FloridaFuture
August 30th, 2007, 12:35 AM
Gaslight Square preferred choice for downtown fresh outdoor market
Tampa Bay Business Journal - 7:51 AM EDT Wednesday, August 29, 2007by Michael Hinman
It might be hard to imagine going downtown for the freshest fruits and vegetables, but an idea being pondered by two civic groups is getting a strong reception.
More than 600 respondents returned a 10-question survey to the Tampa Downtown Partnership and the Uptown Council over a 24-hour period expressing a desire to add a third fresh market to the county in Tampa's downtown urban core.
"Downtown is a great place," said Abbey Dohring, a broker and vice president with The Dohring Group who also is president of the Uptown Council. "There's nowhere else you can walk out of your office and run into people that you have been meaning to call or hoping to do business with."
Of the respondents who already shared their opinion, 60 percent feel Lykes Gaslight Square on Kennedy Boulevard would be the perfect place to host an outdoor market. Nearly as many thought that a weekday would be better than a traditional weekend as well, Dohring said.
An outdoor market might attract more people to downtown, an added boost for the area, Dohring said. Just 10 percent of the responses were from people who were already living downtown, and while the rest were from the commercial side, nearly 130 of the responses came from people who don't live or work downtown.
"People would travel to get downtown, and that's good news for us," Dohring said.
The Uptown Council is a civic group looking at specific parts of Tampa's downtown, including the Franklin Street area.
http://tampabay.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2007/08/27/daily22.html?surround=lfn
Tampa Bay Business Journal - 7:51 AM EDT Wednesday, August 29, 2007by Michael Hinman
It might be hard to imagine going downtown for the freshest fruits and vegetables, but an idea being pondered by two civic groups is getting a strong reception.
More than 600 respondents returned a 10-question survey to the Tampa Downtown Partnership and the Uptown Council over a 24-hour period expressing a desire to add a third fresh market to the county in Tampa's downtown urban core.
"Downtown is a great place," said Abbey Dohring, a broker and vice president with The Dohring Group who also is president of the Uptown Council. "There's nowhere else you can walk out of your office and run into people that you have been meaning to call or hoping to do business with."
Of the respondents who already shared their opinion, 60 percent feel Lykes Gaslight Square on Kennedy Boulevard would be the perfect place to host an outdoor market. Nearly as many thought that a weekday would be better than a traditional weekend as well, Dohring said.
An outdoor market might attract more people to downtown, an added boost for the area, Dohring said. Just 10 percent of the responses were from people who were already living downtown, and while the rest were from the commercial side, nearly 130 of the responses came from people who don't live or work downtown.
"People would travel to get downtown, and that's good news for us," Dohring said.
The Uptown Council is a civic group looking at specific parts of Tampa's downtown, including the Franklin Street area.
http://tampabay.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2007/08/27/daily22.html?surround=lfn