Downtown Raleigh Alliance

The primary goals of the storefront development program are to contribute to downtown raleigh's economic success by attracting new businesses to vacant storefronts, providing market data to attract new investment and employers, and offering new opportunities and resources to a diverse set of businesses and entrepreneurs. Dra monitors 10 pedestrian counters in downtown to measure foot traffic, helping to attract tenants and aid land use decisions. Dra continued its upfit grant with the goal of creating an incentive to attract new retail or aid in the expansion of existing retail in downtown raleigh. In partnership with the city of raleigh, our economic development staff actively works with retail brokers and landlords to fill storefront spaces in downtown. In fy24, 65 storefront businesses opened or significantly expanded in downtown, adding new jobs and expanding tax revenues. Dra continued its partnership with wake tech to provide pop-up space for minority- and women-owned retail businesses. The economic data and analysis tracked each year is translated into dra's state of downtown report. The report includes market trends, population data and projections, data on downtown development, and overviews of everything downtown. The report complements our state of downtown annual event, attended by over 500 of downtown's top business leaders and community members.dra also conducts planning and transportation initiatives to improve accessibility and connectivity in downtown related to bicycle, pedestrian, transit, and parking infrastructure. Dra provided community meetings and support for improvements in accessibility, changes to downtown parking, and advocacy for new bike lanes in downtown. In fy24, dra staff, in coordination with the city of raleigh and a team of consultants, managed a visioning process for the development of a new "downtown economic development strategy." recommendations from the strategy will guide new investment, programs, policies, and activations in downtown raleigh over the next five years.downtown raleigh alliance's marketing efforts share the organization's mission with our stakeholders, bring visibility to the organization and the downtown community, and position downtown raleigh as a vibrant city center.dra's communications channels include 14 organizational and program websites, 4 email newsletters, and social media accounts with more than 230,000 followers across facebook, instagram, x, and linkedin. An estimated 350+ businesses were promoted via these channels in more than 900 instances over the last year.marketing campaigns, including blogs to highlight cultural and affinity celebrations such as black history month and women's history month, retail promotions such as restaurant week and holiday hub, and event-specific promotions for first friday, illuminate art walk, live after 5, and others garnered nearly 1 million impressions across channels.

The balanced activations program serves as the face of the organization to the community. In fy24, downtown raleigh alliance hosted 16 outdoor events, attracting 40,000 attendees. The decrease in the number of outdoor events was due to the elimination of moore square market for various reasons.live after 5 is a summer concert series that takes place on the last wednesdays of the month from may to august. This year, it celebrated women in music, culminating in a finale with the national act sixpence none the richer. This music series also brings foot traffic to downtown restaurants mid-week and encourages downtown office workers to stay after work for a fun evening.other activations around downtown, such as the feminist first friday, illuminate art walk events, and jazz in the square, also drew heightened attention and interest from the community.

The beautification and connectivity program provides public art and beautification projects such as murals, along with initiatives to improve accessibility and connectivity in downtown, related to bicycle, pedestrian, and parking infrastructure. In fy24, dra added one mural to beautify areas throughout downtown. Dra also provided community meetings and support for improvements in accessibility, changes to downtown parking, and advocacy for new bike lanes in downtown.the primary goal of the advocacy & sustainability program is to bring together over 2,000 stakeholders and members that support dra's municipal services district to collaborate for the benefit of the city. Dra brings these groups together through town hall meetings, large corporate events, and by providing strategic resources to encourage growth in downtown raleigh. In fy24, dra held four virtual town halls called downtown rundowns.