New Urbanism Faces Many Hurdles, But Huge
Demand Encourages Developers
Worthy Challenge
By Maria Siakavellas for Multi-Housing News
NOVEMBER 10, 2003 -- From Florida to Virginia to Oregon to
California, communities flying the flag of New Urbanism are
gradually replacing formulaic multi-housing projects built merely
for density's sake.
But as popular as this design philosophy is becoming with architects
and developers, and as much as it is being enthusiastically received
by residents and civic officials alike, projects adhering to the
principles of New Urbanism are still somewhat rare, for a whole host
of reasons.
According to Art Lomenick, managing director of Trammell Crow
Co.(TCC), the emerging New Urbanism trend is such an enormous shift
in how communities are built and designed that it will take a
significant amount of time before it truly establishes itself as the
dominant development pattern.
"[The former development methods] are so hardwired into our economy
and systems that it is like turning a big oil tanker--it takes a
long time," Lomenick said.
Elizabeth Moule, principal of Moule & Polyzoides Architects and
Urbanists, and CEO of Meridian Properties, a development company
dedicated to New Urbanist infill development, listed a number of
factors that are proving prohibitive to private developers
interested in developing urbanist communities.
"There are still issues about financing these mixed-use projects
because so much of the lending world is oriented around loans for
single use," she said. Moule added that in many areas, local zoning
prohibits New Urbanist development: Many post-War zoning codes
dictate single-use zones and FAR-generated (floor-area-ratio)
density formulas that do not sufficiently allow buildings to
positively shape the public realm.
And for some private developers, the time and effort that must be
invested in working with municipalities to create well-linked,
interconnected and sustainable communities is exhausting. "A few
high-profile companies have said they will not be as involved [in
New Urbanist communities] because they've realized, as a lot of
developers have, that a big, master-planned project has got to have
municipal leadership to work," said Lomenick. "It has to be at the
city level. It is a very time consuming process, albeit a good one,
but it really needs municipalities' taking the lead, not private
developers."
A number of private developers have attempted to function as master
developer. But assuming the broad-based responsibilities that come
with managing a large, mixed-use project can be very difficult,
especially for development companies used to specializing in one
type of project--whether apartment, office or retail.
The task, however, is hardly impossible, and the potential payoffs
are enormous for those that succeed. Indeed, TCC is allocating
significant manpower and capital to act as master developer on a
number of master planned communities that blend office, retail,
housing, civic venues and public spaces. In addition, the company
has introduced a wholly owned subsidiary, High Street Residential,
to orchestrate all residential developments within these New
Urbanism communities.
As a result, TCC, in conjunction with High Street Residential, can
work with those struggling to juggle all the htmects of a New
Urbanist project by operating as a master developer and partner; or
a co-developer; or a consultant. "Trammell Crow has definitely taken
a big stand on being a supporter and champion of this development
pattern," Lomenick said.
State legislatures, too, are looking for ways to help foster New
Urbanism. Some states, such as Florida, have even initiated
smart-growth ordinances to influence decisions made by individual
municipalities. "The states are telling municipalities: 'If you want
any help from the state, we want New Urbanism,'" Lomenick said.
He added that Austin, Texas has enforced a Smart Growth/New Urbanist
zoning overlay throughout the city. The city policy allows for true
mixed uses of land on one parcel, while eliminating or discouraging
certain non-desirable uses (encouraged uses include retail, office
and residential). Developers who take advantage of the overlay can
benefit from a streamlined permitting process and reduced permit and
developer fees.
Booming Demand
While the process involved in creating New Urbanist communities is
laden with obstacles, the huge demand for this style of living all
but guarantees that more and more developers will undertake these
projects, whatever the challenges.
For example, 73 million Echo Boomers--individuals now between the
ages of six and 23--are just beginning their en masse entry into the
multi-housing marketplace (and will continue to flood it with
tenants for the next 30 years), according to Lend Lease Real Estate
Investments' America's Real Estate Megatrends for the Decade. And
this gigantic demographic group brings a whole new set of
expectations and a desire for an urban lifestyle.
"The Echo Boomers are starting to come into focus as a big market
force with developers," said Thomas C. Brink, vice president and
senior designer with RTKL Associates Inc., an architecture firm with
a New Urbanism focus. "And they seem to have more environmental
awareness, and the whole concept of green architecture and green
development seems to be a trend that fits into the concept of New
Urbanism, which is more finely grained in denser communities so that
residents can walk somewhere."
Today, many urbanist communities are most attractive to singles and
childless couples. In many municipalities, the New Urbanist
communities lack adequate school systems and so families tend to
stay away. "Right now, many urbanist communities don't have schools
to support [families], they don't have municipal venues, and the
overall support system is not there yet," Lomenick explained.
But when the infrastructure is put in place, as it almost assuredly
will be, then families, too, will represent another large pool of
New Urbanist renters. For instance, in established urban centers,
such as the north side of Chicago, numerous families live in
walkable, dense communities because there are parks, retail
establishments, schools and churches. "All of the support systems
are already in place [in Chicago]. In the newer, younger American
cities, such as Dallas or Atlanta, the support system is not yet
there, otherwise families would be there in a heartbeat," Lomenick
stated.
