More Related Content
What's hot
What's hot (20)
Viewers also liked
Similar to EPCALpaper
Similar to EPCALpaper (20)
EPCALpaper
- 1. City in the Countryside Mixed use development strategy for current EPCAL site to reengineer return on investment opportunity for the Town of Riverhead Ernest D’Ambrose Disha Gupta Inderpal Singh ernest.dambrose@gmail.com • disha.gupta@stonybrook.edu • inderpal.singh@stonybrook.edu 1
- 3. 1. Preface Cities have a long tradition and have always had attractive power to mankind, and it is principally believed that their appeal drives economic prosperity. America’s future economic growth and international competitiveness depends on its people’s capacity to grow, innovate, and become more advanced. The growing need for smart cities can be associated with the changes taking place in consumer's lifestyle, value they place on services, and the availability of opportunities for work and pleasure. In the past decade, there has been tremendous innovation at the intersection of urban planning and technology; therefore, we seeked to utilize new technology and engaged in an urban planning initiative that is meant to guide and ensure its orderly development into a modern and sustainable satellite community which would facilitate convenient commuting into and out of it, thereby developing a “city in the countryside”. As a part of the research project, we formed a consulting team for the reuse and revitalization of the Enterprise Park at Calverton (EPCAL). Given the opportunity to work on this project, we provided research assistance to the Town of Riverhead with the aim of modifying and updating the EPCAL property and planning its future. 2. Introduction 2.1. Problems with Developing One of the major problems with developing is attaining the potential inhabitants validation for development. More often than not, citizens claim a “lost sense of place” where their traditional ideas are compromised by new realities. Many believe that we are currently living in a period of ecocultural disintegration and powerful forces tied to urbanization; where global development and dynamic adaption are homogenizing the simplicity of ecology, and the concept of destruction of agricultural land, parks, and open space for societal development does not seem appealing to them. Moreover, developers fear huge initial investment generating shortterm profit but heavy long term loss and because they believe that individuals place diverse values and varied expectations for themselves, their families, and the society they live in, and these expectations change frequently. 2.2. History of EPCALRiverhead Now commonly recognized as the Enterprise Park at Calverton (EPCAL), and the former NWIRP or the Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant, is located in Calverton near the eastern end of Long Island in the Town of Riverhead in Suffolk County, New York. The United States Navy acquired the site in 1952 in order to utilize the property for the construction of runways and to create aviation buffer zones. Consequently, the navy leased approximately 2900 acres to Grumman Corporation for various airfield operationscreating numerous jobs in the Town of Riverhead. However, in the mid 1990s, due to a decline in defense spending, the Grumman Corporation terminated all of its operations from the site. This withdrawal of almost all defence operations, impacted the ernest.dambrose@gmail.com • disha.gupta@stonybrook.edu • inderpal.singh@stonybrook.edu 3
- 4. residents of the town significantly as a result of increased financial burden and resulted in increased unemployment with the loss of approximately 4000 jobs and a huge loss of over $1 million in tax revenue to the town of Riverhead (Reuse & Revitalization Plan). 2.3. Current State and Current Town Infrastructure Since the termination of defense operations, the town has been unable to adopt a legitimate redevelopment plan to make use of the area. As a result of the recent economic downturn, the town has been not been successful in restoring jobs and bringing in substantial revenue as envisioned initially. Out of the 2,900 acres that were acquired, the town retained ownership of the site’s two runways and two outparcels were sold out for the development of a water park and to Stony Brook University for a business incubator. Current use and business development of the site is limited to the Stony Brook Calverton Incubator that supports small startup businesses, making low profits due to inadequate demand. In addition, EPCAL contains two large runway, associated buildings and a handful of old buildings that support a variety of light industrial and commercial uses with close proximity to the Brookhaven National Lab and Stony Brook University. EPCAL also supports a large sewage treatment plant that was recently upgraded from secondary to tertiary treatment with the hopes of supporting economic development and environmental benefits, thereby increasing immediate potential for job creation. The bulk of the property however, remains undeveloped and a majority of the land is vegetated and fosters the growth of the pine barrens. There has been ongoing speculation and consistent market research and analysis to determine what type of proposed economic development initiatives can be prove to be successful at this site. 3. Purpose and Intent 