Uptown residents and business owners have long wondered how the Uptown area became what it is today-- a vast block of empty business locations and older homes where many of Greensboro's poorest working class residents live. The Executive Summary of the Tabb Report:
"East Greensboro is a vibrant community with a strategic proximity to Downtown Greensboro and a major source of employment, education and African American history. While the community has managed to sustain itself over the past few years of economic decline, it has compiled a series of issues that will challenge the area over the next decade. The primary concern are high poverty rates, low median household income rates, declining home ownership levels and prices, and the below average performance of public schools.
These are conditions that cannot be ignored and have set the foundation for the area’s lack of retail and service amenities. E. Lee Street’s highest daytime population (57,175) is offset by the fact it also has the lowest number of households and household incomes. These two points greatly hinder East Greensboro’s
attractiveness to retailers. Understanding what drives these low household numbers is the key to finding the solutions. In order to increase the presence of services and retail, the number of households must increase and the income levels within those households must increase. This means a focus on jobs, schools and the quality of housing stock. Household median income projections are a very important part in determining consumer expenditure projections. Researchers have determined that people spend a set percentage of their income on retail purchases; therefore, the higher your median income level, the higher the consumer demand is projected to be.
A review of the demand projections for Greensboro shows that only E. Lee St. and Burlington have lower projected consumer demands than E. Market, and all three are in the East Greensboro study area. On the other side of this issue is expenditures. Only Wendover, Lawndale and Green Valley have higher actual sales
than East Greensboro. Lowest demand, yet highest sales? This is a contradiction that would often be explained by the presence of quality retailers that are the beneficiary of other areas retail expenditures (the recipient of leakage). Clearly this is not the case in East Greensboro. So why does this contradiction exist? Three reasons:
1. the residents of East Greensboro spend a disproportionate portion of their income.
2. the research is simply wrong. Lower income areas spend more than researchers believe and there are many more residents in the trade area than researchers account for.
3. Transportation from the study area to other trade areas is very difficult, meaning more dollars stay in the trade area.
Our recommendations for improving parity in the study area are based upon the ability to address four major points:
1. the number of households in the study area
2. the household median incomes in the study area
3. road access in the study area
4. increased support for the public schools in the study area
Ultimately, the goal is to see household incomes in the area grow to the point that there begins to be an increase in the projected Consumer Expenditures. To accomplish this goal, we addressed the study area in four separate opportunity gateways.
First, University Gateway, anchored by Bennett College, North Carolina A&T and the United House of Prayer, including a modified traffic pattern along E. Market and Friendly Blvd, and creating a signature gateway into the Downtown; a new select service or boutique hotel on the current bus depot site and incorporated into the surrounding adaptive reuse projects located off Murrow Blvd.; a new mixed use retail and destination venue located on the site of the former post office.
Second, Gateway Gardens, anchored by the Gateway University Research Park and the Hayes Taylor YMCA, including a new mixed use retail and residential project along the E. Lee Street corridor from I - 40/85 to E. Florida Avenue; incorporating the new Hayes Taylor YMCA, Barber Park, Gateway Park and new athletic facilities, greenspace and trails into Greensboro’s finest recreational area.
The third, Gillespie Gateway, anchored by Gillespie Golf Course and Gillespie Elementary, including an updated golf course and tennis park that anchors a new charter elementary school at Gillespie Gateway Elementary and the redevelopment of Ray Warren Homes on E. Lee Street in a manner similar to Willow Oaks.
The fourth, Summit Gateway, anchored North East Plaza (Compare Foods) and Summit Shopping Center (Maxway) retailers should including the expansion of North East Plaza through the assemblage of adjacent property to add an additional anchor tenant."
As you can see, the study takes in much more than Uptown Greensboro and resistance from Greensboro's more well off, western residents is already high. Downtown resistance is lower as Downtown residents and business owners fear a spill over effect of the problems that haunt East Greensboro. If and when the necessary changes take place are anyone's guess.
To be continued...
