Credit: Tyler HickmanVisitation is on the rise in downtown Boulder, but it still lags from pre-pandemic numbers. Read Part 2 ("Don't call it a comeback for downtown Boulder restaurants") and Part 3 ("High costs and a changing culture are keeping workers and energy out of downtown"). “She always said, ‘I don’t do marketing.’ Now we have a marketing budget.”Empty restaurants have become a post-COVID hallmark of downtown Boulder. “Before COVID, a restaurant could have three or four separate seatings,” said Bettina Swigger, CEO of the Downtown Boulder Partnership. Office space in downtown Boulder rents for $28 per square foot, compared to $17 in East Boulder and $16 in Longmont.