Katersky’s Disappointment
“Now, you have a great project in Parcel B that will be built at some point. Hopefully, when Parcel B is built, it will bring in… I say ‘hopefully’ because my last conversation with Hal Katersky (former studio head and the designated developer) before I left was about the project. He was explaining his displeasure with the Redevelopment Agency, their vision and what they want to see coming in. It is just not achievable at this time. What is not achievable is getting that higher-end independent retail to come down here because Downtown still is not a retail destination area. Someone is going to have to bite the bullet and be the first big retailer to come down here,” Mr. Handal said.
A Clothes Call
Periodically, a small number of community leaders has remarked about the absence of a department store or major clothing outlet Downtown. The singe exception is Glenn Laiken’s Alandales, featuring fine men’s wear. “I give a lot of credit to Glenn,” said Mr. Handal, “coming in when he did, taking a shot. He has done an admirable job for what he is and where he is. The problem is, the traffic flow is not in Downtown. That is the bottom line. The city has not found a way to bring in retailers who will bring a constant traffic flow into Downtown. It is evident by one fact about the restaurants coming in to town. It’s not so much they are drawing extra business in to town. All they are doing is bastardizing and cannibalizing the restaurants that already are here. What happens is, the pie continues to get divided. The pieces get smaller and smaller and smaller.”
Postscript
If success is their objective, Mr. Handal said community leaders must admit they are facing a single option. “Until the Downtown Business Assn. and Redevelopment are able to come up with a program to recruit and bring retail into Downtown,” he said, “this is always going to be stuck the way it is right now.”
Next: Mr. Handal, known as a hard-hitting analyst and business tactician when he was a force in Downtown politics and commerce, puts City Hall on the therapist’s couch in the second installment.
