(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2023-04)
Cena, Kortney
The “missing middle” usually refers to underutilized and over-regulated housing typologies. However, commercial real estate offers a similar batch of missing middle typologies. Small, more affordable commercial spaces are often not built, or allowed, in many cities across the US due to restrictive and out-dated Euclidean-style zoning. The lack of these spaces most heavily impacts small businesses and start-ups, who require small, low-risk, and low-cost spaces. However, the echoes of these impacts reach much wider. This paper explores the history and impacts the commercial missing middle in cities across the US, develops a methodology to analyze a locality's commercial spaces, applies this methodology to a case study, Aurora, CO, and finally, offers some strategies on how localities can begin to fill the commercial missing middle gap and further support their local business scene.