Nationwide survey: Growth in new urbanist projects continues at sustainable pace

The number of neighborhood-scale projects in planning and under construction tops 300 for the first time, and 31 new projects began construction in 2000. Since New Urban News began publishing an annual survey of traditional neighborhood developments (TNDs) in 1996, the number of projects has soared while the annual growth on a percentage rate basis has gradually slowed. The slowing trend may be a blessing in disguise. At a much higher rate of expansion, it would likely be harder for new urbanist projects to maintain a reasonable level of quality in planning and construction. Expansion of this trend probably would be faster if it weren’t for impediments which remain at nearly every level of design, approval, financing, and construction. While a growing number of municipalities have adopted flexible, new urbanist zoning ordinances, getting a TND approved is still a long and arduous process in many communities. Large sectors of the financing community still view mixed-use developments as risky propositions. New Urban News’ annual survey identified 155 projects completed or in some stage of construction, up from 124 last year. This 25 percent increase marks a slower rate of growth than in 1999, when projects under construction rose by 28 percent. In terms of absolute numbers, however, the increase is actually slightly larger than in 1999, when 27 projects began construction. Counting the projects still in planning, the total number of new urbanist projects in the US jumped from 252 in 1999 to 306 in 2000. Due to space considerations, projects in planning are no longer listed in New Urban News. The survey is a snapshot of one aspect of the New Urbanism (NU) — neighborhood-scale projects 15 acres or larger. Many smaller urban infill projects are being built across the US. A new yardstick The year 2000 saw the emergence of the Transect as an important new model for planning and zoning the New Urbanism. Developed by Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co., the Transect is a classification system that organizes the urban environment on a scale from rural to urban (see September issue). New Urban News has adopted transect zones as part of its listing in order to more precisely define the scope of individual developments. Full-scale TNDs, such as Seaside, Kentlands, and Harbor Town, cover the full neighborhood spectrum with center, general, and edge zones. A project like Addison Circle near Dallas, on the other hand, falls only within the center zone, but still qualifies as a new urbanist development. The adoption of the transect criteria has prompted New Urban News to add some worthy new urbanist projects that had not previously been listed because they did not fit the narrower TND categorization. Pioneering mixed-use developments like Mizner Park in Boca Raton, Florida, and other town center projects have now been included as neighborhood centers. The addition of these projects is balanced by the deletion of some previously listed developments. In some cases, the implementation has not lived up to the promise of the original plans. Gated projects, such as Windsor in Vero Beach, Florida, have been eliminated from the list. As good as Windsor may be in terms of urban design, it does not meet NU’s goals of interconnectedness and inclusiveness. Geographically, the spread of new urbanist projects is progressing slowly. In 1998, New Urban News counted projects in planning and under construction in 34 states. The addition of two projects, one in Idaho and one in Nevada, has brought the current tally to 36 states. The Southeast has the greatest concentration of NU neighborhoods under construction with 27 projects in Florida, 15 in North Carolina, and 6 in South Carolina. Maryland, a leader in smart growth legislation, has 9 projects coming out of the ground. In the West, California leads with 15 projects, followed by Colorado’s 10. A small growth spurt has occurred in Michigan, where four projects have moved into construction in the past year. NU has naturally found the greatest support in states with rapid population growth and heavy development pressure. Developer experience A superior project needs more than a good plan, it needs a committed developer. Charles Hanlon of Land Planning Services in St. Charles, Illinois, says the proliferation of projects in the state is hampered by a “real lack of developer experience.” He adds that planners are increasingly aware of the New Urbanism, but many have not taken the opportunity to visit and learn from the communities under construction. A more positive assessment comes from Jim Eppink of the Gibbs Planning Group, a town planning firm in Birmingham, Michigan. “It appears we have turned the corner,” he says. “Three to five years ago, developers approached us as skeptics, they just wanted density as a way to get in more units. They are really educated now — they have gone to conferences and want to do good planning. So, we are seeing projects of a higher quality.” Projects to watch One