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February 3, 2006Shop owners want more access, action in districtUM study to be unveiled next WednesdayTRAVERSE CITY - Downtown gourmet popcorn shop owners Amy and Greg Gembis think Traverse City's Front Street should pop with year-round activity.The couple said the downtown district needs more sponsored events, parking and nightlife to entice locals to shop downtown and at their store, Pop-Kie's. "Anything that can bring business down here," said Greg Gembis. Amy Gembis said she was approached by University of Michigan researchers who surveyed hundreds of downtown merchants, neighborhood residents, community leaders, property owners, tourists and others. Faculty and students from the university studied downtown and its connection to the waterfront. The study and survey results will be released at a 7 p.m. meeting Wednesday at the Hagerty Center. "To me, I think, it's really aesthetically a nice downtown area," said Amy Gembis, but it needs "more downtown action in the evening." Two items in the study stood out to Lawrence Molnar of the university's Ross School of Business. He said survey respondents wanted to see the space between the downtown and the waterfront reserved for public use. "People wanted to be able to use it, enjoy the scenery of the bay and have it available for walking, for events for recreational activities ...," he said. Secondly, the survey showed people want an easier way for pedestrians to cross Grandview Parkway, Molnar said. A movie theater and a full-service grocery store topped the list of businesses respondents said they wished would open downtown. "I think a movie theater would be awesome," said Mary Herzog, owner of the Spirals, purveyor of handbags, jewelry and clothing. University design students will use the results of the survey to shape plans for the downtown and waterfront. Molnar said those ideas should be finished this spring. The city also will use the information to guide a market analysis of retail, housing and office conditions in the downtown. The $40,000 study will be completed by Strategic Edge of Southfield and paid for by the state, local chamber, Downtown Development Authority and Grand Traverse County Economic Development Corp. A retail analysis was last done in 1992 and downtown housing hasn't been studied, said Rob Bacigalupi of the DDA. The analysis will help direct the city and businesses into "where the potential is" downtown, he said.
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