Local stores tied to UNC

Given the diversity of college-town shoppers, it would be easy for prospective businesses to try to pit consumers against one another.

But in an age of mega malls and corporate shopping, the town and gown now realize that when it comes to business, they might better serve their own interests by working together.

“The fact is that it is as important to the university as it is to the town that we maintain a vital downtown,” said Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy.

Foy often discusses the town and university’s mutual interests as a member of Chapel Hill’s Downtown Economic Development Corporation — an oversight entity comprising town officials, UNC administrators and downtown business owners.

“The University has recognized explicitly … that downtown retail in Chapel Hill is a great investment,” Foy said.

The University does not have to pay taxes on downtown property, provided that it doesn’t use the facility for retail.

But that doesn’t mean it lacks an interest in what happens along Franklin and Main streets. If the sheer proximity of downtown and the University weren’t enough, UNC also owns several prominent downtown properties.

Those investments include the Hill building, which houses the Carolina Coffee Shop, and the space at 440 W. Franklin St.

Some of the spaces, such as the one across from the Porthole building, are used for offices. But Jonathan Howes, special assistant to the chancellor and former Chapel Hill mayor, said the properties still provide downtown with a boost because the employees who work there add to the town’s consumer base.

“The University recognizes that it has a critical role in the health and vitality of downtown,” Chancellor James Moeser stated in a letter to Foy in 2003.

“Franklin Street is the University’s front door.”

UNC also makes direct contributions to the downtown economy in several ways.

It has two members on the DEDC, both with business ties: Nancy Suttenfield, the powerful vice chancellor for finance and administration, and Trustee Roger Perry, president of developing firm East West Partners.

And plans to develop a $177 million Arts Common on North Campus, as well as UNC’s active recruitment of retail diversity, are reminders that it’s hard to tell where the University stops and downtown begins.

“It’s almost all University people downtown,” said Athens, Ga., Mayor Heidi Davison of her college town’s consumer base. “All people have to do is cross the road to get downtown.”

Athens, home to the University of Georgia, has a slightly larger population than Chapel Hill. Broad Street, the main downtown thoroughfare, is often compared with Franklin Street in terms of its vitality and the makeup of its businesses.

“The key with our downtown is that it has a cachet, a mystique. It has its own image,” Foy said.

Davison said Athens has a similar reputation. “It doesn’t want to look like every other community.”

And universities have as much impact on that image as any other interested party.

“There are 33,000 students here and 7,500 students on campus,” said Pat Allen, special liaison to the Athens Downtown Development Authority, an advocacy group similar to the DEDC. “The rest are in the community.”

In fact, the area has led the way in many facets of town-gown business relations. Student fees, for example, pay for a large chunk of Chapel Hill’s successful fare-free busing program — one that’s been discussed in other college towns as a way to improve central commercial districts for all who use them.

Athens DDA Executive Director Art Jackson said area officials have developed several programs to promote the downtown to both its primary users.

Students in Athens are only charged a small student fee for area transportation services. After paying the fee each year, students do not have to pay for any bus fares.

Students swipe their identification cards, and an amount below the traditional fare is charged back to the university.

“About all of them get out right … on Broad Street,” Jackson said.

Chapel Hill’s fare-free program began in 2002 and has brought annual ridership up over 5 million.

“There’s a lot more fluid mix downtown now because a lot of students don’t live on campus and use public transportation,” Foy said.

Only about 7,000 undergraduates lived on campus this school year, according to the UNC Department of Housing and Residential Education.

The busing program emphasizes a larger point: In college towns, there’s little tangible difference between a student consumer and anyone else.

Even in College Park, Md., a college town straddling a large metropolitan area, there is little distinction among consumer bases, said Claire Sale, economic development coordinator for the city.

Foy said the town and gown are not as separate as everyone wants to make them out to be.

“Eighty percent of the time, we do agree,” Foy said. “It’s just more interesting to tell the stories about when we disagree.”

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.