Downtown Building Boost
Turn your building inventory into a short list of properties ready to move.
Most downtowns already know where the empty buildings are. The council has seen the photos. The development department has heard the questions. Everyone can point to the one on the corner that's been vacant since the hardware store left.
Knowing isn't the problem. The problem is what happens next. Communities try to address vacancy at the district level, talking about trends and percentages and the general state of things, when the work actually happens building by building. Downtown Building Boost narrows the field. It identifies which properties have real near-term potential, what it will take to move them, and what your community needs to do next.
It's a focused 60 to 90 day engagement that produces a working inventory, a prioritized shortlist, and a clear action pipeline. Not another report to shelve. A system for keeping priority properties moving.
What This Solves
Downtown vacancy is rarely a mystery. Most communities know which buildings are empty, who owns them, and roughly how long they've sat that way. The harder question is what to do about it — and that's where things break down.
There's no shortage of plans or surveys. Chances are there’s even financial incentives for redevelopment. What's missing is a clear process for deciding which properties to focus on first and what it actually takes to get each one moving. Without that, vacancy conversations keep happening at the same level, and the same buildings stay empty.
The Downtown Building Boost creates that process. A ground-level inventory, a short list of priority properties, and a practical path forward for each one.
How It Works
Build the Baseline
We walk the district. Every building gets documented: current use, vacancy status, condition, ownership context, and physical constraints. Not a desk review or a spreadsheet from three years ago. A current, ground-level picture of what your downtown is actually working with, built from direct observation and local knowledge.
For Main Street communities with existing BOOMS Tracker data, we work with what's there and fill the gaps. For communities starting fresh, we build the inventory from the ground up.
Prioritize the Right Properties
Not every vacancy is worth pursuing right now, and treating them all equally is part of what gets communities stuck.
We identify a short list of 3-5 priority properties based on a practical set of filters: near-term feasibility, physical condition, ownership context, visibility, market fit, and available incentive alignment. These become the focused targets for the rest of the engagement.
Assess What It Will Take
Each priority property gets a realistic assessment. What uses fit the space? What are the barriers, physical, financial, regulatory, ownership? What funding tools are available and applicable? What would need to change to make this building ready for a tenant, an owner-occupant, or a developer?
This is where Building Boost earns its value. Not by producing an optimistic wish list, but by giving your team an honest picture of what's realistic now and what needs to wait.
Create the Action Pipeline
Priority properties go into a simple, trackable pipeline. Tenant prospects, reuse concepts, owner outreach, incentive applications, and follow-up steps are organized so the right people can act on them. Nothing stays buried in a report. It moves into a working system your team can use and update.
Keep the Momentum
A lightweight review process, monthly or quarterly depending on your team's capacity, keeps priority properties from going cold. Stalled deals get flagged. Next steps get assigned. Progress stays visible to staff, council, and partners.
What You Receive
By the end of the engagement, your community will have:
A usable, current downtown building inventory
A prioritized shortlist of 3-5 high-potential properties
A realistic assessment of what each priority property needs to move forward
Identified barriers, funding opportunities, and next steps for each building
A simple pipeline for tracking and advancing reuse opportunities
A process for keeping progress visible and momentum sustained
Optional: designed property profiles and marketing materials for priority buildings
Proven in the Field
This approach was developed and tested in every community that we’ve worked.
The downtowns all had historic building stock, available and often a surplus of annual financial incentives, and a city council that wanted to see progress after years of stagnate activity. What it lacked was clarity about which buildings deserved attention first and what moving them would actually require.
RAD walked the district, documented the inventory, identified catalytic sites by name and address, and produced recommendations tied to specific buildings with TIF program designs and funding allocations to match. The output included an implementation guide the city could hand directly to property owners.
In Aledo, Illinois, the results came building by building. A vacant opera house reopened as a performing arts venue. A long-empty corner building became a downtown radio station. Vacant upper-stories were converted to residential lofts. And the historic Carnegie Library became a tech-enabled workspace.
That's the work, in the same shape your community would receive it. See more about how a downtown inventory can lead to transformation.
What Makes This Different
There are firms that produce market analyses. and there are consultants who walk downtowns and write reports. The Downtown Building Boost doesn't stop at the inventory.
The fieldwork is the starting point, not the deliverable. What your community receives is a prioritized, property-specific action plan with realistic next steps, identified barriers, and a pipeline your team can actually use. The goal isn't to describe the problem. It's to put specific buildings in motion.
Best Fit For Communities That
Have visible downtown vacancies with no clear path forward
Know which buildings are problems but not which ones to tackle first
Have TIF, BDD, USDA, or grant funds available but no clear way to deploy them against specific properties
Want a realistic, ground-level picture of their building inventory
Need early wins to build confidence and keep partners engaged
Aren't ready for a full downtown plan but need more than a workshop
Are already using BOOMS Tracker and want help turning data into action
Timeline and Investment
60 to 90 days from kickoff to final delivery. Pricing is based on inventory size, since larger districts require more fieldwork and assessment time.
Every engagement is fixed-fee. No hourly rates, no surprise costs. Final scope and investment are confirmed after a short introductory conversation about your downtown, your existing data, and the specific properties you're most concerned about.
Start the Conversation
If your community has buildings sitting empty and needs a clear path to move them, the next step is a short call.