Principals' Principles
The basic tenets of New Urbanism have been extensively publicized,
and the essence of the concept is known to many. "New Urbanism is
pretty much mainstream knowledge now. You can go from Grand Rapids,
Mich. to Los Angeles, and people are going to know the terms
associated with New Urbanism," Lomenick added.
But just because most developers and architects are familiar with
the basics, it doesn't mean they have all the knowledge necessary to
execute a successful project. First and foremost, according to some
of the most active and expert New Urbanism players, there must be an
understanding that the housing component is the ultimate key.
"Whether there is an attachment to retail or an office core, housing
is the fabric that serves to stitch these uses together," said Paris
M. Rutherford IV, vice president of RTKL Associates.
For Maurice Walters, principal of Torti Gallas and Partners, an
architecture firm known for its New Urbanism expertise, integrating
the multi-housing component of an urbanist community is critical to
its success. "We've done a few [projects] within larger traditional
neighborhood developments and to weave them into that neighborhood
is important--to continue street grids and make it feel like [the
project] fits right into the larger neighborhood so the community
becomes the amenity," Walters said.
And while housing is essential, so is the art and science involved
in attaining the right mix of uses. According to Lomenick, the most
successful communities, the ones that are truly sustainable,
maintain a balance of residential, retail and office, where no one
of these uses dominates. "Those are the communities that are
sustainable, authentic and will stand the test of time," he said,
adding that a critical mass of residential use is key. "There is a
general rule of thumb that you probably want at least 5,000
residents within a walkable range. That is what I would say
constitutes a successful project."
Neighborhoods should also be designed to elicit a sense of
diversity. Torti Gallas, for example, creates a variety of building
types at different price points and styles to accommodate different
lifestyles and enhance a sense of community.
In addition, the firm focuses significant attention on allowing
residents to participate in the street experience as opposed to
isolating them within corridors and behind gates. "We try to give
everyone a sense of individual participation in the street as much
as possible. We give them doors that open onto the street, porches
that face the street--so they have an address and a sense of living
within a community," Walters said.
Studies in Success
Torti Gallas has worked on a number of urbanist projects as of late;
the firm recently designed three such communities on behalf of
Pritzker Realty Group. In the Centergate at King Farm, a 578-unit
transit-oriented development, Torti Gallas combined a mix of high-
and low-density apartment units in a traditional neighborhood
design. Buildings there front the streets as townhouses and
Charleston Houses (triplex, three-story units), Manor Houses
(three-story, nine-unit corner structures) and garden apartments.
The neighborhood is part of the larger, master-planned community of
King Farm in Rockville, Md., for which Torti Gallas acted as town
planner. The 440-acre community houses a total of 3,200 residential
units, 3.17 million square feet of office space and 125,000 square
feet of retail space. King Farm was designed to encourage street
activity, use of multiple forms of transportation (pedestrian,
bicycle, automobiles, buses, light rail), reduced dependency on the
automobile, coherent streetscapes and emphasis on open space.
The Centergate at Celebration in Orlando, Fla., part of Disney's
master-planned town, incorporates a variety of building types on a
50-acre site. "We created a neighborhood there with a network of
streets and six different building types for different lifestyles
and price points," Walters said. "Overlaid on that were four
architectural styles to give the community diversity."
Most recently, Torti Gallas designed the Baldwin Park Town Center on
the site of the former Orlando Naval Training Center. The project
consists of two components: A 55-acre site comprised of 1,200
housing units; and the Town Center containing 300,000 square feet of
retail and another 1,200 units, including for-sale, loft, rental,
townhouse and manor house units.
"Baldwin Park was quite innovative and it did break down the
barriers: There are single-family for-sale homes and apartments side
by side," Walters said. "Within other projects, you'd have to cross
a street and enter either a rental or for-sale community. [Here],
for-sale and rental are integrated on the same block."
For RTKL, one of the most significant urbanist projects has been
Addison Circle in Addison, Texas. The 120-acre district was once
little more than a cotton field. But in the early 1990s, with plenty
of tax revenue at hand, the Addison community envisioned the idea of
a neighborhood core and a venue to host various special events.
"Out of that was born the idea of a town center, which was primarily
multifamily, because the community had a secondary goal of building
their nighttime population, since there were nearby day workers but
not a lot of residents," said Rutherford. "It was about bringing
smart density to one of the last remaining large parcels of
undeveloped land in north Texas."
RTKL designed a high-density, mixed-use urban residential district
to support 3,500 residential units and up to four million square
feet of office, hotel and retail space. The 4.3-mile Addison Circle
now boasts approximately 1,350 residential units, over a dozen
hotels, nearly 150 restaurants and various entertainment options.
And the town is still growing. "Having this 120-acre master plan has
been a great roadmap for the town. Just two weeks ago they
inaugurated a $7 million park that will be the third public park the
city has paid for and which is surrounded by multifamily units,"
said Brink. "Now we are onto planning the fourth phase, which
includes a small 1.4-acre park where the city and the developer are
working hand-in-hand designing the multifamily component and the
park."
Story reproduced here courtesy of Multi-Housing News
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