss perceptions, issues and solutions.
Where's the money?
Behind the scenes, "one of the challenges will be finding a permanent source of funding" for DMI over the next several years, Kabat said. Possibilities include development of a business improvement district, special assessments and others. As a nonprofit organization, DMI relies on its membership and a "strong partnership with the public sector (city, county)" for its funding.
DMI is overseen by a board of directors representing major employers, merchants and other downtown stakeholders.
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