What do you Wish for the retail space at LaSalle Hotel?

For Immediate Release:

> October 23, 2013: With the announcement of the conversion of the former LaSalle Hotel to apartment units, attention turns to the retail space available on the ground floors. Through the "I Wish This Was" project community members have had the opportunity to share their ideas for what they'd like to see in DTSB at this location. Contributing ideas through stickers on the windows of the LaSalle Hotel building, people have highlighted their wishes for shops, restaurants and services. Some of these wishes include; a gym, arts & crafts store, children's center, record/music store, coffeehouse, nail/hair salon, pharmacy and more.




>The "I Wish This Was" sticker campaign is a low cost platform for community engagement with an online tool for broader discussion. Stickers provide a forum for all people to share their ideas for vacant businesses on the spot. Community members are encouraged to share their contact information at wishsb.blogspot.com if they are interested in further discussing their ideas through focus groups. These groups will categorize and flesh out ideas to identify needs expressed by participants and organize them for developers/ entrepreneurs. In addition, wishes will be shared with current DTSB  business owners to determine if these needs can be met within existing stores, restaurants or programs. In conjunction with the Code For America fellows, the CityVoice technology also offers a phone-in alternative for those wishing to share more detailed thoughts or respond to others' ideas. (wishsb.com)

The primary goal of this program is to give  a voice to community members not often invited to the table to discuss revitalization efforts downtown and plant the seeds for further empowerment and ownership of development planning. In addition to the former LaSalle Hotel, Targeted properties currently include the Brazy building, Center City Plaza and Jefferson Center. For more information see wishsb.blogspot.com or contact Mara Trionfero at mara.trionfero@thestatesb.com.
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The State, South Bend
214 1/2 S. Michigan St.
South Bend, IN 46601

JOIN THE CONVERSATION!

I love the way people are entering into discussion about the wishes for DTSB through the stickers!  If you look closely above, you can see the comments letting people know that there IS a card shop next door, that there IS a tattoo parlor downtown and the name of WHO to contact about a record store.  This is what the Wish project is about, dialogue and equal access for participation.  It goes beyond the stickers though... All of the ideas will be categorized and we'd like to hold informal meetings/ focus groups for the categories to flesh out ideas a little more before we bring them to entrepreneurs and developers.  If you're interested in sitting in on one of these discussions, please share your email and we'll contact you by the end of November.  Also remember, you can offer lengthier thoughts through the Cityvoice option (wishsb.com) or here in the comments of this blog.  Get engaged and keep the wishes coming!

Call in your Wishes!!

Good news to those of you wishing for something particular from afar... there's a call-in option for the I Wish This Was project.  Thanks to our friendly Code for America Fellows, you can go over to wishsb.com, click on a property to get its code and share your ideas over the phone.  Even better, you'll get to hear others' ideas!
We've got stickers up on the former LaSalle Hotel storefronts, Brazy building between CJ's and Back Stage Grill, Jefferson Center next to SB Choc Co and Center Plaza next to the DTSB offices-
Think about what you wish was there...  stop by to add it to the posted stickers or call it in today from the convenience of wherever you are ;)  Stay tuned for an update on the ideas we've heard so far!

The Brazy Building

Looking forward to seeing what ideas people have to share in these lovely windows!

I Wish This Was sticker campaign- Updates!

We're so excited to see the energy for this campaign and the great press we had this past week.  In case you missed it, the project was featured by Heidi Prescott in the South Bend Tribune on Tuesday-
Which idea will stick? (Mayor Pete even tweeted the article as a great example of Tactical Urbanism!) Then Fox 28 did a story that evening: project-encourages-sb-to-share-ideas-for-revitalizing-downtown, and WSBT visited the following day :downtown-stickers-ask-for-empty-storefront-ideas.
As each story was shared around the interwebs, we got some great discussion and ideas from folks that we'll post here in a few days.  We also had an awesome meeting with DTSB on next steps for the project.  Look forward to seeing stickers on additional buildings within the next few weeks.

To summarize what the stickers have told us so far- a lot of folks seem to want a pharmacy/drug store of some variety downtown.  There were also a lot of votes for a vegetarian/ vegan restaurant.  Several stickers also noted that they were looking for something 'vintage' or 'old-fashioned' as retro seems to be hip these days- an old fashioned soda shop, pharmacy, vintage clothing, record store, barber shop and others specifically included some sort of qualification that it be 'old school'.

Stay tuned for updates and add your voice to the mix in the comments on any of the pages/ sites included here at the blog.  Keep wishing and we'll keep advocating for all voices to be heard as part of the discussion of downtown South Bend's revitalization.

