HyettPalma
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Featured Project:
Downtown Ogden, UT

The following is an excerpt from the Downtown Ogden Economic Enhancement Strategy, completed by HyettPalma.

This excerpt outlines Downtown’s current situation. In addition, it lays the foundation for the implementation-oriented course of action recommended by HyettPalma to further enhance Downtown Ogden’s economy.

DOWNTOWN OGDEN TODAY

Downtown Ogden is fortunate to be located in a community of many assets. These include, but are in no way limited to, the City’s exciting history, beautiful natural setting, good location, cultural diversity, family-oriented culture, and ethic of volunteerism.

Within this setting, Downtown Ogden stands today as an area that is well-positioned for further enhancement. This is so due to:

• The many impressive organizations — such as Downtown Ogden, the Chamber of Commerce, the Redevelopment Agency, etc. — that are in place, committed to Downtown’s brighter future, and ready to move forward together in creating that future;
• The strong support of the Ogden City Corporation government, which Downtown enjoys;
• The private sector outpouring of interest and support for Downtown, which was evident throughout this project;
• The Downtown special assessment district, which is currently in place and staffed;
• The strong confidence in Downtown expressed on the part of lenders, Ogden City Corporation officials, investors, Weber State University, etc.;
• The considerable improvements already in place — many of which other communities strive for years to create in their Downtowns — such as the Eccles Conference Center, the Egyptian Theater, the Union Station museums, Lindquist Field, the Treehouse Museum, and the 25th Street Historic District; and
• The overall and widely held opinion within the community that “the time is right” for Downtown’s further enhancement.

Therefore, a great deal of investment has already taken place in Downtown, by both the private and public sectors. And, there is a strong foundation on which to build Downtown’s further enhancement — in terms of improvements, organizations, resources, support, and community interest.

At the same time, there are challenges still to be tackled in Downtown. These include:

• The community’s negative self-image concerning Downtown — which stems from comparing Ogden’s Downtown to that of other communities and finding it lacking;
• Downtown’s external image — which is not as positive as it could be, or as positive as the community hopes it to be;
• A level of disinvestment — which has been experienced in terms of both Downtown buildings and businesses;
• A disjointedness within Downtown — derived from the many Downtown assets which have been created but not yet fully connected or leveraged;
• A myriad of well-meaning groups, ideas, and projects — which add up to lack of a single, focussed, and uniformly adopted gameplan for Downtown’s enhancement; and
• A Downtown that is large geographically — which makes it difficult to see results since improvements and investments are spread out, thereby diluting their visual impact.

Another challenge facing Downtown at this time is the Ogden City Mall. It must be said that, in the late 1970s and into the 1980s, bringing an enclosed shopping mall to Downtown was considered one of the ways to save Downtown and its future. And, Ogden’s experience in this regard has been similar to that of other cities where Downtown suburban-style shopping malls were built during that time. In short, enclosed Downtown shopping malls built during that time period have been a mixed-blessing for their Downtowns.

On the positive side, these malls were generally able to attract national chains to Downtowns — chains which probably would not have located in a Downtown without the familiarity of a mall setting and the security of mall management. On the other hand, by their very nature, these malls are inwardly-oriented. This inward-orientation means that the mall’s customers do not generally tend to venture out of the mall to patronize businesses located along Downtown’s sidewalks. Therefore, the public tends to view these malls as “fortresses” that turn their backs on the “outside” businesses located within Downtown.

In Ogden’s case, the mall has broken Downtown’s traditional grid pattern — crafted by Brigham Young — making Washington Boulevard a one-sided “main street.” Businesses on the east side of Washington Boulevard now find themselves isolated and out of the flow of pedestrian traffic.

Without question, Ogden City Mall is a key part of Downtown. And, its future use — and relationship with the rest of Downtown — must be considered as part of the Downtown enhancement strategy.

Therefore, in light of Downtown’s current situation, the challenge now is to move Downtown on to the next level of success. This must be done by:

• Leveraging the considerable improvements already made while dealing with the challenges at hand;
• Creating a single gameplan for Downtown that all involved entities and organizations can rally around and implement in partnership; and
• Focusing actions on the key priorities which will make or break Downtown’s future.

The key priorities which must be addressed in Downtown Ogden are:

• Economic development;
• Safety; and
• Image development.

It cannot be said strongly enough that these three priorities are interrelated and, therefore, must be addressed in tandem.

Finally, the following attitudes are critical if Downtown Ogden is to succeed and meet the community’s vision:

• The past cannot be recreated in Ogden or in any other Downtown — instead, the future must be reinvented; and
• The enhancement effort must be implemented with a greater sense of urgency so that actions are taken and improvements are delivered with greater speed — this is essential since it will result in generating the excitement, confidence, and patronage of local and regional residents and investors.