Empty storefronts and “For Lease” signs are common sights on Mill Avenue, but those spaces are expected to fill up as the year continues.
Employees of the Downtown Tempe Community, the group that handles marketing, business development and retail upkeep in downtown Tempe, are hopeful the Mill Avenue area will be completely leased within the next few months.
“We have had a lot of increased interests in businesses relocating down here,” said Casaundra Brown, director of marketing and public relations for the Downtown Tempe Community.
The Downtown Tempe Community has received several letters of intent from various businesses for the vacant spots, Brown said.
Because plans are still being finalized, Brown couldn’t say what new businesses are moving to Mill Avenue these next few months, but Business Development Director Jimmy Cerracchio hinted that shoppers could expect a new restaurant to fill a big space as well as a new urban clothing store.
“You’re going to see similar stuff. Restaurants, clothing stores, a lot more boutique-y stuff,” he said. “Just look for a resurgence in the exciting Mill Avenue that we all know. You’re going to see it the way we remembered it — as an exciting place.”
The recent closure of stores like Borders and Z Gallerie have left large retail spaces to fill — spaces that could best be used for “places like grocery stores,” Brown said.
“Those are the hardest to lease out because they’re so big,” she added.
Though the recession has contributed to the surplus of empty space on Mill Avenue, projects like the Centerpoint Condominiums and the Gateway apartment complex have not helped bring in the new businesses as the projects’ investors intended.
“A lot of it was the recession,” said Cerracchio.
Cerracchio referenced the closures of stores and restaurants that “weren’t operating to the best of their ability,” but maintained that the downtown Tempe area has done well overall during the recession.
“For the most part, most of our businesses have stuck around,” he said.
Recent events in the area have started to stir leasing interest back up, Brown said.
“Due to the increased activity we have here from things like the Thursday night farmers market and the Madcap Theaters, a lot of our land owners and brokers have said they’ve seen a lot of interest in [the area],” she said.
That activity has allowed new businesses to open up in recent months, like boutiques Bobby Fresh and Me Phi.
Shannon Randle, manager of Churchill’s Fine Cigars near East Sixth Street and South Mill Avenue, said new retail will bring more foot traffic through the area.
“I think it would bring back the look that we are still vibrant and still relevant when it comes to shopping and entertainment districts in the Valley,” Randle said.
Churchill’s Fine Cigars’ sales have benefitted from the recent opening of Robbie Fox’s Public House, an Irish-themed pub, he said.
Cerracchio said the reason businesses are bouncing back is because people like the atmosphere of downtown Tempe.
“They see pedestrian life, they see many different people hanging out, and that’s why they want to be here,” he said.
The stores and restaurants on Mill Avenue may have changed in recent months, but Brown said she is confident that the spirit of the area has remained the same.
“What we offer in downtown Tempe that others don’t have is that authentic, urban experience,” she said. “We are that very authentic downtown [that] you don’t see in very many places in Arizona.”
Reach the reporter at joseph.schmidt@asu.edu