3.1. Vision We envision the creation of sustainable, economic development by creating higher paying manufacturing, retail, and corporate jobs, that transcend the dependence on the lowpaying servicesector jobs thereby, reaping the benefits of botha city as well as countryside. Moreover, we aim to engage in an enabling mechanism that can be linked to accessibility by providing service and infrastructure opportunities that can be integrated into peoples changing lifestyles 3.2. Regional Integration Our proposed development plan addresses ways to use physical infrastructure more efficiently thereby supporting healthy social, economic and sustainable development while increasing the desirability. Increased commercial and residential desirability are codependant in that, residential desirability depends on easy access to good education and health, retail and services and physical attributes while, commercial desirability thrives on availability of capital and proximity to labor and resources. As an initiative to redevelop EPCAL, we propose long term investment because we believe that EPCAL has the potential of being recognized as a self sufficient “city” that is sustainable yet attractive. We want it to retain a unique collection of visual, social, environmental and suburban qualities and characteristics thereby making citizen engagement a central element of everything that goes on there. We foresee ernest.dambrose@gmail.com • disha.gupta@stonybrook.edu • inderpal.singh@stonybrook.edu 4
- 5. EPCAL as a selfsufficient “smart city” with a large employment base, interconnected and physically integrated with the larger metropolitan core of New York State. 4. Goals and Objectives Smart growth supports mixed land uses as a critical component of better development. By putting residential, commercial and recreational uses in close proximity to one another, alternatives to driving such as walking or biking, become viable. Broadly, some of the goals we hope to achieve via this project are as follows ● A selfsustaining development ● Revenue source for the town of Riverhead ● Growth of Riverhead and Long Island ● Attract knowledge based companies and employees ● Identifying and harnessing local knowledge resources ● Transportation development – connections to LIRR and major highways ● Community building ● Efficient use of land and infrastructure ● Creation and enhancement of fiscal value and businesses ● Creation and preservation of greenbelts and open space ● Creation of sense of place 5. Land Use 5.1. Zoning The zoning of the development is illustrated in the first two figures in the appendix of this report and the specific square footage of each zone category is listed in table 9.2. The zones include multifamily residential housing only, retail only, public spaces such as parks and civic centers, municipal parking, mixeduse space between retail and residential, and roads. The zoning was made to take into account current developments in the EPCAL compound and local land structure. i.e. the pine barrens. The planning took into account proximity to amenities and parking. Other zoning considerations included pedestrian and vehicle traffic flow, heating and cooling properties of the densification of the property, and response to the needs of a consistently generating revenue flow for Town of Riverhead through the development of this compound. 6. Development Strategy 6.1 The planning process The planning process behind the development strategy for this project included research and analysis of works of renowned architects Paolo Soleri and Larry Beasley. Paolo Soleri is known for his development of the concept of Arcosanti, which seeks to embody a “Lean Alternative” to hyper consumption through a smartly efficient and elegant city design. Leanness is inherent to the sustainable health of any living system. The city ernest.dambrose@gmail.com • disha.gupta@stonybrook.edu • inderpal.singh@stonybrook.edu 5
- 6. needs to be such a system. The following principles foster miniaturization (compact optimization) resulting in complexity. Together they manifest an urban system that can function as a hyperorganism (Cosanti foundation, 2012). Learning from his designs we continued our research and found the world renowned concept of “Vancouverism”. This was developed Larry Beasley who received several awards for being able to transform the downtown core of Vancouver, Canada, into a vibrant, urban community. Studying relative elements of these two approaches and looking at several other similar, contemporary, mixeduse developments, gave our planning process an initial direction. Furthermore, we believe industrial/manufacturing uses of this property are not ideal, as was proved by the work of prior consulting teams working on the project. Intellectual innovation is the future, and this proposed approach is built with that at its heart. This “city within a city” should be designed to attract knowledge based employers and employees. The proposal calls for multifamily housing, restaurants and entertainment venues at EPCAL to complement the intellectual business park. Throughout the planning process special care was taken to make sure that the end result is selfsustained asset to the town of Riverhead. We also recommend the board listens to several more pitches from developers to get a sense of what a common theme, if any. One of the most important things for this project is to find developers who are willing to align their work with the vision of the board. Accessing developers’ goals will also help the board decide whether to sell the entire map or to sell piecewise. 