Middle-aged mall: Gem’ needs a facelift

BOULDER — These folks go to the meetings.

They are city workers, elected officials, property owners and business owners. There’s a banker, a contractor and several architects. They work on the mall and for the mall. They donate time and money.

The Pearl Street Mall is Boulder’s jewel, and everyone should be interested in keeping the area great, say those who care about it. Not only does the mall provide the city with sales-tax revenue, but it gives Boulder an identity.

Charles Zucker, senior urban planner for the city, says people flock here because strolling those four brick-paved, tree-shaded blocks is an experience like nowhere else. “There’s just a small-city feel and a closer feeling here that people really seem to enjoy,” he says. “You know when you’re there.”

But it’s time to re-evaluate. The Pearl Street Mall isn’t the only game in the county anymore, and it needs a fresh look.

No way does the city want to restructure the mall, says Molly Winter, executive director of the city s Downtown Management Commission. “It’s looking at preserving the really good qualities, which there are many,” she explains. No way does the city want to restructure the mall, says Molly Winter, executive director of the city=s Downtown Management Commission. AIt=s looking at preserving the really good qualities, which there are many,@ she explains.

It hasn’t always been that way.

The first lady’AThe first lady@

Some say Virginia Patterson is “the first lady” of the mall.

Her husband, the Rev. A.B. Patterson, an Episcopal priest who many called “Father Pat,” gave the invocation for the mall in 1977. The Pattersons took over The Printed Page Inc. at 1219 Pearl St. about a year later. This was before downtown realized its full potential.

“It was far from being a very interesting, old-fashioned downtown,” Patterson recalls. “It was nothing.”

Now in addition to her bookstore, Patterson works to keep downtown in the forefront of people’s minds as the marketing chairwoman for Downtown Boulder Inc., a non-profit organization that works to preserve the historic environment and promotes the development of downtown Boulder.

“Our goals for this year, in terms of marketing, are to keep downtown Boulder — not just the mall but all of downtown Boulder — in people’s minds and to make this the most hospitable place to shop in the world.”

With help from Richard Polk, who owns Pedestrian Shops, Kevin Weinhoeft of Boulder Marketing Agency and a slew of others, the DBI marketing committee got free ads in local papers and convinced businesses to stay open until 9 p.m. every Friday throughout the summer.

Downtown Boulder Inc.Downtown Boulder Inc.

Marilyn Haas brings several years of retail experience to her job as executive director of Downtown Boulder Inc. She’s optimistic and anxious about the redesign. She also hopes businesses in the area will support a proposed Business Improvement District, which will provide more money for the mall’s upkeep and marketing. (See related story on page 7B.)

DBI members foot the bill for marketing downtown through their dues and sponsored events. DBI’s marketing budget is about $20,000 per year, which doesn’t go very far. And that’s why Renae Foxhoven is such an asset. She pounds the pavement, passing out posters to promote concerts and art shows on the mall.

Foxhoven left her job in Lakewood as promotions director for the Peak 96.5 FM radio station three years ago and has been working as DBI’s events coordinator ever since.

“I wanted to be back in Boulder,” she says. “I feel a huge commitment to the gem that we have here in Boulder. I really feel like we’re lucky to have this, and I want to do whatever I can to keep it going.

“To have somewhere in town where you can come to, and take friends and neighbors, see entertainment, get a great meal, do a little shopping and enjoy the great outdoors all in one, I think it’s just really special.”

The appointedThe appointed

Phil Shull thinks so, too.

He lives downtown, owns a business downtown and, as owner of Denueve Construction, has worked on several properties downtown.

He wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I’ve gone to international downtown association shows, and I study downtowns wherever I travel,” Shull says. “I only try to stay in downtowns.”

Shull is well-versed in malls. Former Mayor Bob Greenlee appointed Shull to be chairman of the Boulder Urban Renewal Authority (BURA), which works to redevelop economically disadvantaged areas of the city such as Crossroads Mall.

