DENVER-Downtown Denver Partnership Inc. is contracting for what is likely the most comprehensive retail study ever in the group's five-year history. A partnership with the Denver Business Improvement District, the city's economic development department and the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority is financing a $98,000 retail impact study.

The partnership hired Brad Segal of Denver-based Progressive Urban Management Associates, or PUMA, and Phil Boname, principal of Urbanics Consultants Ltd., of Vancouver, BC to conduct the study.

"I think we would be hard-pressed to find another research report on retail that is this ambitious," Cindy Christensen, the partnerships economic development director, tells GlobeSt.com. "We've looked back and we have done some smaller retail projects, but nothing of this magnitude."

In the retail demand study, downtown employees, residents and retailers, retail brokers and visitors will be surveyed to find out where they shop and what they would buy if it were available Downtown, she tells GlobeSt.com. "For example, it many people assume what we need Downtown is a department store," she says. "But would people really shop at a stand-alone department store, if it were available?"

The purpose of the study won't just be to generate a lot of data, consultant Segal tells GlobeSt.com. "There will be a strong emphasis on the strategic use of our findings," he tells GlobeSt.com.

Boname agrees. He's no stranger to Denver. He advised boutiques in Cherry Creek North, three miles southeast of Downtown, about 15 years ago when the Taubman Co. was getting ready to open its 1-million-sf shopping center, one of the most successful in the country. "The thought was that the Cherry Creek Shopping Center would be like a tsunami sweeping over Cherry Creek North," Boname tells GlobeSt.com.

He says the title of the report is somewhat of a misnomer. "It's referred to as the Downtown retail demand study, but in fact, that may be somewhat of a limiting title," he tells GlobeSt.com. "We plan to come up with some strategies that go well beyond forecasting. We're going to advise on the implementation of the strategies and how to improve the vitality of the Downtown retail experience. Some specific outputs will be ideas for new leasing plans, tenant mix concepts and at least three phases of timelines. We will also provide some specific developments and initiatives and make some strong recommendations on how to retain existing retailers and recruit new ones."