The economics are in favor of the small-box retailer, having to spend less on your lease rate means you can spend more on marketing, inventory management, customer management and of course less staffing.

What had been a moribund downtown now throbs with life each workday, and that activity has also spurred a multifamily development boom.

With the DRI award, New Rochelle will connect its evolving and prosperous city center with the mile-long Lincoln Avenue Corridor that contains mixed-income residential housing, a newly renovated hospital, green space, a Metro North Train Station and part of the city's Arts and Cultural District.