Trending: Walkable Cities

May 22, 2015

Forget driving to the suburbs for food. By 2030, the places downtown residents need to get to on a regular basis will be within walking distance. Downtowns will have more grocery stores, coffee bars and lunch counters for people who live or work in the city, unlike now, when there are no grocery stores. Sarah Reginelli, president at Capitalize Albany Corp., the city’s private nonprofit economic development arm, expects downtowns will not only have food markets for residents, but also more breakfast and lunch counters for professionals working 9-to-5 jobs and coffee bars, wine bars and other venues that appeal to an after-work crowd.

“Downtowns are the focus again,” Reginelli says. “Nationally, people want to be in a downtown setting. Over the decades, we’d seen both residents and businesses flee out to the suburbs. We’re seeing them focus back on downtowns, wanting to be a part of walkable, vibrant downtowns.”

Read the full story in the Albany Business Review here.