6.2 Factors of the development strategy The development strategy we propose stems from our belief that the EPCAL property has potential of not only being a selfsustaining revenue source for the town of Riverhead, but also a facilitator to the development of entire Eastern Long Island. Recognizing that this is amongst the only sites on Long Island with the divestiture and potential of this scale, it is imperative to harness it efficiently. To achieve the goals of efficiency and efficacy for the development of this property, we propose using a mixeduse approach. The development strategy consists of factors such as public centers, Stony Brook University synergies, major attractions, entertainment venues, retail and office space and most importantly a “city within a city” feel. ● Built in value for the current residents A mixeduse approach towards the development of EPCAL will bring along a “sense of place”, a common architecture term which alludes to a space that is memorable and unique. The proposed city within a city design will increase the integrity of the surrounding architecture and city. As this part of Riverhead develops, the real estate values for the neighboring areas are likely to go up as well. If not all, several buildings will be layered with solar panels keeping in mind the importance of sustainability. ● Fiscal advantages Contrary to popular belief, developments of this nature do not impose higher expenditure for local government services. This mixeduse development combined with multifamily housing will result in fewer school age children (~257). Furthermore, target residents such as the knowledge based workers bring along high disposable income. In house venues for retail/dining/entertainment, can work as revenue resources for the town of riverhead ernest.dambrose@gmail.com • disha.gupta@stonybrook.edu • inderpal.singh@stonybrook.edu 6
- 7. ● Multifamily housing Our development team proposes a “traditional look new purpose” avenue to the concept of multifamily housing. Keeping this ideology in mind we think it would be best to create units that are designed to look like traditional houses, to preserve the suburban beauty of Riverhead. We suggest several designs for these houses, see designs in appendix, but the basic theme will be to have multiple standalone units in a single family house like structure. This disguise will help cultivate the benefits of multihousing but maintain the suburban residence feel. Generally speaking, multifamily houses tend to have lesser cars per household when compared to singlefamily houses and therefore generate less traffic and a lower demand for parking spaces at retail stores, offices, schools, and other facilities. ● Roads We propose the use of “complete roads”, designed to enable access for all users ranging from pedestrians to public transit riders. Complete roads lead to a safe, active, social, and healthy community. The way these roads will be designed they will provide users with designated lanes for pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and public transport (a substitute to the elevated train idea). These complete roads make it easy to cross the street, walk to shops, and bicycle to work (See appendix for legend and draft). We are confident that the use of these roads will increase permeability both physically and visually. As the concept of solar roads is developed further and estimated cost parameters emerge, it will be an effective way to channel sustainability. ● Multistory buildings Besides the designated areas of business, retail and residential units, our development strategy also includes constructing multiple story buildings which can include any combination of the three on different levels. ● Civic center a community anchor to provide residents with a sense of community, a platform for local events, entertainment and gatherings is recommended. A civic center serves this purpose appropriately and can act as a community anchor ● Popup park The idea of a popup park is inspired from a similar concept that was implemented in Philadelphia this year with a floating restaurant facing the Delaware river, which opened only during the summer. The idea was a huge success and has been named one of the best “urban beaches” of the world. For the EPCAL development we suggest the lake area be converted into a park with a water view, beer gardens and hammocks during the summer and during the winter it be turned into an ice skating rink. ● Green space The EPCAL property consists of a considerable amount of forestry and Pine Barrens. As a part of the development strategy we propose conception of jogging/biking trails throughout the barrens, multiple small New York City style parks with benches and a “popup park” around the lake. While the small NYC style parks can serve as venues for residents and employees to hang out at, the trails and popup park will be an attraction for the outsiders as well ● Local resources To attract and retain knowledge based companies and employees there are several local resources available to this property. Apart from Stony Brook incubator being next door, there is Stony Brook University innovation center and Brookhaven national laboratory in the close proximity of this site. Also, having Stony Brook University nearby guarantees constant production of professionals in the region. The medical centers out east such as the South Hampton hospital can be considered for some potential synergies e.g. a strip of medical service units located at the new city that work with those hospitals. ernest.dambrose@gmail.com • disha.gupta@stonybrook.edu • inderpal.singh@stonybrook.edu 7
