2010 ULI Fall Meeting Presentation October 14, 2010 3:15 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

1. Abandoned or underperforming commercial proper2es provide opportuni2es
for transforma2onal change. This shows the over 4 mil s.f. of vacant space in
metro Atlanta in 2009.

2. space for community-serving
uses that cannot afford new
construction
“third places”
food as a catalyst for
neighborhood revitalization
keep the lights on
strategy:
Re-inhabitation

3. from dying mall to artist, theater,
dance complex
ArtSpace at Crestwood Court
Mall, St. Louis, MO

4. from strip center to hip “third place”
La Grande Orange Groceria,
Phoenix
Bob Lynn, Kris and Craig DeMarco
Photo by Robyn Lee

5. 2010 TRENDS
Community-Serving Uses: civic uses,
schools, libraries, churches, arts.
Medical clinics and wellness centers
Alternative High School and
Community Colleges
Solar farms – rent the roof
strategy:
Re-inhabitation

6. densify
urbanize
green the infrastructure
strategy:
Re-development

7. from strip center to “attachable urbanism”
Mashpee Commons, Cape Cod, MA
1988-present
Cornish Assoc. Ltd
Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co
Imai, Keller Moore
1985 2005 2025

8. 1980
transit triggers mixed use infill of an office park
University Town Center, HyaAsville, MD
Prince George’s Metro Center Inc.
Parker Rodriguez
RTKL Associates
WDG Architects Source: Dunham-Jones, Williamson, 2009

9. 1975 1995
from 100‐acre dead mall to 22‐block walkable,
mixed‐use downtown with LEED buildings
Belmar, Lakewood Colorado
Con2nuum Partners, Elkus Manfredi Architects, Civitas
Inc., Van Meter Pollak Architects Source: Dunham-Jones, Williamson, 2009

10. 8 of 13 regional malls in the Denver
Metro area have been retrofitted or
announced plans to be.
Retrofitting does NOT imply the
wholesale redevelopment of existing
neighborhoods.
Rather it provides existing
neighborhoods with urban nodes on
targeted underperforming sites-raising
the question, how to connect the
dots?

11. Columbia Pike, Arlington County, VA, Ferrell Madden Associates, Dover Kohl & Partners
Using form-based codes to induce densification and transit along a commercial strip

12. From edge city sprawl to 430-acre TOD
White Flint, MD – 430 acre TOD retrofit on Rockville Pike rezoned on March 23, 2010
1. Permits development of a new downtown over
next 20 years
2. Dedicated-lane BRT circulators outward from
Metro Station
3. 10,000 residential units, 2600 of them “affordable”
4. Commercial space up from 14mil s.f to 20mil
5. Limited parking
6. High-rises up to 30-stories
7. Generate $6-7bil in revenue for the county
8. Shovels in the ground in 2-3 years

13. From Edge City to 4 mixed-use TODs ringed by office
Tysons Corner VA: PB’s PlaceMaking
-insertion of transit lines in arterial r.o.w., 95% of growth will be w/in 3-min walk of transit
-doubling of office space by 2030, to 84 mil sf in LEED silver bldgs over 1,700 acres
-approximate quadrupling of residential population, 20% affordable units
-F.A.R. bonuses for affordable housing, LEED gold/platinum
-pursuing minimum 20-acre parcel consolidation near stations to allow for street grids
-160 acres of parks, restoration of 2 streams in green network

14. 2010 TRENDS
Momentum switches to the public
sector
Transit-led retrofits:
-TODs
-Corridors; more BRT and bikes
Lifelong Communities: retrofitting for
the retiring baby boomers
District energy, water, waste systems
strategy:
Re-development

15. restore local ecology and wetlands
while increasing adjacent property
values
daylight culverted streams, clean
run-off
food and energy production
strategy:
Re-greening

16. from shopping center to wetland w/ new lakefront property investment
Phalen Village, Phalen MN,U.Minnesota CALA (Dowdell, Fraker, Nassauer) and City of St. Paul
Before After

17. from parking lot to mixed-use TOD with condos, senior housing, daylit creek and wetlands
Thornton Place, Northgate, WA: LEED-ND pilot program
Mithun Architects for Stellar Holdings & Lorig Associates

18. From mall to park
Columbus City Center Park, Columbus OH
-Park to open in Fall 2010
-ring of mixed-use buildings surrounding it planned for future phase
example of the Red Fields to Green Fields strategy
-proposed $200bil landbank to buy up failed commercial properties, get them off banks’ books,
convert them to “parks” for 10 years, giving remaining commercial properties better chance of
survival, then re-develop 70% of the land while 30% becomes dedicated public park space

