Winter Garden hires firm to support downtown businesses

The city of Winter Garden is working to maintain its small-town charm in historic downtown after the Winter Garden Community Redevelopment Agency unanimously approved hiring a consulting firm to support small local businesses. 

Downtown Winter Garden has experienced “unexpected marketplace forces” since the beginning of the year that have caused concern for residents and business owners. 

Several properties have changed ownership in the past year, including the Edgewater Hotel, portions of the Bond Building, the Khouzam Building, the Exchange Building, the building that houses The Real Estate Collection Offices and others. 

As a result of the change in ownership, some small local businesses have not been given the option to renew their leases, causing concern for many residents. 

Commissioners and city staff have expressed a strong desire to maintain downtown Winter Garden’s small-town charm it has established over the past 30 years. 

The Community Redevelopment Agency approved a three-year contract with Retail Strategies Inc. during the Winter Garden City Commission meeting Thursday, April 23. 

Marc Hutchinson, economic development director for the city, said the contract is a way to further support small local businesses. The company will use data and stakeholder-driven feedback and analytics to formulate a plan and solutions catered to Winter Garden. 

“We want to take a closer look at what can we do more to undergird the small business operator,” Hutchinson said. “We’re wide open to some of the recommendations.”

The company not only will look at west Plant Street and its adjoining streets but also in the east Winter Garden area as the city works to redevelop the area. Hutchinson said east of Dillard Street to State Road 429 is the target area for redevelopment and the extension of Plant Street. 

“There’s much more land there for an opportunity to redevelop, and there’s a design overlay of what east Plant Street should look like, and it will have connectivity to west Plant Street so there should be a continuous sort of identity,” he said. 

The CRA will pay Retail Strategies $50,000 per year with the first year producing actionable policy and incentive recommendations. 

“They’ll take a look at our code, so our design standards, especially in the historic downtown district, and see where are some areas from a regulatory framework standpoint that we can tweak that will be ultimately reinforcing and supportive of the small-town operator, therefore being supportive of the small-town character of our downtown, which has always been the vision,” Hutchinson said. 

Retail Strategies will recommend process improvements, including potential areas to streamline permitting and clear approval timelines as well as recommend digital tools that reduce delays. 

“Together, these changes create a more predictable, business-friendly environment that helps retailers open faster and strengthens downtown investment,” according to agenda documents Retail Strategies provided.

The company also will work with the city to structure incentive programs to address gaps in the market to reward businesses that meet critical community needs. 

The second and third year of the contract will consist of Retail Strategies providing ongoing support with small business recruitment, retention, biannual property-owner roundtables, quarterly progress reporting and access to an online small business training platform for merchants. 

Retail Strategies will conduct a study by not only talking to city officials but also going into the community to meet with key stakeholders, including property owners, business owners and others, about the partnership, the challenges they face and potential opportunities.

Every year, Retail Strategies will conduct a market visit to identify, evaluate and catalog which downtown properties are best suited for adaptive-reuse, backfilling and redevelopment. The team also will identify property that can have a “higher and better use for community impact,” according to agenda documents Retail Strategies provided.

The team will provide a list of businesses that fit Winter Garden, especially as the city looks to redevelop east Plant Street with a desire to recruit more small businesses. 

An electronic survey will be circulated to business owners, property owners, community partners and the general public to give insights to downtown. 

Retail Strategies also will use advanced analytics and proprietary tools to uncover and define the economic potential in Winter Garden based on the result from its market intelligence and the in-market workshop of downtown. 

Every six months, the team will engage with property owners by facilitating a roundtable to hear challenges and opportunities to better recruit and grow businesses in the area. 

Retail Strategies also will have tools and training to help business owners to be “better operators, better entrepreneurs, better decision-makers with real-time market information,” Hutchinson said. 

As new property owners come in and some small businesses not being given allowed the option to renew their leases, many residents are concerned about property owners leaving spaces vacant in downtown Winter Garden for unknown periods of time. 

Hutchinson said Retail Strategies will work with property owners to fill the vacancies by canvasing other communities and areas of businesses that are suitable for the space and a “great fit” for Winter Garden. 

“They’ll help kind of source and mitigate that exact concern of vacant storefronts,” he said. “Then certainly the recruitment will expand into areas where we’re redeveloping. We can kind of help property owners coming in with, ‘Here’s a list of potential candidates that we view as a great fit for Winter Garden. You’re free to sort of explore and vet those to see if it matches your needs.’”

Community Redevelopment Agency member Larry Cappleman said the agency wants there to be an annual review on the effectiveness of Retail Strategies to ensure it is providing new information to the city. 

“This is an excellent follow up to our original plan that we developed back in 1992, and we’ve progressed a long way to this point,” he said. “It’s probably a good opportunity for us to step back and see where we are today and what we can do to continue the progress we’ve seen in the past.”