- 8. ● Retail, dining and entertainment The inhouse retail, dining and entertainment options will not only reduce the amount of traffic that goes in and out of the new city but also create gateways for revenue for the town. These options can also be used to promote the existing local Riverhead businesses via effective advertising. Local fairs, pumpkin picking, wineries and other similar points of interests can look towards getting a bigger audience and more disposable income. The existing businesses on the EPCAL property such as the Skydive Long Island can also benefit from the new residents as well as visitors. ● Transportation Our development strategy aims for an active, social and mobile neighborhood. A place where usage of personal cars is minimized and therefore so is traffic congestion. The city will feature amenities easily accessible via walking and usage of local transport. Based on a comparative analysis the development team did between local bus services and a monorail, a monorail was a unanimous winner. Referring to similar developments in even smaller areas such as the city of Arabia, a monorail has been a huge success. Realizing the financial hurdles after speaking to several developers over the semester, our initial pitch of an elevated train now remains open for feasibility related debates. Whichever way the public transport ends up going, there needs to be a connection to LIRR. Other options to consider can be a designated track for a shuttle that connects local stops to the LIRR connection. ● Elevated Train – As mentioned earlier, after our research over the semester, the financial input required beforehand seems to outweigh the benefits of having an elevated train track. Nevertheless, we believe an elevated track would be the best use of space and can also be a local attraction. Whether adopted or not, we would like to share our ideology behind this concept. Besides saving space and serving as an attraction, the way we conceptualized this idea was to have multiple retail outlets on the surrounding platforms and ground levels. This will not only help with job creation but also bring in sustainability for operation and upkeep. To prevent the elevated tracks to appear awkward for the people walking underneath, we recommend art ceilings. Local artists can take advantage of such a platform and display their work making it also an attraction for visitors, while promoting talent and bringing in revenue. ● Attractions Integrating quality attractions with the development strategy will not only help make Riverhead more attractive to a broader audience, it opens gateways for financial sustainability and job creation. We believe that the knowledge based workers with their high disposable incomes will be attracted to this venue for the employment opportunities and companies will be attracted towards the abundance of complimentary local resources. But to further enrich the lifestyle and tourism, options such as the pop up park with its open beer gardens with hammocks in the summer and ice skating rink in the winter will drive more revenue to the town. Quality retail, dining and entertainment options with shuttles to downtown riverhead and connections to other local attractions will help the development of the entire region. ernest.dambrose@gmail.com • disha.gupta@stonybrook.edu • inderpal.singh@stonybrook.edu 8
- 9. 7. Financials 7.1. Key Indicators The financials of the estimates are based on several empirical sources of data that include local and regional municipalities, university institutions, and news articles from leading development industry periodicals. The tables shown in the appendix details out only some of the important information for a development financial analysis. While the information is incomplete and needs to be continued by our successors in the spring 2015 semester, the finances indicate a significant return on investment for the development of a mixeduse development versus industrial/enterprise park for the town of Riverhead. With estimates that indicate a $2.1 billion project cost and a yearly tax collection of $64 million, this project would not create the town for this generation. CINC will be for the next generation. 