Looking Beyond the Conventional Mixed-Use Development Model: Analyzing the Potential for Start-Up Businesses to Supplement Traditional Retail

Abstract

Our current focus on the city core includes reintroducing the mixed-use building. This typology is not without challenges, and arguably none is more pressing than full retail occupancy. This analysis investigates the potential for start-up companies to supplement traditional retail on an interim basis.

By documenting the needs and expectations of the start-up and development communities (from multiple perspectives), this study assesses the potential connection between mixed-use and the start-up company.

Using a methodology informed by literature and augmented by personal accounts, this analysis reveals that the inclusion of start-up companies in mixed-use projects can present both short- and long-term benefits to ongoing retail difficulties: mixed-use buildings can be an ideal location for start-up firms, including start-up tenants can be economically feasible if certain measures are in place, and a new development model is not needed to connect an emerging business with an existing project.