Bryan
from page 3
tighten up the organization
and make it more effective.
“In the past, there seems to
have been a love/hate
relationship between the
downtowners and the city,”
she says. “With the reorgani
zation, we’re able to do the
lobbying necessary to get
things done.
“It’s not that there are any
barriers set up, it’s more of a
lack of communication,” she
adds. “The two groups have
never really communicated
with each other.”
Marshall says that the asso
ciation is gathering forces
downtown and as it becomes
more organized, it will take a
more active role.
The reorganization in
cludes forming of an eco
nomic development commit
tee that will take a look at the
retail mix downtown and re
cruit new businesses into the
downtown area that will com
pliment existing businesses.
One of the primary reasons
for starting a new business
downtown is economics, but
Steve Turnipseed, associate
professor of architecture at
Texas A&M, says that an in
flux of businesses moving in
for economic reasons may
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only hurt the turnaround in
the long run.
“Right now, downtown is
being billed as the cheapest
place in town to rent, and it is
... unfortunately that brings
people whose basic criterion
for choosing the space is
economy,” he says.
The problem, Turnipseed
says, is that as the downtown
area grows and prospers,
rents will rise and the people
who generated the new activ
ity will have to move out. This
may cause a change of charac
ter and the new character
may not last.
“I’m glad to see them going
fairly slowly because I think
that if they came in with one
big push, it would be very
plastic and superficial,” he
says. “By going slowly, I think
they’re building a good base
which is better for a quality-
type of turnaround.”
Donna Wall, owner of
Donna’s Ceramics and acting
president of the Bryan Down
towners Association, opened
downtown primarily because
of economics.
“I considered everywhere,”
she says. “I couldn’t afford
the malls or Texas Avenue.
“I came downtown because
I didn’t have anywhere else to
go,” she says. “Right now,
there isn’t anywhere else in
town that I could get this
much space for even half of
what I can get it for in down
town Bryan.”
Although Wall’s primary
motivation was economic, her
store is targeted to a market
niche where people are will
ing to go out of their way to
buy Wall’s product, which is
the type of business the
downtown area needs if it is
to grow and prosper.
“Basically, if a business can
survive on its own, it’s going
to be able to survive in down
town Bryan,” Wall says. “If a
business needs a tremendous
amount of walk-in business,
as a lot of the mall stores do, it
would probably have a hard
time down here.”
Wall, who started her busi
ness three years ago, is in the
middle of her second expan
sion. She owns the building
where her business is located
and is converting and reno
vating the second floor for of
fice space and to move her
production line from the first
floor.
“We’ve been very happy
with downtown because it
gives us the space we need,
people can easily find us, and
by redoing some of the build
ings, we have room to house
the new businesses that are
coming in,” she says.
Charissa Reichart, a' de
signer renting office space
from Wall, says she has been
able to provide her service at
a lower rate because of the
low rent for her office.
Reichart graduated from
Texas A&M in 1978 and be
gan working for architects in
the Bryan/College Station
area. Business slowed in the
firms she was working for
and she decided to take the
plunge and start her own
business.
She lives in the historical
district of Bryan and planned
on turning her guest house
into an office/studio, but de
cided it would take more time
and effort to renovate the
small house than to find a lo
cation in downtown Bryan.
Reichart’s motivation for
renting in the downtown area
was also primarily economic.
She compared rental rates
around town and found that
rent in downtown Bryan was
about half that of anywhere
else.
“Bryan had to be it,” she
says.
Like Wall, Reichart doesn’t
cont. p.5
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