Was walking through downtown and was struck once again by the fact that, once you get south of the Square, it's really hard to maintain foot traffic flow. Retail areas set up for pedestrians such as malls and business districts like downtown, are set up to promote foot traffic flow. That's a major problem with the location of the food court at University Mall. It's set up at the end of a corridor, with the offices of Southern Illinois Healthcare as the anchor to draw foot traffic there. The result is, last time I checked during the holidays, there was only one restaurant there, leaving 7 spaces empty.
Similarly with downtown, there are too many gaps between buildings to promote customers moving from space to space between the Square and Pagliai's. Much of Washington Street is empty, save for parking, from Newell House to Italian Village. There are also a large number of open spaced, filled with grass or parking down Illinois Ave., from Walnut to College. Large breaks in the flow of buildings don't encourage people to move from place to place.
However, I have heard recently of some development plans that would infill several of those empty spaces. Keeping my fingers crossed that those plans come to fruition
Similarly with downtown, there are too many gaps between buildings to promote customers moving from space to space between the Square and Pagliai's. Much of Washington Street is empty, save for parking, from Newell House to Italian Village. There are also a large number of open spaced, filled with grass or parking down Illinois Ave., from Walnut to College. Large breaks in the flow of buildings don't encourage people to move from place to place.
However, I have heard recently of some development plans that would infill several of those empty spaces. Keeping my fingers crossed that those plans come to fruition
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