Pat Doran would like to see downtown Topeka become the site of an organic grocery store, so people who live there wouldn’t have to go elsewhere for food.
But no one will open such a store there unless they’re convinced it will be profitable, he said.
That’s one reason a work group co-chaired by Doran and Frank Henderson has been working to create a marketing study for downtown Topeka, the Kansas riverfront and North Topeka’s NOTO district, while planning to later develop a master plan for that area.
“What we’re finding is that developers want a certain amount of information before they’ll invest, so the research is really important,” Michelle Cuevas-Stubblefield said.
Doran, Henderson and Cuevas-Stubblefield are among 27 members of the Downtown/NOTO Work Group for Momentum 2022, a five-year campaign begun last year to address a range of factors that influence this community’s competitiveness.
The group is discussing strategies to develop and energize a dynamic “Downtown Regional Core” consisting of downtown Topeka, North Topeka’s NOTO district and the riverfront.
(Read more: Local – The Topeka Capital-Journal)