From Malls to Microbreweries: Chasing the Elusive ‘Secret Sauce’ of Urban Rebirth

Cities chase “magic bullets”—from malls to stadiums. Larry Bell’s brewery sparked rebirth, but will the “secret sauce” sour?

Cities go through cycles—they are born, grow, decline, and are reborn. Readers of a certain age will probably remember the great era of growth, when downtowns boomed with office towers and department stores, and then the era of decline, as suburbanization sucked the life out of downtowns and urban neighborhoods.

City officials and urban planners searched for answers. What could be done to stem the decline? The “secret sauce,” the magic bullet, became the pedestrian mall. Kalamazoo, Michigan, was the first city to close its main street and install a pedestrian mall (an idea suggested by Victor Gruen, designer of Southdale Mall). Following Kalamazoo, more than 200 U.S. cities installed pedestrian malls in hopes of reviving their downtowns.

The malls didn’t work. Then, downtown stadiums and ballparks were supposed to be the answer. Minneapolis built the enclosed Metrodome. Baltimore won great praise and many emulators for its Camden Yards baseball park. But none of these athletic facilities sparked the rebirth of downtown.

Maybe downtown housing was the answer. Get people living downtown and they will need places to eat, drink, and gather. This presented an opportunity for entrepreneurs. Like the coffee houses of the 1960s, perhaps you could create a hip gathering place, sell alcohol and food, book a local band, and maybe renovate a historic building. The secret sauce!

I had moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan, in 1989 to assume the role of president for a new downtown mini-conglomerate. City leaders had created a downtown development authority, a land-banking nonprofit, a festival corporation, and a parking program. One of the buildings the land-banking corporation acquired was the Globe Casket building. Globe Casket was the inventor of the cloth-covered casket and was an industrial pillar of Kalamazoo’s economy, along with Checker Cab, Gibson Guitar, and Upjohn Pharmaceuticals.

But now the story gets interesting. My organization owned a vacant industrial building, and I was approached one day by a young man with an idea. His name was Larry Bell, and Larry wanted to start a craft brewing company. He needed space. We had space and provided it rent-free to help him get started. Fast forward from 1985 to today: according to Slate magazine’s Michael Stein, Kalamazoo Brewing brewed 135 barrels in its first year and now brews 500,000 annually, and Larry Bell has sold his company to a major brewer.

Larry Bell was a pioneer. Craft breweries, microbreweries, brewpubs, and micro-distilleries have become the “secret sauce” for reviving downtowns and urban business districts.

Think about the Minneapolis of yesteryear. The gathering places—restaurants and clubs that were popular years ago—drew nightly crowds to Hennepin Avenue. Augie’s, the Gay 90s, Moby Dick’s, and others served food, alcoholic beverages, and entertainment. For yuppies, there was the Uptown district. For students, Dinkytown. On the Northside, the Broadway Bar.

Now, there are more than 30 brewpubs in the Twin Cities area. A number of new distilleries have also appeared, and cigar bars have become the hip places for young professionals. But drinking habits are changing as well. Overall, alcohol consumption is dropping. Drinkers are preferring flavored drinks and cocktails. Food and entertainment options are evolving. What does the “secret sauce” look like, taste like, and sound like today?

As I look back on Kalamazoo, I realize that brewing has made Larry Bell a very wealthy man. But Bell’s Beer is now brewed in Comstock, MI, outside of Kalamazoo.

The Responsible Hospitality Institute, a California-based nonprofit that advises cities on the nighttime economy, has studied the growth of districts that depend on the sale and service of alcoholic beverages. These districts come and go, as do restaurants and nightclubs. To what extent, then, should cities invest in districts that revolve around the nighttime economy? Are these places that provide local residents with “third places” to gather? Or are they vital to tourism and convention business? Can some of these alcohol-based companies provide enough jobs to warrant special help? And how do cities cope with the problems normally associated with alcohol sales?

As the Twin Cities seek to revive districts like Uptown and Dinkytown, it would be wise to think about these questions and develop strategies to prepare for the coming and going of the “secret sauce.”