19. 2010 TRENDS
Suburban agriculture and healthy
food access
Parks as placeholders with
expected boosts to property values
Bioswales as community benefits
Heat Island mitigation
strategy:
Re-greening

20. EXPECT TO SEE:
Diminished local & state budgets
DC as model for growing areas
Affordability as asset for weak markets
new reality:
Post-Recession Frugality

21. EXPECT TO SEE:
Diminished local & state budgets
Incentives for redevel in existing areas
Incentives inc’g WalkScore, mixed-use
DC as model for growing areas
Ambitious mixed-use ctrs replacing
comm’l props with good transit access
Nodal re-zoning on corridors
Affordability as asset for weak markets
Modest 1-story horizontal mixed-use.
Bike and BRT access.
new reality:
Post-Recession Frugality

25. the big design and development project of the next 50 years: retrofitting suburbia
Urban Advantage

27. Urban dwellers on average
have 1/3 the carbon footprint
of suburban dwellers.
imperative :
climate change

28. Sprawling communities exhibit
20-40% higher vehicle miles
traveled than more compact,
walkable, mixed-use communities.
Vehicle miles traveled per capita
doubled between 1983 and 2007,
an increase more than five times
population growth.
Reid Ewing, Growing Cooler, 2007
imperative :
dependence
on foreign oil

29. Suburban development patterns
have been linked with sedentary
lifestyles, dramatic increases in
obesity and consequent higher risk
factors for cardiovascular disease
and diabetes.
One in three American children
born in 2000 will develop diabetes
and car accidents are the leading
cause of death amongst persons
0-24 years old.
imperative :
health
1990
1997
2001

30. imperative :
affordability
The savings associated with “drive
‘til you qualify” affordable housing
disappear when you factor in the
cost of transportation.
In 2005, Atlanta households
making $20-50K year spent 29%
of their income on housing and
32% on transportation.
Center for Neighborhood Technologies, 2006

31. Average U.S. household spending on transportation is 19% of income.
-households in “walkable urbanism” spend 9%
-households in “drivable suburbanism” spend 25%
-the lower income 1/2 of U.S. households in 2004 spent 30%
Government pays 20-40% more per household to provide road infrastructure for
suburban densities Christopher Leinberger, Center for Neighborhood Technology

32. • 75-85% of new households
through 2025 will not have children
in them (various researchers)
• 77% of Millenials/Gen Y say they
want to live in an urban core (RCLCO
2008 survey)
• 75% of retiring boomers say they
want mixed-age and mixed-use
communities (RCLCO 2009 survey)
dynamic :
demographic
shift
Suburban Household
1960
(all
hh)
2000
2008
With children
48%
35%
24%
Without children
52%
65%
76%
Single person
13%
26%
30%

33. 2.8 million acres of greyfields to be
available for redevelopment by 2015.
If ¼ were redeveloped, we could
meet half our housing needs.
(A. Chris Nelson, 2006)
130 mil s.f. of vacant retail space
has been added to the U.S. this
recession. (Cushman & Wakefield,
10-2009) (approx. 7000 acres)
Perimeter Center Mall, Atlanta (right)
dynamic:
underperforming
asphalt(we’re not as
--built-out as we thought)

35. from grocery store to library
North Branch Public Library
Denton, Texas
Meyer, Scherer and Rockcastle
Architects
Peter Sieger

36. from K-Mart to the Museum of
Spam
from Wal-Mart to megachurch

40. transit triggers infill of an office park
University Town Center, Hyattsville, MD
Prince George’s Metro Center, Inc.
Parker Rodriguez
RTKL Associates
WDG Architecture

41. University
Town
Center
1940
a large farm estate adjacent to the village of Hyattsville

42. a mall, the office park, and buffer buildings
University
Town
Center
1980

43. transit triggers infilling with new Main St, plaza and parking deck
University
Town
Center
2020

44. transit triggers infilling with new Main St, plaza and parking deck
University
Town Center
2020
(revised 6/10)

45. New condos and public space
New Main StreetNnNEwNew Main Street

46. Mizner Park, Boca Raton, FL; Cooper Carry Architects, 1990
From dead mall to mixed‐use downtown with linear park Source: Dunham‐Jones, Williamson, 200
Before

