Why Choose Retail Attractions?

Posted by Retail Attractions Blog on January 20, 2016 in Blog | No Comments

When you’re researching Retail Attractions, you’ll find quite a few articles and testimonies talking about Rickey Hayes’ work in Owasso, Oklahoma. You might wonder what’s so special about Owasso and why Rickey’s work there makes him qualified to help your city attract new retail, or to advise your development firm in finding the best locations for investment.

Business Testimonials

Before he founded Retail Attractions, Rickey served as Owasso’s Economic Development Director for six years. Robin O’Grady, a Retail Specialist with NAI Sullivan Group, says that the retail development brought to Owasso “is in itself a testimony for Rickey’s hard work, knowledge, and experience in the business. Rickey not only understands the economics of the project, but he also understands the needs and concerns of the developers and retailers.” For retailers building in Owasso, the project was a success monetarily and in terms of how easy it was to work with the city.

It wasn’t just large retailers that benefited from Rickey’s involvement. Small business owners like Angela Ritchie say, “I have watched him work to create an environment that will allow large corporate chains, as well as small businesses to flourish in Owasso.” When Rickey Hayes and Retail Attractions work in a community, everyone benefits.

City Perspective

Owasso serves as a case study for retail success made possible when working with Retail Attractions. Part of the reason for Owasso’s success had to do with the city’s location and surging residential growth. But even with these advantages, the city probably wouldn’t have attracted such successful retail development without Rickey’s knowledge and planning strategies. During his tenure, Owasso experienced tremendous commercial and residential growth that more than tripled the city’s sales tax revenue.

The economic growth in Owasso had far-reaching benefits for residents. For example, Superintendent of Owasso Public Schools Dr. Clark Oglivie says, “Rickey’s role as the City of Owasso’s Economic Development Director was of paramount importance to the school district.” As a direct result of the new revenues from increased city growth, the Owasso Independent School District was able to build over $100 million in new facilities without a single tax raise.

What About You?

If your community is looking to encourage economic and residential growth, you’re in the right place. Rickey has years of training and experience, having worked directly or indirectly in over 300 cities in 35 different states. We’re eager to talk with your city and learn exactly how we can help you. You can find out more about our economic development services here on our website, or click here to contact us.

If you’re a retail development group interested in working with a company that has extensive experience connecting developers with good retail locations, we can help. Rickey has been involved in the completion of millions of square feet of retail, residential, medical, office and other commercial real estate, and your development can be the next one he facilitates. Click here to learn more about available properties in our client communities.

Five Characteristics of High Growth Communities

Posted by Retail Attractions Blog on January 6, 2016 in Blog | No Comments

Achieving population and revenue growth are key goals of city planners, and cities that succeed in both typically share common traits. While some communities are situated in locations where growth occurs more easily, it typically requires hard work to build a sound foundation that will encourage population growth and new retail development.

Here at Retail Attractions, we believe smart, successful retail development is a vital part of a community’s growth. We’re ready to help your community through the entire growth process, from evaluating your community assets, to creating a strategic plan, to bringing in developers and maintaining good relationships with them.

Good Location

An essential trait of growing cities is having a strategic location. Communities are more likely to develop if they have convenient highway access and the ability to funnel traffic in from a larger regional area. Housing availability, excellent educational facilities, and medical facilities also contribute to drawing new businesses and residents in. You’ll also need available, developable property to attract retailers.

Growth-Ready Infrastructure

One of the easiest growth foundations to overlook is infrastructure, but if you’re planning for city growth, it’s one of the most important areas to consider. Retail Attractions has experience with general municipal consulting on local and regional levels, and we can help your city design a plan for healthy infrastructure. We’ll work with you on water and sewer plans, transportation and traffic flow, technology, zoning, parking and other critical areas of infrastructure that should be in place prior to city growth.

Residential Growth

Population and retail growth go hand-in-hand. The more retail and housing development that takes place, the more new residents will be attracted to your community. And if your community is attracting young, upwardly mobile residents with stable incomes, then you’ll have more retailers who want to build in your area. Retailers are also more likely to invest in communities that are home to a high percentage of families and homeowners.

Marketing Philosophy

Even with a good location, solid plans for expanding infrastructure and residential growth, your community won’t attract new investors without a mindset for growth. Your community must be ready to offer incentives to new residents and interested developers, and come up with a solid marketing strategy. Set yourself apart from the competition with a user-friendly city website, professional marketing with accurate information, and by offering a variety of incentives.

Strategic Plan

Retail Attractions is ready to sit down with your city and stakeholders to assess community strengths and weaknesses and develop a strategic growth plan. This will outline action steps for the community, list stakeholder responsibilities, and include target completion dates for future projects and tasks. Our job doesn’t end there, though. Retail Attractions will stick by your community as you build relationships with retailer developers. To maintain city growth and prepare for new growth phases, it’s important to continue supporting and marketing your retailers.

Ready to develop a plan to make your city a hot spot for growth and development? Contact us today.