Koya
Footballguy
It's been requested that we start a thread about something a few of us are directly involved within professionally and many others have expressed some interest in discussion. Namely, the growing market for live, work, learn, shop, play settings that provide for walkability, mobility options (biking, street car, light rail, commuter rail, heavy rail).
Let this be a catch all thread for discussions of design, architecture, transportation and, really, living and experiencing these environments.
For those who don't know, I am a developer and urban/suburban revitalization strategist who has worked on multi-billion dollar projects in the Northeast (Primarily Long Island, also New Rochelle, NY), about half a dozen of which are all about to enter the construction phase. I've parlayed that into forming my own strategic consulting firm, which is now entering into a partnership with a Town Planner/Urban Design and Development Strategies firm in Dallas.
Feel free to ask any questions, provide comments, whatever it may be.
Now, this expansive growth in mixed-used, walkable and (at times) transit oriented communities is not for everyone. There will always be a strong market desire for traditional single family homes and suburban landscapes... although those are adapting in ways whereby bedroom communities more and more demand having some "center" of activity, commerce and culture, be it a downtown, a town center, or whatever you wish to call it. However, we had built SO little urban product over the past 70 years since the end of WWII and the onset of suburbia and suburban sprawl that this market is terribly underserved.
The last 20 years have witnessed expansive growth and reinvestment into large urban cores - I call it the friends and seinfeld phenomenon. After cities decayed into blight, outside of select high end cores (like certain areas of manhattan), there was a huge pent up demand within Gen X (and very young boomers) to move into the city as a departure from their suburban upbringing. At the same time, older boomers who were looking to retire or downsize as empty nesters also wanted to live a more urban, walkable experience without reliance on the auto, the troubles of moving lawns, shoveling snow and the isolation that occurs in low density, single use environments (it's one thing when you have kids, you world revolves around school, PTA, church/synagogue and activities, when the kids go, it can get boring to say the least). As TV is often representative of new trends, you went from watching CHiPs and the Brady Bunch that idealized automobiles and suburbia to watching Friends and Seinfeld, ER and the like... within urban centers.
Over the past 20 years, the demand for city living has made many of these prime large core cities all but impossible from an affordability component. In addition, technologies like the internet, remote workplaces, better access to travel and the spread of urban amenities into less dense locations made it possible to have "most" of the benefits of urban living without the cost. This has created significant pent up demand for urban style living within suburban regions (often connected via transit to the major urban core). Now, we see that pushing into small towns and rural locations with downtown hubs, and that is where my expertise lies, along with my new business partner (I've done more urban/suburban, not much small town yet, but the market is beginning to grow - hell, it's the only walkable, cool building stock, mixed-use environment that artists can afford, which is one of the initial signals of a market shift in our industry).
To that end, there are growing areas that are trying to utilize what little vacant land they have to maximize growth potential and tie into transit lines, necessitating the creation of "urban nodes in suburbia" along with revitalizations of existing and often neglected downtowns. From both a strategic consulting and actual development perspective, that is my focus.
ANYhoo, with that as backdrop, discuss away.
Let this be a catch all thread for discussions of design, architecture, transportation and, really, living and experiencing these environments.
For those who don't know, I am a developer and urban/suburban revitalization strategist who has worked on multi-billion dollar projects in the Northeast (Primarily Long Island, also New Rochelle, NY), about half a dozen of which are all about to enter the construction phase. I've parlayed that into forming my own strategic consulting firm, which is now entering into a partnership with a Town Planner/Urban Design and Development Strategies firm in Dallas.
Feel free to ask any questions, provide comments, whatever it may be.
Now, this expansive growth in mixed-used, walkable and (at times) transit oriented communities is not for everyone. There will always be a strong market desire for traditional single family homes and suburban landscapes... although those are adapting in ways whereby bedroom communities more and more demand having some "center" of activity, commerce and culture, be it a downtown, a town center, or whatever you wish to call it. However, we had built SO little urban product over the past 70 years since the end of WWII and the onset of suburbia and suburban sprawl that this market is terribly underserved.
The last 20 years have witnessed expansive growth and reinvestment into large urban cores - I call it the friends and seinfeld phenomenon. After cities decayed into blight, outside of select high end cores (like certain areas of manhattan), there was a huge pent up demand within Gen X (and very young boomers) to move into the city as a departure from their suburban upbringing. At the same time, older boomers who were looking to retire or downsize as empty nesters also wanted to live a more urban, walkable experience without reliance on the auto, the troubles of moving lawns, shoveling snow and the isolation that occurs in low density, single use environments (it's one thing when you have kids, you world revolves around school, PTA, church/synagogue and activities, when the kids go, it can get boring to say the least). As TV is often representative of new trends, you went from watching CHiPs and the Brady Bunch that idealized automobiles and suburbia to watching Friends and Seinfeld, ER and the like... within urban centers.
Over the past 20 years, the demand for city living has made many of these prime large core cities all but impossible from an affordability component. In addition, technologies like the internet, remote workplaces, better access to travel and the spread of urban amenities into less dense locations made it possible to have "most" of the benefits of urban living without the cost. This has created significant pent up demand for urban style living within suburban regions (often connected via transit to the major urban core). Now, we see that pushing into small towns and rural locations with downtown hubs, and that is where my expertise lies, along with my new business partner (I've done more urban/suburban, not much small town yet, but the market is beginning to grow - hell, it's the only walkable, cool building stock, mixed-use environment that artists can afford, which is one of the initial signals of a market shift in our industry).
To that end, there are growing areas that are trying to utilize what little vacant land they have to maximize growth potential and tie into transit lines, necessitating the creation of "urban nodes in suburbia" along with revitalizations of existing and often neglected downtowns. From both a strategic consulting and actual development perspective, that is my focus.
ANYhoo, with that as backdrop, discuss away.
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