Speaking about the growing trend of people moving into downtown areas of cities (including London, KY), Becky Shipp states: "It’s also an environmental movement as well — making use of existing resources.”
Read the rest of the article from the London Sentinel-Echo below:
Simple Living
By Tara Kaprowy
Staff Writer
Published: March 11, 2008 08:15 pm
When Warren Scoville bought the old building next to his Main Street law office in 1996, he only had convenience for his clients in mind. His goal was to raze the dilapidated two-story to create seven sparkling parking spaces.
“It was in such horrible shape,” he said of the building. “The ceiling tiles were pea green and had those old-fashioned wires with a light bulb at the end. The roof leaked like a sieve and when I took the windows out all the plaster came off.”
But upon closer inspection, Scoville realized the building was structurally sound and had one aesthetically-pleasing characteristic. Underneath the dropped ceiling, he found tin tiles stamped with Art Deco designs.
“I liked that ceiling so much I said, ‘You know what I’m going to do? I’m going to make me an apartment up here,’” he said.
At the time, Scoville was living in Lexington, returning to London to run his practice during the week.
He got to work on the project immediately and, six months later, had his home away from home.
Ten years after Scoville carved his apartment out of the rundown building, converting downtown edifices into stylish living spaces has gotten popular.
“It is happening everywhere — east, west, south, Midwest, small towns, big cities and everything in between,” said Donovan Rypkema, principal of PlaceEconomics, at a recent Kentucky Heritage Council seminar. “Today it is rare that I ever go into a downtown where there isn’t at least talk about a downtown housing initiative.”
To prove the point, Rypkema cited a study put together by the Brookings Institution, Fannie Mae Foundation and the University of Pennsylvania, which looked at the demographics of 24 American cities.
“In six cities, the overall population of the city declined but the downtown population increased,” he said. “In 12 of the cities, there were population increases both in the downtown and the city overall. But in 75 percent of those cases, the downtown grew faster than did the city.”
The reason for the growth?
Rypkema credited three population demographics: baby boomers, 20-somethings and singles.
Rypkema said people who are single own one-third of the households in the United States and are “strong components of the downtown market.”
Of the 20-somethings, Rypkema said the hip factor is what attracts them.
“They want the ‘urban cool’ even if their urbanity is a town of 5,000 people,” he said. “And urban cool, at whatever scale, happens downtown.”
Baby boomers are often using their downtown living spaces in the same way Scoville did — as a second home, Rypkema said.
“(They are) the relatively affluent older couple, who maybe want to spend their summers on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, but keep their home in their hometown Kentucky,” he said.
And “hometown Kentucky” is seeing changes just like the rest of the country.
“In Covington, Lexington, Louisville, there is already lots of loft living in adaptive use facilities and even new facilities being built,” said Becky Shipp, program manager with the Kentucky Heritage Council.
Shipp credits Kentucky’s downtown housing growth to several factors.
“It may be an affordability issue, it may be a boomer issue,” she said. “We’re seeing it as the younger professional interested in something avant-garde. Baby boomers, empty nesters may not necessarily want to mow grass anymore. Some would be very interested in the historical character of the buildings. It’s also an environmental movement as well — making use of existing resources.”
Whatever the reasons, the Heritage Council would like to see more growth. This year it has asked its Main Street towns to do an assessment of their downtown living spaces.
“We’re collecting current data,” Shipp explained. “It’s an assessment of what kind of residential space there is, if it’s upper floor or stand alone, if it’s an after use building, what is the rent, what is the cost of the building.”
In addition, the Heritage Council is focusing its training sessions on downtown living, with tours of downtown living spaces planned in various regions of the state. One such tour will be in London, whose Renaissance District encompasses about 30 homes and six upper story apartments.
London Downtown Executive Director Sherri Mosley said the city was chosen to represent its region because of the availability and potential of upper story living.
“I’m excited,” she said. “We have a lot to show off.”
Scoville’s apartment will be part of the tour, and he is happy to endorse his downtown living experience.
“I loved it,” he said. “I was right beside work. I didn’t have to get up so early. Parking downtown at night is a breeze. And it’s extremely quiet. I just loved it down here.”
And while Scoville has since moved to the suburbs and reluctantly put the apartment up for sale, he feels people living downtown is a necessity for its revitalization.
“You can only build downtown if people live downtown,” he said.
Rypkema wholeheartedly agreed.
“If you asked me for a 100 indicators of a healthy downtown I could probably come up with them,” he said. “But if I were limited to one it would be this — people on the street. Independent of any other variable, if there are people on the street a downtown is successful and if there are not it is not. And while we love having the bank and the law firm and the real estate office downtown, they don’t put people on the street. Four things do: retailing, food and beverage, entertainment and housing. And I have come to strongly believe that the first among equals is housing.”
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