Councilmembers Fret About Vacant Storefronts During Committee Meeting Tuesday

The City’s Economic Development Division delivered updates about its recent efforts to retain Pasadena’s existing businesses and recruiting new ones on Tuesday.

During the meeting of Economic Development and Technology Committee, Councilmembers Steve Madison and Tyron Hampton expressed concerns about vacant stores within the city and asked the division to intensify efforts to address the issue.

“I am still concerned about vacant storefronts that one sees around town,” said Madison. “Anything we can do to support those efforts— because it does create an impression.”

Hampton for his part asked the division to explore the idea of allowing pop-up stores.

“The vacancies in Old Pasadena do not look good,” Hampton said. “We can just look at that and see if there are ways we can creatively help those businesses without having to go through a whole bunch of red tape to create some sort of pop-up.”

Klug assured the committee that the division is intensifying its efforts to fill up vacant retail spaces within the city.

“We are aware of vacant storefronts and that is something that we will be ramping up as we look at solutions for attracting more retail, and we’re looking at some resources now in terms of a proprietary software that we’re looking at that will help us identify the appropriate retailers for that space,” said Klug.

Councilmember Andy Wilson told Economic Development Director David Klug that the division should capture and analyze outcomes from its business outreach activities.

“I would ask that you think about what we can learn from those engagements and how do we know if these efforts are bearing any fruit. It’s important to be out there but what does success look like and are we achieving and learning something?”

Klug reported the division completed eight meetings with brokers in April, 47 in May, and 11 in June.

“That includes the Mayor- and City Manager-hosted breakfast that we had with our commercial brokers,” said Klug. 26 brokers attended the event.

“That was the first time we had kind of a face-to-face broker meeting. It was good to get in front of them again and listen to what they have to say about their efforts in retaining businesses and attracting new ones here in Pasadena,” Klug told members of the Economic Development and Technology Committee.

The division also conducted a total of 10 phone calls and visits to various businesses within Pasadena from April to June.

In addition, the division made a total of two visits with local chief executive officers and chief financial officers throughout the city in April, 12 visits in May and three in June.

Anytime a new business comes into the City of Pasadena, the division sends welcome letters, informing business owners that the division “is here to assist in making sure that their businesses run smoothly,” he said.

According to Klug, the division sent 44 New Business Welcome Letters in April, 38 in May, and 58 in June.