CNU and ULI lead New Urbanism workshop for developers

The popular event featured case studies from production builders and presentations of practical techniques for new urbanist projects. The main-stream development community poured into Chicago April 7 through 9 and showed its interest in learning the techniques of implementing New Urbanist projects. The three-day conference titled Developing New Urbanist Communities: The Nuts and Bolts of Town Building was sponsored by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and cosponsored by the Congress for the New Urbanism. The 200 participants doubled the projected attendance and provided strong evidence that the principles of the New Urbanism are an increasingly important aspect of successful real estate development. Case studies of production builders Two of the conference sessions included case study presentations by large “production” home builders involved in new urbanist projects. The first presentation focused on Orenco Station, a suburban transit-oriented development located along Portland’s Westside light rail line. Rudy Kadlub of Costa Pacific Homes noted that single family homes in the community, on lots as small as 3,700 square feet, were selling at a premium to homes in conventional subdivisions in the area, at comparable per-unit development costs. In addition, homes located around the project’s well-appointed parks commanded an additional $20,000+ premium. Dick Loffelmacher, project manager for Pac Trust, the master developer of the project, noted that the success of the single family and townhome portion of the project provided Pac Trust with the confidence to move forward with the project’s town center sooner than anticipated. In a dramatically different market, production builder Pulte Homes is about to break ground on Salamanca, one of South Florida’s first new urbanist communities and Pulte’s first foray beyond conventional development. Despite additional costs, Tim Hernandez, Pulte’s development executive for the project, expects the project to be a financial success and command higher sales prices than nearby conventional projects. His confidence stems from extensive market studies showing that 65 percent of home buyers in the South Florida area prefer homes in new urbanist projects over homes in conventional projects. With significant understatement, Mr. Hernandez noted that he believes that this preference gives his project—the sole new urbanist development project in an area with 75 other large-scale housing developments underway—a strong market advantage. Markets and techniques Other presentations focused on the growing market for infill development and practical techniques of successful new urbanist projects. Several prominent new urbanists gave lectures on principles of the New Urbanism, including Leon Krier, Peter Calthorpe, Robert Davis, and Andres Duany. On the basis of conversations during the conference, participants left with three clear messages. First, developers must be prepared to invest the time and effort required to create true new urbanist projects and avoid the temptation to blend the worst elements of conventional developments (such as wide streets and large lots) with the “easy” elements of the New Urbanism (such as quality architecture and alleys). Second, the design features of the New Urbanism offer real solutions to developers facing growing concerns about traffic congestion, environmental degradation, and loss of community. Finally, it is obvious that main stream, large scale developers, local governments, and homebuyers are beginning to look at the New Urbanism as a model for future growth.