7.2. Future Return and Rational The Town of Riverhead will see profit turnaround in only three to threeandahalf decades. Yet these standards of technologies will be around for many years to come since this is the direction of the advancement of urban development. This does not imply the urbanization of the suffolk county or the town of riverhead, but the advancement of micro communities across rural areas like suffolk county that can enrich them with financial independence and flourishing economic activities without the overcrowding of metropolitan areas and the problems that come from them. This return is relatively fast in the development world and creates a consistent return on investment due to the nature of the structures, proximities of ammendedies, and the creation of practical living for a community location. Other projects in mix use developments have costed one or two degrees more of magnitude. Our estimates have been very affected by the development plan’s efficiency with the use of space and the estimates on. Other interesting estimates include the minimal impact this development will have on local educational systems, job opportunities in the surrounding municipalities, and traffic conditions external to CINC. These estimates are significantly more favorable in the mixuse developments versus the enterprise park developments because of the flexibility of the structures, the limiting of single family housing, and the proximity of the consumers to their work and Retail/Dining/Entertainment districts. The development team this semester was able to brainstorm several ideas to carve out a hypothesis of how this property should be developed, what it should include and what its potential appearance. Further research is recommended to test this hypothesis and refine the results, but we are confident that this is the direction that the town of Riverhead should be looking at moving towards, and that our report will serve as a foundation for future research and development work for the most lucrative outcome. A long term view is required to access the need and potential of this type of a development for the utilization of the vacant space as cliché as it is, “Rome wasn't built in a day”. ernest.dambrose@gmail.com • disha.gupta@stonybrook.edu • inderpal.singh@stonybrook.edu 9
- 11. 9.0. Appendix The estimates for the CINC development were made in a spreadsheet using the references in the work cited page as approximations and/or comparison values e.g. ratios to base calculations, from various projects for the following tables. 9.1. Jobs & income Jobs 6,021.90 people living in CINC 4610.3904 Jobs (knowledge) 4,215.33 commuters (in) 1,411.51 Jobs (unskilled) 1,806.57 Median Income (skilled) $72,000.00 median income (unskilled) $30,000.00 Median income $59,400.00 General Economic Impact Number of workers Average salary Total Salaries Type of jobs created Knowledge workers 3,613.14 80,000 $289,051,200 Managers 800 120,000 $96,000,000 Executives 202 250,000 $50,500,000 Total 4,615.14 450,000 $435,551,200 Retail Jobs Number of Jobs Restaurants 108.3942301 Supermarkets & Box stores 180.6570501 Personal trainers/instructors 90.32852506 Cleaning Personnel 54.19711503 Plumbing 41.55112153 Maintenance grounds 36.13141002 Small Stores 36.13141002 Medical Workers Doctors 23.60585455 Nurses 61.20058668 ernest.dambrose@gmail.com • disha.gupta@stonybrook.edu • inderpal.singh@stonybrook.edu 11
- 12. Administrators 236.0585455 Others 330.4819637 9.2. Cost Of Development Structure Sq ft Estimate (per sq ft) Total estimate Public Parks (east) 40,000.00 $4.00 $160,000.00 Public Parks (west) 15,000.00 $4.00 $60,000.00 Civic centers 4,000.00 $79.00 $316,000.00 Retail/office space 9,757,440.00 $74.00 $722,050,560.00 Housing (Multi) 9,757,440.00 $80.00 $780,595,200.00 Housing (Mixed 60%retail/office & 40% apartment housing) 5,575,680.00 $77.00 $429,327,360.00 Municipal Parking 213,884.00 $5.00 $1,069,420.00 Housing Mixed retail office 3,345,408.00 $74.00 $247,560,192.00 housing mixed apartments 2,230,272.00 $77.00 $171,730,944.00 Roads 2,787,840.00 $5.00 $13,939,200.00 Total (no roads or parking) 25,149,560.00 Total development size 27,878,400.00 $69.86 $1,947,517,740.00 Elevated Train 1,008,000.00 $49.60 $50,000,000.00 Solar Roadways 2,727,840.00 $70.00 $190,948,800.00 Total for complete project $2,174,527,340.00 9.3. Utilities Title 5 I&A Centralized Sewage Treatment Sewage Cost $7,500/Unit $15,500/Unit $45,000/Unit Density (units/acre) 1 1.5 8 Land & Sewage Cost/Unit ($) For land costing $50,000/acre $57,500 $43,667 $11,875 For land costing $100,000/acre $107,500 $82,167 $57,500 For land costing $200,000/acre $207,500 $148,833 $70,000 For land costing $300,000/acre $307,500 $215,500 $82,500 9.4. Occupants Total Units 2439.36 ernest.dambrose@gmail.com • disha.gupta@stonybrook.edu • inderpal.singh@stonybrook.edu 12
- 13. Total Occupants 5122.656 students per 0.05 household 256.1328 9.5. Taxes Taxes for mixed use development per acre $100,000.00 taxes per sq ft $2.30 Total for Development (annually) $64,000,000.00 9.6. Traffic Automobile Trips Per Housing Unit Singlefamily detached Multifamily Difference Weekday 9.57 6.72 42% peak AM hour 0.77 0.55 40% peak PM hour 1.02 0.67 52% Saturday 10.1 6.39 58% peak hour 0.94 0.52 81% Sunday 8.78 5.86 50% peak hour 0.86 0.51 69% 9.7. Future Considerations Retail Jobs Tax Impact Others Restaurants Real Estate tax Standard Grid expansion? Supermarkets & Box stores Office Space Cell Phone coverage expansion? Personal trainers/instructors Retail Cable/Wifi expansion? Cleaning Personnel Housing Heat? Plumbing Water authority Medical Workers # of cars for 4500 people Maintenance grounds Electrical used Doctors # of commuters in: Small Stores Nurses during morning and evening Traffic Impact Administrators # commuting out: 9.8. Development draft with Legend ernest.dambrose@gmail.com • disha.gupta@stonybrook.edu • inderpal.singh@stonybrook.edu 13