‘suBiEcT Betsy Eismeier Kennedy Smith May 9, 2007 #5 Update on Arlington retail development strategy // Juliet Theatre reuse We have now completed about 60 percent of our assignment and wanted to provide a brief update for the upcoming board meeting. A quick recap: Our project involves creating a business development strategy for Arlington and for Vassar’s holdings there, including a strategy for the use, reuse or adaptive use of the Juliet Theatre. Surveys: We have completed two surveys - a survey of Vassar’s faculty, staff and administration, and a survey of Vassar's students. Both surveys were conducted online. The surveys were intended primarily to gather general information on broad patterns of retail use, to gauge general sentiment about the district, and to gather suggestions for Arlington’s development, and therefore neither of these surveys involved random-sample selection - in other words, each surveys was open to the entire survey population. The survey samples we collected are therefore not necessarily representative of the overall survey population (although the response rates for both surveys were quite substantial [TABLE 1]). Total survey population respondents __% Faculty, staff, administration 1190 248 21% Students 2,382 _Arlington retailers and reste 58 in = Survey respondents ‘The Community Land Us + Economies Group, LLC i PO Bor 2345 Anington. vigine 2202-0345. zozzsaizi2 | 2023184605 F ‘wunwecluegroun.com‘Among the survey's outcomes: Both groups of survey respondents have similar preferences among Arlington's restaurants - Baby Cakes Bakery Café, Beech Tree Grill, Dutch Cabin, Miss Saigon Restaurant, Pizzeria Uno’s. Students also give high scores to the Acropolis Diner, FresCo Tortillas, Julie’s, and Tony's Trattoria. Faculty, staff and administration are more familiar with the district’s non- restaurant retall businesses than students, and they are significantly more likely to like them, Nonetheless, the percentages of all survey respondents who report never having visited the district's non-restaurant retail businesses Is very high ~ 79 percent of faculty, staff and administration have never visited the John Lane Gallery, for example, and 94 percent of students have never visited Zimmer Brothers. Faculty, staff and administration report spending almost twice as much In an average week in Arlington businesses as students do. Average amount spent weekly Faculty, staff, and administration Students ‘On campus. ____ $48.96. __$ 51.21 “Adlington 7 66.58 . Elsewhere in Poughkeepsie 202.18, In other communities 245.31 ‘Online 99.38 ‘TABLE 2: Survey respondents’ estimates of average weekly purchases There are mixed opinions about the possibility of moving the campus bookstore to Arlington, with about one-half of faculty/staff/administration respondents and about one-third of students supporting a move. No more than one-third of either group opposes a move. More than 20 percent of each group is undecided. Incidentally, the College's faculty, staff and administration report having most recently purchased a book online (38.4 percent) or elsewhere in Poughkeepsie (31.6 percent); only 11.4 percent last purchased a book on campus and only 6.8 percent in Arlington. Over half of the students, however, report having most recently bought a book on campus.Would you be supportive of the campus a bookstore moving to Arlington? Faculty, staff and administration Students 37.4% 33.2% He eo Sa TABLE 3: Survey respondents’ opinions about the possibility of moving the campus bookstore to Arington * A llarge majority of respondents to both surveys prefer a mix of national retailers and Independent retailers. Fewer than one percent prefer that the district have predominantly national retailers. * A large majority of respondents to both surveys are supportive of the Juliet being used for film exhibition again, with a minority supporting the idea if a new home can be found for the current tenant. Would you like the Juliet to be a a movie theatre again? Faculty, staff and administration Students 68.4% 71.5% billiards can be relocated 10.1% 15.0% a 3.6% 3.0% Gest dg ane EER Oe 5.7%, 4.6% urvey respondents’ opinions about the possiblity of using the Juliet as a movie theatre again We are in the process of conducting a third survey - a survey of Arlington retail businesses and restaurants - that will provide us with Information on current retail sales levels in the district, on customer origins, on rent levels, and on other key factors. We are conducting this survey In collaboration with the Arlington Business Improvement District. Buying power: We have made preliminary estimates of the retall buying power of Vassar’s faculty, staff and: administration; Vassar’s students; neighborhood residents; and Poughkeepsie (town and city) residents.