Wanted: That place for young, old and middle aged alike who seek a walkable, shopable community where eateries are close by and entertainment is closer.

Aiming too highfi City planners in Provo say not so.

And they aren't building a new multi-use Gateway-style shopping center either. Instead, Paul Glauser, director of the redevelopment agency of Provo said that residents need to look no further than the historic blocks of downtown.

A city-funded study done by Economic Research Associates, or ERA, showed that downtown is anchored by several stable employers -- Nu Skin, the courthouse, and the municipal offices of Provo -- that also attract people to the area. Soon, the performing arts center will do the same.

When people come to downtown, they need to eat -- or maybe it's that they come downtown to eat. Either way, it makes for a balanced diet for business.

Whether it's bagels or sandwiches for lunch in a building that is possibly 100 years old or fine dining at Ottavio's Ristorante Italiano along the street, Glauser said that one focus of the study was dining and retail.

With a performing arts center under construction and a dance club planned -- The Vault is under contract at the Wells Fargo Building -- that pre-entertainment meal may soon have an impact as well.

The study states that dining and retail can be a "chicken and egg" problem with revitalizing downtown. Amenity producing retail and restaurants can't survive without market demand, but they have to create it for each other. Empty store fronts and new stores along University Avenue and Center Street illustrate that.

Still, new stores aren't afraid to try. Rebecca Neely just opened up her dream store, Mode on University Avenue.

It's not a typical mall store, and that's exactly why she chose to locate in the downtown area. She wanted to stand out.

The store boasts character, with baby leg warmers and square plates and a T-shirt bar. They feature local clothing designers.

"People come in all the time and say, 'I do this, would you be interestedfi' " Neely said of stocking her store. The store stocks vintage clothes as well.

"It's not our style," she said of going to a mall. "Our store is totally unique. You don't find it anywhere else."

Glauser said that's exactly what makes downtown great. He uses the flag store on University Avenue as an example, saying that it's not a typical mall store, but it's great because it's original.

"Here's something that we don't have anywhere else in the county," he said.

But for photographer Bryant Livingston being downtown creates some challenges. He moved his studio to his University Avenue location 13 years ago.

"Downtown was a lot different then than it is now," he said. "It's a hard place to stay in business. The people who survive here are destination businesses."

He said he operates by appointment because people don't shop along the street. And parking is difficult because the curb outside his business is painted red. He wishes the city would advertise that just behind the University Avenue businesses and the Wells Fargo building there are hundreds of free parking stalls.

"There's all kinds of parking, it's just not 15 feet from the door," he said.

Still, he loves the character. He loves that when he looked at property records, he saw that in the 1950s, there was another photographer in his same office.

"These places have character, history," he said.

The long-term goal for the downtown area is to make it accessible for pedestrians, according to the ERA study.

It helps support retail and restaurants alike if a pedestrian is strolling by because one is more likely to stroll into, say the Mode on their way to Los Hermanos, if people see downtown as a pedestrian-friendly area instead of a destination fight-for-the-closest-parking-place area.

And maybe people won't have to worry about parking if all goes as planned. Glauser said the city wants people to live downtown, too. Residential living is one of the factors in the ERA study. Provo is well on it's way, with an estimated 32,000 people living in a one-mile radius of the area.

It's not just university housing either, though Provo compared itself to other college towns in the study, such as Palo Alto, Calif., and Boulder, Colo.

Housing at the Wells Fargo building is all leased or under contract, said David Runells, sales and marketing manager for Prudential CRES.

Glauser said that the housing has attracted the affluent, older crowd. For the most part, he said that those who live downtown are young families and young professionals, according to a study done by Dow Jones and Associates.

"To say we're just going after this demographic or that one is a little bit short sighted," he said.

Now that the study is complete, Glauser said that the city begins marketing the downtown area to businesses, and residents. It's the if-you-build-it the business will come and the pedestrians will follow philosophy. The city hopes to build a convention center to add to the Marriott Hotel and fill in the vacant gaps east of Center Street along University Avenue to keep that "downtown feel."

Natalie Andrews can be reached at 344-2548 or nandrews@heraldextra.com.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A1.

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