How to Address Vacant and Deteriorated Commercial Properties

The role of the neighborhood commercial corridor has fundamentally changed. 

Over the past several decades, shifts in how we live, work, and spend money have altered the landscape of neighborhood retail. While most of the public discourse about commercial vacancy has focused on challenges facing downtown office markets, it has left an important gap: What do we do about our vacant and deteriorated neighborhood-serving commercial properties? The corner stores, mixed-use buildings, and neighborhood shopping districts that residents encounter in their daily lives.  

Communities looking to put these properties back to productive use need to take a different approach than they have to residential properties. 

Join this webinar to hear about our forthcoming report: a guide to revitalizing neighborhood commercial corridors. We’ll walk through the report’s framework for understanding market, corridor, and parcel conditions, and show how to choose a strategy to revitalize, stabilize, or reposition your commercial corridor. You’ll also learn how to assess whether tools local governments traditionally use to address residential vacancy, can apply to commercial vacancy.  

Speakers: 

• Liz Kozub – Director, Technical Assistance, Center for Community Progress 

Photo: A small strip of vacant and deteriorated buildings in Milford Center, Ohio. (Michal Carni / Adobe Stock)