TEDAtlanta - Ryan Gravel - Building the City We Want to Live In

Ryan Gravel, the orginator of the Atlanta Beltline concept speaks on how his plan came into being and it is now becoming a reality. Once completed, the Beltline will make huge strides in making Atlanta a great city and not solely a poster-child for urban sprawl.

Moody's Predicts Construction Jobs in Florida to Boom

From: St. Petersburg Times Posted on: November 11, 2010

Will Florida see construction jobs boom? Moody's says yes, others, no

Boynton Beach trolley set to ride off into sunset

Boynton Beach trolley set to ride off into sunset

CNU - FLORIDA Press Release Regarding Amendment 4

The Congress For New Urbanism, Florida Chapter, released the following press release last evening (November 2, 2010) in response the Amendment 4:

PRESS RELEASE


CNU-Orlando: Amendment 4 a "Wake-up Call to End Sprawl"

ORLANDO, Nov. 2, 2010 -- “The people of Florida have given us a second chance to do better planning. Now it’s time to deliver. The massive effort and financial resources needed to defeat Amendment 4 are a wake-up call to local governments and developers to end the sprawl that congests our roads, endangers pedestrians, and chokes off transportation alternatives,” said Eliza Harris, director of Orlando’s regional division of the Congress for the New Urbanism (“CNU”). Amendment 4 would have required popular votes to amend local government comprehensive land use plans.

CNU Orlando’s Advisory Committee is urging local governments to revise their comprehensive plans to make walkable development--instead of sprawl--the default development pattern. “To avoid future proposals like Amendment 4, local governments need to fundamentally change their required development patterns. Miami and Denver did so this year by replacing their zoning codes with SmartCodes and some local jurisdictions like the City of Orlando have started to create space in their regulations for walkable neighborhoods. Local governments in Central Florida should revise their Comprehensive Plans to enable form-based codes and mixed-use, walkable neighborhoods.”

Over the past several decades, the real estate market has seen a significant shift back to living in our downtowns and compact walkable neighborhoods. The market demanded an alternative to compartmentalized, vehicle-centric suburbs. The real estate industry responded with downtown revitalization and New Urbanist communities. Amendment 4 threatened to stop this progress by freezing Comprehensive Plans that often mandate sprawl development in their current dysfunctional state.

“If voters had approved Amendment 4 twenty years ago, nationally recognized examples of good development like Celebration (comprehensive plan update Dec 13 1993) and Baldwin Park (1997 and 1998 updates), based on principles of New Urbanism, may never have been built.

Amendment 4’s simplistic approach would have:

· Discouraged adoption of new standards that promote and support urban, compact, walkable, and transit oriented developments and sustainable economies, which conserve resources and enrich property values over time; and

· Encouraged sprawl by giving an advantage to poorly located and designed development already approved in many comprehensive plans.

“We are grateful the voters realized that Amendment 4 was not the answer,” said Harris. “However, Amendment 4 expressed a very real frustration with growth patterns in Florida, a frustration that New Urbanists share.”

CNU -Florida Position on Amendment #4

"The CNU Orlando Advisory Committee encourages you to vote NO on AMENDMENT 4 tomorrow. The Advisory Committee believes that Amendment 4 could constitute a serious setback to furthering the principles of the New Urbanism in Florida.




Over the past several decades, there has been a significant shift back to living in our central cities and compact walkable neighborhoods. The market has demanded an alternative to the compartmentalized, vehicle-centric suburbs and the real estate industry has responded with urban revitalization and New Urban communities. Amendment 4 threatens to stop this progress and freeze outdated Comprehensive Plans that mandate development patterns in their current dysfunctional state. If Amendment 4 had been approved 20 years ago, wonderful urban communities like Celebration (plan update Dec 13 1993) and Baldwin Park (1997 and 1998) that now serve as nationally recognized examples of good development may never have been built. The obstacles to needed approvals would have been too great, including a required vote by the entire electorate of Osceola County and the City of Orlando, respectively.



Amendment 4 expresses a very real frustration with growth patterns in Florida, a frustration that New Urbanists share and have been working to find and promote solutions to for last 20 years. However, the Amendment 4 proposal is not the best or proper solution to growth management in Florida.



Amendment 4 would require that all Comprehensive Plan updates--including land use map changes, policy changes to outdated requirements and the addition of new, better standards--would go to costly public votes. This brings up many challenges. Amendment 4 proposes a single solution to a complex and important set of issues that face communities on a daily basis. This simplistic approach will have numerous unintended consequences that may serve as a roadblock to increased application of the principles of New Urbanism.



