Farr and Associates, a new urbanist architecture firm

Farr and Associates, a new urbanist architecture firm in Chicago, Illinois, has designed a new downtown for Swansea, Illinois called Swansea Town Center, which links the village with a MetroLink station to be built on the light-rail line connecting St. Louis and Scott Air Force Base. The town center is intended to duplicate the efforts of successful transit-oriented projects spawned by light-rail systems in Chicago, Oregon, and California. The 30-acre site plan includes a mix of commercial and residential uses (100 to150 single-family units, multifamily housing, and shops). The plan represents the village’s campaign to make the station part of the townscape, according to Dennis Tribout, village Board of Trustees chairman. “Our goal is to make it a destination site, not just a park-and-ride lot,” he says. The light rail line is scheduled to open in May, 2001.