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A=COM Downtown Retail Strategy - Traverse City, Michigan AECOM Economics was engaged by the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) to conduct a real estate market analysis of downtown Traverse City, evaluating current trends regarding retail, residential and once development in the downtown business district. The approach included an examination of local demographics, including an analysis of migration patterns since 1997. This region included the city of Traverse City with about 15,000 residents as well as a larger five- county trade area that encompassed 154,000 residents. The local and regional retail market was also evaluated, focusing on a downtown inventory of about 450,000 sq. ft., and a regional retail inventory of about 4 million sq. ft. Vacancy and lease rate data was collected and compared with national retail industry trends. Similar approaches were followed for the office market, which saw growth of about 350,000 sq. ft. of new space since 1997, and the downtown residential market, which grew by 200 units in the same period. Several critical findings for downtown Traverse City were identified, including concerns about store performance in relation to rent levels, as well as speculation, which has driven up prices for downtown buildings above levels supported by commercial and office rents. Core recommendations focused on ways to expand evening events to boost pedestrian traffic in the evenings, and on the formation of a non -profit entity to facilitate downtown reinvestment and land assembly.