• It would discourage adoption of new standards that promote and support urban, compact, walkable and transit oriented developments and sustainable economies which conserve and enrich property values over time.



• It could encourage parochial and potentially short-sighted decisions.



• It could actually increase the influence of special interests by encouraging aggressive public relations and media campaigns to sway the electorate.



• It could encourage sprawl by privileging poorly located and designed development that is already in many approved comprehensive plans over better development plans that respond to the changing market but have not yet been incorporated into local plans (including infill projects like Baldwin Park).



• It will cause growth issues to be addressed on a piecemeal basis, without consideration of the number of factors that go to supporting more holistic solutions.



• It cannot guarantee better land use planning.



Amendment 4 is not the answer. Local comprehensive plans are intended to evolve over time as a community grows and matures. Amendment 4 encourages the status quo, which in many communities and counties will mean a low density, sprawling pattern of development.



For these reasons, CNU Orlando Advisory Committee urges you to VOTE NO on AMENDMENT 4.



As always the defining document of the New Urbanism and CNU Orlando is the Charter of the New Urbanism: http://www.cnu.org/charter. "

Livable Streets

A great video on "Livable Streets".

Professional Builder – September 2010 : Mastering Mixed-Use Housing

A good article from Professional Builder  magazine regarding Mixed-Use housing.

Professional Builder – September 2010 : Mastering Mixed-Use Housing

New zoning may change Buckhead - Atlanta Business Chronicle

The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports that Buckhead, Atlanta's up-scale residential, office and retail neighborhood, is proposing zoning changes to facilitate New Urbanist principles and development.

 New zoning may change Buckhead - Atlanta Business Chronicle

Why The Political "Right" Should Embrace Transit In Cities

The following article in The American Conservative by John Norquist, former Democratic Mayor of Milwaukee, and current President of the Congress for New Urbanism, is an interesting perspective on why conservatives should refocus thier spending toward transit in urban areas.

URBAN OUTFITTERS

Palmetto Park City Center - Boca Raton, FL

Ram Realty Services unveils its plans for Palmetto Park City Center at E. Palmetto Park Road and Federal Highway. Palmetto Park City Center will be a vibrant mixed use in-fill development in the heart of Boca Raton, Fl. See the links below for more detail.

Ram Realty Services Debuts Palmetto Park City Center


Palmetto Park City Center PDF/Brochure

Palm Beach County wants to force ugly strip mall to beautify; property owners upset

Palm Beach County is taking steps toward creating a more pedestrian friendly environment and embracing the principals of New Urbanism along Military Trail.

Palm Beach County wants to force ugly strip mall to beautify; property owners upset

GM Doraville, New Broad Street deal dead - Atlanta Business Chronicle

The Dekalb County Commissioners voted against funding New Broad Street's proposal to redevelop the GM plant site in Doraville. This is a signature site that when developed could become a signature property in the County and a poster child for well executed in-fill mixed use development, generating significant tax revenue for the County. Unquestionably, New Broad Street has the ability to create a desirable development. However, the majority of the commissioners fail to see the long term benefit of the project and act in a nature showing more concern about their postions than for the long term benefit of the County.
GM Doraville, New Broad Street deal dead - Atlanta Business Chronicle

Deal to redevelop GM Doraville: $110 million

Florida Real Estate Journal Reports Exisiting Home and Condo Sales Up in 2Q 2010

Florida's existing home, condo sales up in 2Q 2010

Inman Park Bank of America REO Site Closes

Minerva Properties recently purchased a Bank of America REO site in Inman Park, an upscale turn of the last century neighborhood within the City of Atlanta. The site is located at 768 Highland Avenue. It contains 4.86 acres and zoned PD-H but limited to 28 single family detached units. Parker Chandler Homes originally purchased and zoned the site. There is, and was at the time of rezoning, a precedent in the area for a much higher density but the Inman Park neighborhood association fought hard and won the site plan specific zoning that was approved. The original principal amount of the Security Deed was $4,851,235.00 and the property was foreclosed for the amount of $3,800,000.00. The site had been on the market for over a year with an asking price of $3 million. The sales price was $1.425 million.

A Minerva representative, with whom I spoke, said they are going to attempt to rezone the site for townhomes. It will be interesting to see if Inman Park and the City allow that to happen. The permitted F.A.R. is up to 0.696. Therefore, if the site plan limitation in the zoning was removed the site would allow for approximately 150,000 square feet of developable floor area. There is a significant precedence in the area for more dense midrise apartment and condominium development.

