City of Alexandria
Client
Alexandria Economic Development Partnership
+ The City of Alexandria
Location
Alexandria, VA
Services
Branding
Strategic advisory
Cultural Planning
Perception shifting
Social designer
Consulting
Summary
In the Summer of 2017 the City of Alexandria, Virginia was looking to breathe new life into their historic Old Town retail district. The city’s Economic Development Partnership recognized an opportunity for small businesses to test their fit in the Alexandria, VA market without making a long-term commitment.
This also simultaneously educated property owners on the value of temporary use opportunities and encouraged them to create a more vibrant Main Street through these underutilized opportunities.
The Challenge
The city’s Economic Development Partnership recognized an opportunity for small businesses to test their fit in the Alexandria, VA market without making a long-term commitment. Our challenge was to advise the city on activating empty retail in the real estate community in order to smooth out the hurdles small businesses faced hosting activations.
The Outcome
Through synthesizing key learnings uncovered during the research process, the Isenberg Projects team built an educational platform, a pop-up toolkit, and a web portal that speaks directly to small businesses, artists, and property owners alike. These assets were thoughtfully designed to speak to the needs and desires of stakeholders whose expectations likely couldn’t be solved by a “one size fits all” solution.
8
Unique retail
pop ups in the first 5 months
1
New community coworking space
30+
brands
involved
2
Long term leases resulted from the program
