City leaders are brainstorming how best to push downtown Coos Bay to the next level.
Downtown business owners and city officials filled Black Market Gourmet Thursday night for Coos Bay Downtown Association’s annual meeting, this year dubbed “Celebrate Downtown.”
Katherine Hayes, Main Street manager, said one of downtown’s biggest challenges is the huge spaces in its buildings.
“It makes it hard for a new business to try to finance those huge spaces while at the same time trying to build their base,” she said.
This year, Hayes wants to launch a retail incubator similar to the manufacturing incubator at the airport. That way, the downtown association can break down one of the building’s “huge spaces” — where rent would typically run around $6,000 a month — into smaller, more manageable spaces.
Attendees had a chance to voice what they want to see fill downtown’s vacant buildings. They stuck dots next to business ideas for the BNT Building, Bugge Bank, 294 Central Ave., the open space at Central Avenue and Third Street, and 147 Broadway.
“A lot of people talk about what these buildings used to be, rather than what they wish we had,” she said.
The most popular ideas were an event center, restaurant, gift shop, coffee shop, outdoor events, dog park and a bakery. These will influence the association’s recruitment strategy, Hayes said.
Coos Bay does not have industrial land, said Coos Bay Mayor Crystal Shoji.
“Downtown is what we have and we want it to be the best it can be,” she said. “Commercial land is our biggest tax base.”
The city’s downtown urban renewal district spreads over a large section of Coos Bay, from the north city limits on U.S. Highway 101 down to Bunker Hill and from South Eighth Street over the bay to Eastside.
But for now, the downtown association is focusing on the Marshfield district, which encompasses Market Avenue to Curtis Avenue and Bayshore Drive to North Fifth Street.
Every business wants to locate on U.S. Highway 101, Hayes said, but the downtown association’s mission should be to bring people off the 101 and into the city.
Shoji said the city can help further the downtown association’s efforts with solid, qualified staff.
“We don’t do everything right and we don’t get every detail right, but we don’t have a lot of unethical people,” Shoji said. “Think about this: Your mayor doesn’t get picked up like Toronto Mayor Rob Ford for crack cocaine. I may not be as exciting as other mayors, but I do have some virtues.”
In 2014, the association plans to launch a new logo, as well as improve its relationships and partnerships with businesses and organizations and create an increased volunteer base.
“There’s a lot of value in a downtown,” Hayes said. “We can’t just let it sit there and not be active. It has to thrive.
Originally Published in Coos Bay World
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