Business Improvement Districts Seek Better Year

For the coming year, business improvement districts plan to follow a formula that includes digitial marketing, events and local services to their member companies. President Leslie Elkan of the Village at Sherman Oaks Business Improvement District expects to “polish the jewel that is the Village” and grow its popularity with visitors. “There are very few vacancies in the BID and it is a desirable place to shop, eat and get pampered,” Elkan said, adding her stretch of Ventura Boulevard saw an upswing in 2017 because of popular new eateries such as MidiCi, Burger Lounge and Luna Grill. “The BID board would like to see the city make it easier to open restaurants (and similar businesses),” Elkan said. “Currently, it can take more than a year and over $100,000 to get a restaurant opened for business. With the intense competition from online retailers, some retail properties have had to convert to restaurant use to be able to attract tenants and there has been tremendous expense and time involved.” BIDs have a defined area within which businesses pay an additional tax to fund mutually beneficial projects to support or expand business, such as street improvements, extra security, events that generate foot traffic and marketing campaigns to drive shoppers or visitors to the district businesses. The Village at Sherman Oaks had a budget of $118,000 last year to rank 19th on the Business Journal’s list of Business Improvement Districts (see page 12). For this year, the organization again has a budget of $118,000, which will be mostly devoted toward cleaning the district and landscaping its medians. Distinguishing 2018 will be the homeless issue, which Elkan said has become more pressing and expensive. “Our budget has become more stretched with the increasing messes and vandalism done by transients,” she said, discussing her BID’s ongoing struggle to humanely balance the homeless’ needs with those of businesses and visitors. Event strategy In Montrose, merchants have cultivated a BID, currently led by Dale Dawson, along its Honolulu Avenue artery. Montrose Shopping Park Association ranks number 10 on the Business Journals’ list. Anecdotally, Dawson, who runs Mountain Rose Gifts and whose wife owns a women’s ready-to-wear store, reports that their “mom-and-pop, brick-and-mortar” business district was hit hard in 2017. Traditional retail, excluding food destinations, gyms and salons, have suffered. In response, the BID plans to build on its schedule of successful events. In a budget presentation to Glendale City Council, the association stated that its “iconic outdoor events are second to none and continue to draw many thousands of people to the Montrose Shopping Park District.” The BID’s plans include two Wine Walks; May’s Wags N Whiskers and Kids ’n Kritters; annual summertime arts and crafts and automobile shows; community-wide Valentine’s Day, Halloween and Christmas events; and a nearly decade-old film festival. The Montrose BID will operate on a $495,000 budget for 2018—only 28 percent of which is derived from the business assessment taxes collected by the city, Dawson said. “All of the assessment tax dollars are spent strictly on promotion and advertising,” he continued. The remaining income, derived from profitable events like the Sunday Harvest Market and the impact fees studios pay to film in Montrose, covers the district’s infrastructure, maintenance and operating expenses. The Sherman Oaks BID hosts the annual Sherman Oaks Street Fair on Ventura Boulevard between Kester Avenue and Van Nuys Boulevard. “We get about 150,000 visitors strolling through the BID on that one (October) Sunday,” Elkan said. Tourism dollars Old Town Newhall in the Santa Clarita Valley has a modified type of BID often called “T-BID,” or tourism BID. Its membership isn’t based on the map, as a traditional BID, but includes all the hotels in specified area. In Santa Clarita, that means just five Old Town hotels – Hyatt, Holiday Inn Express, Best Western, Embassy Suites and Courtyard by Marriott. The Santa Clarita Tourism Marketing District is supported by a 2 percent assessment on guests’ bills, and ranks eighth on the Business Journal list. In 2017, this T-BID generated approximately $665,000 for the membership. “We’ve had a pretty strong hotel tourism market here,” said Santa Clarita Marketing and Economic Development Manager Jason Crawford. “The city is taking a really proactive approach on the Old Town partnership with the hotels.” According to Crawford, several positive forces revently aligned to improve Santa Clarita’s business prospects, including Center at Needham Ranch, a 54-acre, state-of-the-art business park due to introduce 1 million square feet of office space and 4 million square feet of industrial space near Highway 14 beginning later this year. Also, last month Six Flags Magic Mountain opened for business daily. “We’re expecting a lot of business from (Six Flags) that will increase from opening year-round,” Crawford said In fact, to accommodate more visitors, there are five new hotels coming: Luxen, a boutique hotel in Old Town; Vista Canyon; Homewood Suites/Hampton Inn; Residence Inn Springhill Suites; and an Oliver Hotel, which the community is assmuning will be an Element by Westin. Adriana Huizar, executive director of Camarillo Hotel & Tourism Association, which has been branding itself online as “Visit Camarillo,” number nine on the Business Journal’s list, explained that historically Old Town’s merchants have resisted the idea of a BID. “They’ve tried to do it before and I don’t think they had the full support of the businesses,” she said, describing the general sentiment as “We don’t want to tax ourselves.” Instead, the small business district is membership-driven, which translates to a less organized entity with mixed results, she said. “Summer was busy. We get a lot of compression from L.A.,” she said, referring to an overage of tourists fanning out for available and affordable hotels. Popular equestrian show Cavalia Odysseo, which extended its dates several times into February, has positively impacted hotel stays. Another hotel guest-magnet is the marriage industry, with weddings routinely held at such area locations as the Hartley Botanica, Camarillo Ranch House, Gerry Ranch, McCormick Ranch and Camarillo Airport. In 2017, Camarillo’s tourism arm spent $525,000 on marketing and digital advertising and Huizar predicted its 2018 budget will reach $520,000. Huizar said her main mandate is to transform Camarillo from being a place to absorb L.A.’s overage or a pit stop en route to Santa Barbara into a destination based on its own charms, which, in addition to its shopping outlets, includes breweries, golf courses, beach proximity and the Wings Over Camarillo air show.