Changes coming to downtown Logan
Now that Logan City has hired its first downtown manager to orchestrate the future growth and revitalization of the area, the doors will start to open to a new community.
Gene Needham, president of the Logan Downtown Alliance (LDA), introduced Logan’s downtown manager, Bob Marcolese, to the Logan Municipal Council at its meeting Wednesday night.
“Our downtown is definitely looking uptown to say the least,” Needham said.
Hiring Marcolese is a historic event and a step in the right direction for Logan, he said.
“When the downtown improves, magic happens,” Marcolese said. “To revitalize downtown, the purpose is to give the locals a place to hang out, the tourists a place to visit and the students a place to look forward to — a change when they come back to school.”
An improved downtown area will be a boon to the entire community by providing a source of pride and identity, Marcolese said.
“If you have a vibrant, happening downtown, that’s major industry,” he said.
The LDA is committed to revitalizing downtown Logan. It is participating in a national program to assist in the project, Marcolese said.
As part of the national program, he will attend a major convention this May in Cincinnati, where all of the local downtown agencies from across the country will participate in a think tank.
The LDA is well equipped to initiate change to the downtown area, Marcolese said. There are four committees set up to focus on different areas of the revitalization project.
“It’s a clean focus. You’re talking about building businesses and making everything look great. You’re looking at promoting what looks great in all of the businesses that are here and the organization committee is handling all the expenses, the funds, the administrative part,” he said. “Those four entities are all you need for a downtown.”
After years of big-box stores building in Cache Valley, urban sprawl has inevitably occurred. This has caused a natural pull on downtown businesses and forced them to hang on to dear life to stay in business, Marcolese said.
While many big-box stores are taking away business from the downtown area, Marcolese said, there are still multiple stores, such as S.E. Needham Jewelers and Anderson’s Seed and Garden that bring shoppers downtown.
“If you want a suit you can go downtown to the Kater Shop or Leven’s,” Marcolese said. “But unless you really love them and trust them, there is always Dillards, who has a suit hanging up in the mall. So there’s no reason anymore for the people to come downtown.”
Marcolese said the committees, made up of individuals from both the professional and retail sector, will identify areas of change. He will then need to execute their decisions.
One of the main goals of the LDA will be to bring people downtown again.
“Logan downtown has become event driven. It is not socially driven and what that means is that we have Summerfest downtown, we have the sidewalk sales and we’ve got the Christmas promotion downtown,” Marcolese said. “But there is nothing that on a Saturday night or a Friday night makes you want to come downtown. That is what, number one, has got to change.”
The first thing that can be done to attract more people downtown is to provide exciting new restaurants to complement the ones that already exist, he said.
“We’re not looking to take away from the restaurants. The restaurants we have now are good,” Marcolese said. “These restaurants could be consisting of outdoor cafés or unique dining that is indigenous to Utah, but not a chain restaurant.”
Mimi’s Café, Rodizio Grill and specialty restaurants like Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse are examples of what he’d like to see in downtown Logan.
“It could even go as far as to even entertain the idea of a microbrewery,” Marcolese said. “You need to provide diversity for locals and tourists alike.”
As the former manager of Ruby Tuesday in Logan, Marcolese said he knows the pros and cons behind having a restaurant like a microbrewery in the community.
“People go in mostly for food,” he said. “You want a reason for people to come. People come to a downtown because of food.”
Logan needs to provide a great ambiance downtown and do unique things to change the area physically, he said.
He would like to see desirable, anchored and architecturally compatible chain stores, such as Pier 1 Imports, Restoration Hardware, Crate and Barrel, The Pottery Barn and Williams-Sonoma.
“These could be businesses that could be invited downtown, but would not compete with what’s already downtown,” Marcolese said. “We’re in the process of inviting them.”
Entertainment is another reason people would want to go downtown. He envisions street festivals comparable to the San Gennaro festival in New York City’s Little Italy.
Marcolese also hopes to improve the Cache Valley 3 theaters.
He has also thought of the possibility of blocking off 100 North and creating a pedestrian mall.
While Marcolese has a strong vision of what he’d like downtown to become in the future, he said the city is taking baby steps to achieve its goals.
A survey will be distributed soon to thousands of Logan residents, asking what they would like to see.
“You will start to see streets and sidewalks will be cleaner. You will start to see a new, vibrant downtown campaign with a brand-new logo that really emphasizes taking the down out of downtown,” Marcolese said.
Logan residents could realistically expect to see measurable change in the downtown area each year from now on, he said.
“Even though between vision and realism, time will be the true test,” he said.
The city is going to physically change the area from 100 to 200 North in the next two years.
For the time being, Marcolese plans to open doors to new business and a revitalized downtown area, but also open doors for downtown shoppers.
“Like the restaurant I operated, people used to see me open up the front doors and greeting them,” he said. “As I walk on the streets and visit the merchants, as I see customers entering those businesses, I plan to open the doors and thank them for shopping downtown.”
–str@cc.usu.edu