48. Building up: adding a 5-story galleria and 25-
story office tower to a dying mall
Surrey Central City, Surrey, (Vancouver) British
Columbia
Bing Thom Architects, Inc

49. From dead mall to green downtown
Belmar, Lakewood,CO
Continuum Partners
Elkus Manfredi Architects & Civitas Inc.
Van Meter Williams Pollack Architects
Before

50. before - Villa Italia mall

51. Belmar
1975

52. Belmar
1995

53. Belmar
2015

54. after - corner of Teller and Alaska Streets

55. from commercial strip to multi-way boulevard and new downtown
Palm Canyon Drive, Cathedral City, CA; Freedman, Tung & Bottomley

56. Suburban farming: growing organic veggies in the front yard - or inside the mall – or on
foreclosed neighborhoods

57. HYBRID PLACES
“PUBLIC” spaces under PRIVATE management/ownership
URBAN streetscapes with SUBURBAN parking ratios
URBAN qualities at SUBURBAN costs
LOCAL placemaking with NATIONAL retail/design/funding
Populations that are MORE DIVERSE than typical suburbs,
but LESS DIVERSE than typical cities
INSTANT URBANISM

58. LWARPS - “we can reverse sprawl”, City of the Future competition, Georgia Tech entry
Atlanta, 2008 Atlanta, 2108
1. In 100 years: transit on all major rail and road corridors
2. In 100 years: 1000’ buffers on all stream corridors
3. In 100 years: subdivisions too close to water or too far from transit won’t be viable. “Eco-Acre transfers” will
allow them to transfer development rights to transit corridors and their properties to be regreened for food and
energy production

59. NEXT GENERATION RETROFITS?
Redevelopment: Highly energy and water-efficient buildings
allow densification without increased infrastructure cost,
allowing more public investment in transit corridors.
Regreening: Foreclosed properties become locally-scaled
sustainable infrastructure as: local water reclamation utilities,
wind/solar farms, urban agriculture, and habitat networks.
Re-inhabitation: Surgeon General’s warning triggers more
DADUs/SCUs, street connectivity requirements, mixed-use
“amenity upgrades,” and diverse, affordable adaptive re-use
Re-identification: New architectural expressions of the
American Dream based on optimistic interdependence.

60. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
CNU Sprawl Retrofit Initiative: Active list-serv, website with examples and model
legislation. For info go to: http://www.cnu.org/sprawlretrofit
Sprawl Repair Manual: Forthcoming book by Galina Tachieva of DPZ.
Prototypical solutions at the regional, neighborhood, and building scale.
Greyfields to Goldfields: 2002 book by Lee Sobel and CNU based on 2001 study
of regional mall study by Price Waterhouse Cooper
Malls into Main Streets: 2005 report by CNU to guide local officials and owners/
developers through the process.
Suburban Transformations, Paul Lukez, 2007
Big Box Reuse, Julia Christenson, 2008
10 Principles for Reinventing America’s Suburban Business Districts, Geoffrey
Booth, et al, ULI, 2002
“Retrofitting Suburbia”, Places 17:2, Summer 2005, theme issue guest-edited by
Dunham-Jones and Williamson
Retrofitting Suburbia Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/
Retrofitting-Suburbia/29939207705?ref=ts

61. THE PUBLIC SECTOR STEPS UP
TRANSPORTATION DESIGN
STATES
Texas adopted the new ITE recommended practice,
“Designing Walkable Urban Thoroughfares: A Context
Sensitive Approach”.
Virginia requires new development to contribute to the
efficiency of the street network by meeting Connectivity
Index thresholds.
CITIES
$1.5 billion in TIGER stimulus grants – mostly for various
forms of transit

62. THE PUBLIC SECTOR STEPS UP
TRANSPORTATION & PLANNING
HUD, DOT, EPA Sustainable Communities Partnership is
funding regional planning – for now
New York, California, Maryland require coordination of
state agencies’ investments according to regional plans
that lay out conservation areas and development areas in
relation to transportation plans.
Illinois requires state agencies to use an index of the
combined cost of housing + transportation in screening
applications for housing, economic development, &
transportation investments.

63. THE PUBLIC SECTOR STEPS UP
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Cities low on cash and staff are offering development
rights on public land in exchange for masterplanning
services and redevelopment: Bristol, CT; Glen Cove, NY.
Cities are using form-based codes to selectively upzone
commercial corridors and support transit.