On September 8, 2009 Buxton hosted a webinar focusing on offering incentives to retailers and restaurants. Following are answers to questions raised during the session.

To hear a recording of the web seminar visit, www.buxton.webex.com. Should you have additional questions in regards to incentives, please email buxton@buxtonco.com.

Q: Are incentives, like the ones mentioned in the webinar, applicable to only attracting big-box retailers and chain retail, or are they also applicable to local, mom-and-pop retailers?

A: During the webinar we specifically included a section on community incentives offered to locally-owned retailers. As we stressed, incentives should be used to achieve community goals.  If retention and expansion of local retailers is a goal, then incentives can be designed for local operations.

Q: Where does funding for incentives come from? During times like these, so many municipalities are having budget cuts so there is no funding for cash incentives such as facade grants.

A: Often incentive funds come from dedicated sources like Redevelopment Agencies or budgets of economic development departments. Remember that there are non-cash incentives often called soft incentives. (See following question.)

Read More Q&A on Using Incentives

By Lisa Hill, Vice President, Buxton

During times of economic uncertainty such as we are experiencing now, it is extremely difficult to keep momentum and move development projects along to completion.  To achieve success today redevelopment agencies are reenergizing the tried and true tactics that worked during good economic times and applying them, but with even more vigor.

The traditional efforts for retail development - assembly of sites, infrastructure improvements, regulation reform, matching retailers to the customer base in the trade area,  understanding the needs of retailers and developers and, of course, aggressive marketing - still apply but they need extraordinary efforts.

Read More on Redevelopment - Moving Retail Projects Forward

A recent article in the Montgomery Advertiser talks about how Autauga County wants to stimulate more retail growth, but has to wait to see if plans for new sewer system are approved. This is just one of the many pieces of infrastructure that retailers look for when finding their next location.

Click here to Read More