ROCHESTER — Downtown Rochester has seen many changes in the business scene over the last few years. The bar scene has one establishment still standing from the pre-COVID days, and several other restaurant and retail businesses have opened, closed, or moved elsewhere in Rochester.
Fewer people working downtown has limited prospects for many of those businesses. But that might not be an issue much longer. The Discovery Square projects and Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Building will see the end of construction this year. The new buildings will bring an influx of new employees to downtown.
Seeing that on the horizon, some downtown business and real estate owners believe the worst times are over and that downtown Rochester poised for a more thriving future.
“Part of the issue with downtown over the last couple of years is just the pandemic and how that affected business overall,” said Rochester Realtor Bucky Beeman, who owns several properties downtown. “Now that there's a rebound on the restaurant side of things for sure. It appears that there's many entrepreneurs willing to take risks on some of these downtown spaces to open restaurants.”
“We’re seeing a readjustment period for downtown,” said Holly Masek, executive director of RDA. “Even with less workers downtown, specifically Mayo, people are still coming downtown at night for the restaurant scene. Landlords are willing to take more of a chance than they were during COVID with these new businesses coming downtown.”
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Masek is leaving the RDA Feb. 11 for a job in Bloomington, Minn.
Two new restaurants — Marrow and the Well — are set to open in the next two months. Marrow, at 332 S. Broadway, is owned by husband and wife Jeff and Sarah Schwenker. The Well, owned by Powers Ventures, will open in the former Dooley's Pub space at 255 First Ave. SW.
“I think you're gonna see more and more action downtown,” said Joe Powers of Powers Ventures. “We think (the Well) is one of the hottest locations downtown in Rochester. That site has always appealed to us, First Avenue, and Third Street is really a main hub of the downtown and we’re right next to the core of it all.”
Data collected by the Rochester Downtown Alliance from 2020-2023 presents a picture of downtown business activity that is not all doom-and-gloom. While 2020 was the worst year for downtown businesses in recent memory, with nine businesses closing, there were 10 new ones that opened. In 2021, five businesses closed but 19 new ones opened, and in 2022, 11 closed and 13 new ones opened.
“Downtown is changing and I think people need to wrap their heads around that a little bit,” said Sarah Schwenker, of Marrow. “There used to be such a distinction between daytime and nighttime businesses. There's a lot less foot traffic working downtown, but that's building back up and really cool things are going on downtown.”
In addition to the return of worker foot traffic, residential foot traffic has also been growing in and around downtown.
According to RDA’s Residential Consumer Research Project, published in October 2021, there were 1,146 apartment units built and completed within a 1.5-mile radius of downtown since 2011. Some 665 of those units were completed from 2019 to 2022. And 180 of the units are still under construction at Bryk on Broadway off Civic Center Drive.
“There has been a bigger shift in population downtown in these residences that have opened like Discovery Square and Riverwalk,” Masek said. “ We are still seeing a gap in everyday need for businesses like CVS Pharmacy or Target for downtown residents. But a lot of national chains still don’t understand the high foot traffic downtown we see from residents, Mayo patients, and employees.”
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“There's more residents living downtown than there ever has been,” Powers said. “If you live downtown, you can just go for a walk to go out to eat. So we think that's another real pivotal opportunity for us to increase our business with the Well.”
There are currently seven new businesses set to open downtown in early 2023, including four restaurants and one retail business, Guerin Art and Music Studio on Third Street. The surge of new businesses open may serve to help them lift each other, Schwenker said.
“That sense of a strong culinary community, I think that you really get that down here,” Schwenker said. “Everybody's really supportive of each other and wants to see each other do well. And I think with that growth, if we're doing well, our neighbors are going to do well, and just build each other up and make downtown more appealing for everyone.”
While some former restaurant spaces downtown such as Hefe Rojo, Newt’s, and the Porch remain empty, Beeman and Masek both believe those spaces will have new tenants offering either restaurant or retail services once again in 2023. In fact, since those interviews took place, plans were announced for a new restaurant, Our Paladar, to open in Porch's former location , the former train depot station at 20 Fourth St. SE.
The transitional period of what downtown Rochester businesses provide will continue into 2023 and by year’s end, the restaurant and retail environment of downtown has a chance to thrive as it never has before.
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