catherine retail

The recently completed two-block mixed-use development at Lincoln and Colorado has struggled with vacant ground-level retail due to its irregular commercial footprints. Reframing this condition as an opportunity rather than a constraint, the proposal introduces restaurant programs with generous outdoor seating to reconceptualize the ground level as an active social landscape. By converting underperforming retail bays into destination dining environments, the project injects movement, visibility, and human presence into the street edge—transforming the frontage into a porous civic threshold that the local community will not only use, but seek out. The strategy positions hospitality as an urban catalyst, turning previously inert space into a vibrant public interface capable of anchoring neighborhood life and reactivating the district at scale.

Work completed while at Nadel Architects.