Enjoy your 'NO' Labor day!!

214 S. Michigan- Vacant No More!!

We're excited to see activity at 214 S. Michigan as new life is brought to the shop next to the State.  We can't tell you yet what its going to be, but we CAN tell you that there was some great ideas shared on the Wish stickers that should be kept in mind for other vacant locations downtown!  Check out the list below...  And congrats to our newest DTSB business, we wish them great success!!

Empire Records (YES!!)
Pet store
Vegan/ vegetarian restaurant (X5- lots of excitement for this one!)
Juice bar with organic/ vegan food
Colorado
A place where everyone knows your name
My house
Subway (Eat fresh or public transportation??)
Old school barber shop with $5 haircuts
Portal to Narnia
JJ's Diner (Apparently they have the BEST waffles!)
Privately owned, old fashioned drug store
Mexican food
Chipotle
Taco Bell
Stand-up comedy club
Clothing design studio
Convenience store or fountain of youth

214 S. Michigan Ave

What do you wish was here?

Ideas include:

A Bodega

Jo Mamas

Trader Joe's (x2)

Tea company

Country dance bar

Old school ice cream shop

Vegetarian restaurant (YUM!)

A pharmacy

A place for older folks to listen to easy music and be able to dance

A really good coffee shop with quality food/ comfy chairs/ study space/ good music/ pastries
OTB/ lottery shop
Urban art gallery
Brew pub
Vegetarian/ Vegan restaurant

What do you think?  Add your thoughts on the stickers or in the comments below!

132 S. Michigan

What do you wish was here?

 

Ideas include:

A card shop

Open for business

Record store

Barbershop (x2)

A Men's Haberdashery

Print/ copy place

Bicycle Station

Gluten Free Bakery

consignment shop/ vintage store 

A Parisian style bakery

Card shop/ stationary store like Sparks- I miss it!

Ladies clothing store

Magazines

Place for urbanites (hippy-esk) to hang out

Men's shop  

What do you think?  Add your thoughts on the stickers or the comments below! 

 

Center City Place, 225 S. Michigan Ave

What do you wish was in Center City?

Ideas include:
Chestnut Creek Pottery
A club
Meeting space for people to gather & play games
Municipal workshop
Doggie spa/ pet store
More cops/ re-open Wild Wings
Tech start-up coworking space or time machine
Daycare
Farm to table restaurant
Free
More Imax/ shops/ clothing store
Lulas cafe
Snow cone store
White Castle (x2)
Milkshake store
Pharmacy/ Drug store (x3)
Adidas Store
Nike Store
Mall
Gymnastics
Exterminator
FREE Money!
Upscale lingerie like City Drawers
Record & coffee shop

What do you think?  

Add your thoughts on the stickers  at 225 S. Michigan 

or in the comments below!

228 S. Michigan

What do you wish was in this shop at 228 S. Michigan Street?

 Ideas include:

African Restaurant

Longboard shop

Speakeasy (classy, like a martini bar)

A space for mothers and children

A men's barbershop

Office supply/ stationary store

High tea

What do you think?  Add your thoughts in the comments below!

Welcome- What do you Wish was there??

Storefronts along S. Michigan Ave in DTSB

Ever walk by a vacant business and think, "they should put a _____ here."?  

Me too!  
Lets tell 'them' what we want to see!!

I wish this was... is a project begun in New Orleans in 2009 featured in a dynamic and inspiring installation, Spontaneous Interventions at the Chicago Cultural Center.  It struck us as such a simple and low-cost way for all people in the community to engage with developers and entrepreneurs to build a better neighborhood, city and ultimately- community. Many of us have great ideas about shops, services or or vendors we'd like to see move in to a vacant storefront, now we have a platform for sharing these ideas.  Its simple; just grab a pen or marker and write it in- be creative!

You'll notice stickers have popped up on a few windows in DTSB at 214 and 228 South Michigan Ave, as well as at Center City across from Club Fever. If you're in the area we hope you'll contribute your ideas too- otherwise, please feel free to post them here at this blog in conjunction with the property pictured.  As ideas are listed, we'll report results and share them with stakeholders throughout the community.  My hope is that someone else will say, "me too!" and momentum will build until an investor takes note of the enthusiasm for the idea and tries it out (perhaps with the holiday pop-up shop program?), and one simple wish becomes a reality. 

This may be an ambitious hope, but we won't know until we try and look forward to bringing you along for the ride.

As we test the waters we'll add more properties and levels of engagement to organize ideas and themes.  

Until then we hope you throw a sharpie in your bag and add your awesome ideas as we envision an even more dynamic and vibrant South Bend.