Friday, October 29, 2004
Lakewood, WA is a city of 60,000 with a new town center.
Developers have taken an old mall and "de-malled" it. They gutted the mall, except for a few anchor buildings. They next turned it into an outdoor shopping area. The place is now booming, and other older cities in the Puget Sound region are looking to replicate the model of converting an abandoned business core into a new generator of sales tax revenues.
The Lakewood project is part of a boader national trend: Converting enclosed malls into open-air shopping centers anchored by civic buildings.
Some Background on EDPro Weblog
The purpose of this weblog is to help economic development professionals -- EDPros -- keep up with the changes sweeping our profession. Strap on your goggles. It's a whole new game. There are no experts any more. The only place to learn about economic development is from other EDPros who are doing it.
One other point: the prevaling approach (paradigm, if you like) in economic development is shifting from competition to collaboration. There are a lot of reaasons underlying this shift, but here's the important insight: You, your community, and your region will do better by collaborating and sharing information.
If you are using a news reader, here is the link to syndicate this site:
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Speaking and workshops on Open Source Economic Development
As the idea of Open Source Economic Development starts spreading, more people are asking about it. Visit the I-Open web site to learn more. My colleagues and I are happy to explain the basic concepts in a talk or a workshop. E-mail Susan Alshuler if you'd like to learn more about workshops and speaking.
Background on Ed Morrison
Download some background information on me here.
Demall, overhaul, ‘taj mahal’