About this time last year, BURA was wrapping up results from Crossroads Community Consortiums, where people talked about what they wanted for the enclosed shopping center. Little has come to pass since then — except a drastically scaled down version of what was discussed.

But downtown is different. Business owners there are proactive, Shull says.

“The group of property owners and merchants and people who care about downtown has a completely different kind of perseverance and willpower than what was the case with Crossroads. Secondly, we’re dealing with something that’s already successful, and we don’t have to overcome inertia.”

The bankerThe banker

One of the many changes to downtown is the addition of several national outlet stores. There’s Banana Republic, The Body Shop, Starbucks Coffee, and The Cheesecake Factory is soon to be completed.

They’re all popular and bring in sales tax, but Jake Puzio, president of Colorado Community First National Bank and chairman of the city’s downtown commission, is concerned about national outlets taking over. “My personal jury is still out there on that one,” Puzio says. “If all we have in the mall is nothing but national firms, why would you want to come shop here vs. shopping at Crossroads or FlatIron Crossing? The mall has a really unique flavor, and I’m concerned that we keep that unique flavor.”

Puzio isn’t the only one thinking that way. The local/national debate is an issue nationwide. People in Old Port, a Maine neighborhood of boutiques, coffeehouses and art galleries, took to vandalizing a Starbucks Coffee outlet there and smashed huge custom-made windows five times over a four-week period. Residents there were worried about their local favorites.

The councilmanThe councilman

National stores, however, don’t scare Tom Eldridge. He believes a national presence can help local establishments. As owner of Tom’s Tavern, a diner west of the mall at 1047 Pearl St., Eldridge might be better known for the burgers served there than for his votes in council chambers.

And Eldridge says he isn’t swayed just because he’s part of the business sector.

“People, before I got elected, thought that I was one of these wild-ass conservative businessmen, whatever they are,” he jokes. “I deal with each issue as they come up and try to do what’s best for Boulder. I’m not necessarily guided by what may or may not be the best for downtown or what’s best for the business community.”

The architectThe architect

J Nold Midyette has left his imprint in several areas around the city.

Midyette, along with his partner Don Rieder, have worked on University of Colorado campus buildings and the Boulder Public Library and own several downtown properties. They also brought more parking downtown with a private garage, opening east of the mall in July, that will hold more than 300 cars.

Midyette staked out East Pearl Street some 17 years ago and is excited about the future of the east side. No longer will it be considered the “end” of the mall. It will become the true gateway, he says. Drivers likely take Arapahoe Avenue or Canyon Boulevard to get to the mall, and they will inevitably pass Midyette and Rieder’s or the new city parking garage on east Pearl before they go shopping.

UndauntedUndaunted

Richard Foy, a partner with Communication Arts, one of four architectural firms working on the redesign, is certain that the design team will come up with a plan to please the masses. “We listen carefully to what the issues are,” he says.

So much so that after members of the community scoffed at a proposal for gateways at 11th and 15th streets, Foy’s team scraped the idea. The folks at a June meeting didn’t like the idea of canopies with tentlike structures on top. One person characterized the canopies as “bombastic.”

Now Foy’s team visualizes gateways made of stone bases and black wrought iron shaped in an arch. It might say Downtown Boulder Mall on one side, and West-End or East-End Shops on the other. “Something that creates sort of a welcome feeling and something on the other side that creates a bon voyage feeling,” Foy explains.

Still, there’s lots to accomplish. A final meeting for public input on the mall’s design is scheduled for July 28. After that, a preliminary then a final plan with construction schedules and improvement costs will have to be completed. Then they’ll be more meetings and discussion.

And although construction isn’t expected to begin until 2001, Foy is undaunted and says his vision for the mall isn’t blurred.

“It’s the heart of Boulder and of Boulder County,” he says. “It has the heritage of the past and a promise of a viable future.”

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