Mixed-Use
Four experts examine the trends affecting urban mixed-use development, including near-term development prospects, the best sources of financing, and the right mix of uses. Read what one considers the biggest game changer, and learn about the impact advances in social/interactive technologies may have on the sector.
The emergence of a new flavor of public/private partnership, sponsored by the Atlanta Housing Authority, has propelled the revitalization of dozens of housing project venues. Those partnerships, unprecedented among housing authorities at the time, have evolved into highly effective development enterprises over almost two decades. Read what caused the angst that triggered the transformation.
Transit-oriented development (TOD) has gained popularity as a sustainable form of urban growth. Creating a mix of mid-rise buildings and activities around a rail station, interlacing the site with pedestrian amenities, is one of the best antidotes to car-dependent sprawl. Read about the new ultra–environmentally friendly version of TOD that is taking form in several global cities.
Affordable workforce housing will play a key role in the post-recession economy, said ULI chief executive officer Patrick Phillips at a workforce housing forum hosted earlier this month in Orlando by the ULI Terwilliger Center for Workforce Housing. Listen to what Phillips sees as signs of life in the housing recovery and what the challenges are to providing the right mix of housing.
When Underhill Associates was converting an apartment complex into condominiums in the early 2000s, the firm’s partners saw the Camelot Shopping Center across the street continue its decline. Read how, with a focus on locally owned businesses, the Louisville, Kentucky, developer was able to turn the aging retail center into Westport Village, a pedestrian-friendly lifestyle center.
During the economic downturn, a number of mixed-use developments have failed—because they were built in places where there was not enough housing density, had rents that were too high, or featured bad design or the wrong complement of uses. Trey Morsbach, senior managing director of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, however, sees opportunity. Read what he says can be done to turn these projects around.
South Los Angeles, known for urban blight, high unemployment, and poverty, has a new bird’s-eye view of affordable housing. Adams and Central, a mixed-use project, has been built by developer Meta Housing Corporation at the intersection of East Adams Boulevard and Central Avenue, a major traffic hub in a former ghost town of run-down buildings, incompatible land uses, and underused lots.
Two years ago, a new mixed-use project at 14th and W streets, N.W., in Washington, D.C., was on the verge of development—until the credit markets collapsed. Today, 14W, which comprises 178 apartments, 170 below-grade parking spaces, and a 44,000-square-foot YMCA facility, is rising once again. Find out how a new joint venture and a multiyear delay actually helped 14W spring back to life.
As chronic weakness continues in U.S. greenfield development markets, inner-city regeneration remains a relative bright spot—and indications are that it is getting brighter. Adaptive use projects are getting particular attention, thanks in part to increasing government incentives. Read what industry changes are thought capable of altering the development environment permanently.
Employing an approach that includes new development and adaptive use, and that leverages its solid economic base and strong job growth, Nashville, Tennessee, is seeing successful redevelopment of both its urban core and waterfront. Read how projects ranging from for-rent workforce housing to mixed-use development to a convention center are poised to drive continued economic development in Music City.