Berks County leaders learn about what it will take to revitalize downtown Reading

Sep. 27—Berks County leaders got a glimpse at what it would take to the revitalize Reading's downtown.

The Berks Alliance hosted a virtual forum on Thursday morning for about 120 people to listen to and ask questions about Reading's downtown-plus plan.

The city hired Stantec Consulting Services for $272,725 to come up with a strategic plan for the downtown.

"This is the right time to be doing this plan," said David Dixon, vice president and principal with Stantec. "The success of a city, of a region, depends on its core downtown."

The downtown revitalization will not be bringing back the past because downtowns do not come back, they restart, Dixon said.

"This is not about putting back a 1950s downtown," he said. "This is about creating a 21st century downtown based on the realities and opportunities that Reading has today."

The city has already done an exceptional job preserving its historical architecture, it has a thriving arts community and a flourishing Latino culture, Dixon said.

"Those are probably the three strongest building blocks any downtown could have," he said. "Then when you can focus all this around a great, not just downtown, but city, region main street, like Penn Street, opportunity is here and knocking at the door."

What remains to be seen is if the city can finally revitalize the downtown.

There are several things the city needs to do to make that happen, Dixon said.

Riverfront as destination

One area the study stated the city needs to capitalize on is turning the riverfront into a destination.

"It's great to have a river and riverfront," Dixon said. "But if it's not amenitized and a place people can and want to be, it's not doing anything for you yet."

Riverfront Park is a nice park, but it could be better, said Paul Veron, project manager for Stantec.

"By adding amenities to it, new trails, thinking about connections into the neighborhood, a new pavilion, a canoe launch and a bandshell," Veron said. "Doing a comprehensive redevelopment plan of the park to really understand moving it forward and making it that destination."

The city's public-private partnership, or P3, was formed to focus on growing the economy downtown and is strong, Dixon said. It does need to be strengthened, he said.

A new downtown group

Stantec recommended the city create a new downtown improvement district. The last one was eliminated by the city at the end of 2020.

One thing a downtown partnership does is sponsor events, get to know business owners and the arts community, understand the needs of the downtown community and then advocate on behalf of the downtown community, Dixon said.

Reading's downtown revitalization will be led by housing stock, Dixon said, and that's not the norm.

Over the past several years, businesses have slowly been transitioning to remote work and the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated that transition. That means there is not a need for office space and Dixon does not anticipate that changing anytime soon.

"We can now grow jobs without growing office space," he said. "However, what really matters to attract these jobs and investment that comes with them is create an amenitized, walkable, fun, unique, authentic place that housing really supports.

"With a strong downtown housing market we have a unique opportunity to unlock, create this type of amenity and attract jobs and investment."

'Learned a lot'

This is not the first time the city has studied a plan to revitalize the downtown. Dixon said the previous studies reinforced what he and his team found.

"We've learned a lot from past studies," Dixon said. "All of them support or are consistent with the conclusions we are talking about now."

The study has paused some development in the downtown, specifically the properties the city owns at Fifth and Penn Street.

The Moran administration rejected the only bid for the properties in June 2020. The administration said to accept the only bid would be irresponsible and it wanted to perform a downtown study to see the best use for the buildings.

The city should exit Act 47, the state program for financially distressed municipalities, next summer and developing those properties is one of the boxes the city should check off.

Center of activity

The Fifth and Penn properties were a focal point of Stantec's presentation.

"This needs to be a place that is a destination and a center of activity," Vernon said.

One design Stantec presented showed the intersection at Fifth and Penn Streets redesigned to be a roundabout and the surrounding area would become a park-like area.

Dixon suggested that in the next 10 years, the city should develop 1,000 to 1,500 market rate apartment units.

"A lot of folks say 'No, we want homeownership,' " Dixon said. "You have to remember that rental housing absorbs. People move in much faster than ownership housing. Downtowns that attract strong rental markets, revive fastest."

The city should develop about 150 hotel rooms in the next five years and another 150 rooms in the following five years, Dixon said.

Retail space should grow 20,000 to 30,000 square feet in the next 10 years.

"Office space is just not the place to look right now," Dixon said. "Except for local institutions. But this is not the era to go out and build speculative office buildings."

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