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Vienna touts low vacancy and Restaurant Week boost; council asks for more business follow-up
Summary
Economic development staff reported a 3% town commercial vacancy, said Vienna Restaurant Week drew 45 participants and produced about a $45,000 meals-tax bump; council asked for broader business outreach, more survey responses and consideration of a second or themed follow-up event.
Nicole Toulouse, the town's director of economic development, opened the spring update with a market snapshot and program reviews. Toulouse said the town's commercial vacancy rate is about 3.0 (down from 3.2) and the average asking rent is about $34.72 per square foot. She cited an Avison Young figure that the regional office vacancy rate sits near 22.5 percent, noting Vienna's market remains strong relative to the region.
Toulouse and Ashley Curtis, who co-presented the Vienna Restaurant Week report, walked the council through participation and marketing metrics. The program attracted 45 participating restaurants this year; 11 of those businesses returned post-event surveys. Curtis summarized survey highlights: “everyone indicated some increase in number of customers,” and all but one respondent reported higher average gross receipts. Toulouse said the town recorded roughly a $45,000 meals-tax increase during the restaurant-week period and that the department paid about $25,000 for marketing for this single event (staff estimated a second similar event would cost around $40,000).
Council members pressed staff on methodology and local impact. A council member asked how vacancy was calculated; Toulouse said the data were geofenced to town commercial areas (Maple Avenue, corporate park, Cedar Lane) rather than a broader regional label. Another councilor who visited restaurants during the week cautioned the week's direct revenue numbers undercount the longer-term benefit of attracting new customers: “What's important to the restaurants ... is that we saw new faces,” said the business owner quoted by a councilor, explaining repeat visits capture more of the program's value.
Several council members recommended additional outreach to participants who did not complete the survey and suggested exploring a second event or a differently themed, smaller follow-up (for example a dessert or cocktail week). Toulouse said staff would compile additional business feedback and make presentation materials available on the town website for future reference.
The presentation concluded with staff plans to track website and social analytics, continue business visits and to show results at the Vienna Economic Summit later in the week. Council members asked staff to include a restaurant-week question in the next statistically valid resident survey so the town can better measure resident awareness and sentiment.
The council did not take formal action; staff will continue outreach and return with additional data.
