09/14/2025
Six Questions to Ask Before Developing Policies for Commercial Corridors
Commercial corridors are as diverse as the communities they traverse. Recent planning studies on the North, West and Northwest Sides of Chicago sought to better understand the features that make corridors what they are, and identify strategies that best support them and their role in communities. The questions below rose to the forefront across the board during planning efforts for Chicago’s varied corridors — from those located in Rogers Park and Uptown on the North Side, to Austin and Little Village on the West Side, and to Avondale and Edison Park on the Northwest Side.
What is the corridor’s role in your community? Does the corridor function as a destination for visitors throughout the region and tourists, or does it serve the everyday needs of nearby residents? The extent of a corridor’s reach gives us insight into its potential to draw visitors. Changing the reach of a corridor results from incremental change, and takes time to evolve, even with a major investment. Still, understanding the corridor’s reach, and thus role in its community, is key to understanding how it functions and how to best support its vitality.
Northwest Highway in Edison Park. Credit: SB Friedman Development Advisors, LLC |
What are the characteristics of retail properties in the corridor? Does the corridor predominantly have storefront spaces in buildings constructed a century ago? What about strip centers from the 1950s and ‘60s? Does it have larger shopping centers built more recently? Or is it a mix of all of the above? The types of tenants that occupy retail spaces could vary greatly depending on this context. Smaller businesses often use older spaces, which, depending on the market, can offer lower rents. However, older spaces may make it challenging for businesses to offer nearby parking, and may require pricier building upkeep. Established businesses and chains are more likely to need larger spaces, and can pay higher rents associated with newer space and/or space in busier areas.
Is the pedestrian’s experience a draw or deterrent?
As people have shifted to online shopping over the past 15 years, successful businesses in physical retail spaces have adapted to focus on providing meaningful in-store experiences. A business that gets many in-person visitors, whether a restaurant, boutique or entertainment / recreation space, is successfully creating an experience that cannot be easily replicated online. The same holds true for commercial corridors. Is the corridor interesting, accessible, and safe to walk along? Can you easily see what businesses are across the street and cross easily? Do you feel like you want to spend more time there? Is there a critical mass of businesses that serve a variety of wants and needs within an arms reach, or are they sparse? If the pedestrian experience is a challenge, it may be worth considering actionable streetscaping improvements, such as bulb-outs, or temporary activation strategies, like pop-up markets, to make the corridor more engaging.
Within the corridor, are there key spots with existing concentrations of businesses? A corridor could have consistent and extensive business activity throughout it. Or, especially if it is more local-serving, there might be key nodes of activity that seem to have all the action, while other parts might be sleepy. Along corridors where there are pockets of activity interspersed between slower areas, it is important that any commercial-related strategies focus on those existing pockets rather than spreading resources too thin along the entire corridor. Businesses and visitors are already there!
How much real estate investment is being funneled into the corridor? Is investment associated with a public or institutional entity, or is it market-driven? If market-based investment is occurring, whether through new construction development or renovations/rehabs, it signals that market interest could be leveraged to advance your goals for the corridor. The market could be strong enough to meet community goals without significant public intervention, aside from thoughtful land use and urban design policy, of course. This can be a double-edged sword: despite the benefits of market investment, it could also lead to rising costs for existing residents and businesses and a need for policies to protect against displacement. If a corridor has not seen significant investment, more strategic public support may be needed to catalyze future private investment.
| Howard Street in Rogers Park. Credit: City of Chicago |
How much housing is close to the corridor? The number of residents that live near a corridor increases the potential customer base for corridor businesses (also referred to as consumer buying power). The key to adding more residents is to allow more housing. Nearby residents are especially important for neighborhood-serving corridors with a limited reach. Housing density of these residential areas, and household incomes of residents also impact the consumer buying power available to a corridor.
Considering these questions provides a bird’s-eye-view understanding of a corridor’s position and can help inform what goals for the corridor are appropriate and what public-led strategies could be most effective.
If these questions got you thinking, check out the “Supporting Economic Vitality across Chicago’s Commercial Corridors” panel at the 2025 APA-IL State Conference at 9:15 am on Wednesday, October 8!
Author: Samantha Moskol, Project Manager at SB Friedman
SB Friedman is a team of data-driven analysts, civic-minded planners, and implementation-focused problem solvers who work closely with public, private and institutional clients across the country. We are eager to tackle various land use and development issues and establish plans, strategies and partnerships to overcome them. Our primary objective is to assist our clients in achieving their economic development goals. For more information, contact Samantha Moskol, AICP.
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