The site is along the proposed Beltline and along a section of Highland Avenue with many great shops and restaurants.

Coda Homes of New Urban Communities: a Love Story

This is a very clever marketing video for an awesome infill townhome community, CODA, developed by New Urban Communities in Delray Beach, Florida.

Imagining A New Florida

Produced by WPBT2 in Miami in conjunction with the Florida Humanities Council,Imagining A New Florida is an excellent program documenting the unprecedented growth of Florida over the past decades, and how the development patterns centered around the automobile and sprawl have created a lack of community. This doucumentary looks at the past, present and future and explores what can be done to promote a better sense of community in the future.

To watch the progam click on the following link: Imagining A New Florida.

AMLI acquires ALTA Old Fourth Ward

AMLI purchased ALTA Old Fourth Ward from the lender of the apartment complex, CSE Mortgage LLC. The historic Old Fourth Ward, just east of downtown Atlanta, is a neighborhood that has seen significant redevelopment and infill over the past several years. The acquisition allows AMLI to take advantage of the continuing growth of the neighborhood by acquiring a well conceived project at a great price.

Amli buys into Old Fourth Ward - Atlanta Business Chronicle

The link to the following article from Builder Magazine highlights a recent study by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) indicating a growing demand for infill housing.

Article: INFILL INVASION

Waterfront Commons - West Palm Beach, Florida

Over the past several years, the City of West Palm Beach, Florida has made significant strides in becoming a world class waterfront city. The most well know infill development within the city boundary is City Place, which was developed by Related Companies, first opening to residents and shoppers approximately 10 years ago. Since then, numerous condominiums have been constructed and restaurants, shops and businesses have opened downtown. Clematis Street in particular has a vibrant night life. However, the City until recently was detached from its greatest natural asset, its waterfront. Lake Worth was cut off from downtown by a library, sea wall, and the non-pedestrian friendly, Flagler Drive. That has recently changed with the opening of Waterfront Commons, a $30 million project that was the dream of Mayor Frankel and implemented by the City of West Palm Beach. Although West Palm Beach, like many other cities, is reeling from a glut of unsold condos, the new park provides the open space that residents of a vibrant city require. Once the housing market corrects, the new waterfront park will be a catalyst that continues to fuel the renaissance of West Palm Beach. The following links, one from the City of West Palm Beach and the other from the Palm Beach Post give greater detail on the project.

West Palm Beach Waterfront History and Redevelopment Video

Palm Beach Posts Article On Waterfront Debut

The Lost Decade and the Future of Housing

The past decade could be said to have been the decade that never existed in many respects, and one that contained many events that we wish never happened including terrorism, tsunamis, hurricanes, and wars. The DOW closed on December 31, 1999 at 11,497.12 and in the following decade reached a peak of 14,164 on October 9, 2007 then proceeded to erase all of the gains of the previous seven years closing out the decade at 10,428.05. Homeownership rates in 1999 were at 66.8%; reached a height of 69% in 2004 and then down to 67.1% for the 1st quarter of 2010. With the record number of foreclosures happening and anticipated in the coming year this number will most likely continue to decrease. Housing starts in 1999 were 1,640,900. They reached a peak in 2005 with 2,068,300 starts, and have since dropped to 553,900 for 2009. The National Association of Home Builders forecasts only 991,000 starts for 2011, which is significantly below the historical national average.

During the past decade many strides were made in the way we develop housing and much attention was given to the demand for in-fill housing and the desire for pedestrian oriented built environments, but unfortunately, successful infill development was a small percentage of the number of homes built over the decade. The majority of housing continued in the tradition of urban sprawl that has been prevalent in America since World War II. The model of suburban neighborhood development that has been followed over the past 65 years filled a need and served its purpose for a time, but now is the time to change our patterns. Not only do demographic forecasts a major profile change of the American population, but the living and working environmental desires of the population are changing as well. Additionally, as good stewards of the world in which we live, we need to radically change how we inhabit the world and utilize its limited resources.

With the current lull in the housing industry, we are afforded an opportunity to look at what we build, how we build and for whom we build and radically alter how we do business in order to be better stewards of our environment and meet the changing demands of our customers. The baby boomers with kids that fueled the past several decades of housing in America will no longer be the dominate buyer profile in the marketplace. The future buyers have significantly different preferences than those of the past. Infill development will play a significant role in the “new” housing market. Richard Florida, in his March 2009 article in The Atlantic, does and excellent job of defining the changes ahead.