of the most prominent projects to break ground this year is the Stapleton Airport redevelopment in Denver. Not only is this be the largest urban infill project to date, it is also scheduled to be built at an unusually rapid pace. Developer Forrest City plans to build as many as 800 residential units and 100,000 square feet of office space in the first year of construction. At buildout, the project will have 12,000 homes and apartments and more than 13 million square feet of commercial space on 2,935 acres. Stapleton could prove significant as a test of how well the plan by Calthorpe Associates will weather a production building schedule. Architectural guidelines will be enforced by a design review committee appointed by the Stapleton Development Corporation, a public entity. Another infill project to watch is Alvarado, a redevelopment of a 12-block area in downtown Albuquerque. The first phase of the project focuses on adding new retail and entertainment venues to the city core, and later phases will bring new housing downtown. The project’s master developer, the Historic District Improvement Company, is a unique partnership between a for-profit developer, a charitable foundation, and a group of business and civic leaders. The partnership is prepared to wait for a long-term return on its investments, but parts of the project have been sold to investors who expect profits in the short term. Alvarado will not only test if a new urbanist redevelopment can bring people back to downtown, it will also be a model for new financing strategies. When the Department of Housing and Urban Development touts the success of its Hope VI program, Park DuValle in Louisville, Kentucky, is consistently featured. With its successful integration of subsidized rental units, market-rate apartments, and for-sale homes, the project has become the poster child of Hope VI. Park DuValle’s momentum in construction and sales continues unabated. Approximately 330 rental units are occupied, and the 164 for-sale homes in the project’s second phase have sold as fast as they have been built. A commercial town center has just begun construction and the rest of the third phase includes 279 rental units and 78 for-sale homes. Town centers and mixed use Construction of mixed-use centers in new urbanist projects has picked up speed over the last year. In the first generation of TNDs, retail was often located at the center of a neighborhood, but designers now more commonly place town centers at the edge of a project, where the retail can benefit from both pedestrian and automobile traffic. Town centers in Kentlands and Orenco Station are leading examples of this trend. Although these centers are oriented to draw customers from outside the new urbanist community, they are primarily built as a focus point for the immediate neighborhoods. Another type of new urbanist town center — Washington Town Center in New Jersey and North Richland Hills Town Center in Texas are good examples — works primarily as a new downtown for a suburban area that has never had a true center. Such projects are in effect a new urbanist counterbalance to the suburban edge city. Instead of wide corridors with segregated uses, they offer compact residential neighborhoods anchored by a commercial and civic district. Washington Town Center and North Richland Hills Town Center are also noteworthy as the results of the proactive involvement of local government and public agencies. Rather than reacting to proposals from developers, the planning department in Washington Township developed a specific plan for what it wanted and invited developers to implement the vision. The project is being closely watched by builders and state officials who are promoting Gov. Christine Whitman’s livable community concepts. According to Planner Robert Melvin, the first signs of interest from the public are encouraging. Developer Sharbell Corp. sold options on 70 homes in the first two days of sales. Like Washington Town Center, North Richland Hills Town Center outside Fort Worth, Texas, is situated in a suburban area among scattered residential neighborhoods and retail development. The project includes a strong civic element in the form of a city hall, a library, a recreation center, and a performing arts center. The civic component will be funded by a tax increment financing district, a method that is becoming increasingly common in new urbanist projects with public involvement. The project will include 1,700 homes, 160,000 square feet of retail and restaurants, and 600,000 square feet of offices. The first phase of 236 homes is underway, and developer Arcadia Realty expects the first residents to move in by April 2001. The construction of the retail portion is slated for 2002. Several projects have increased the mix of uses with live/work units. Growing numbers of people choose to run a business out of their homes, but live/work units can also accommodate a small retail outlet with living space above. For developers, it can be a relatively easy way to add a mix of uses to the denser parts of a neighborhood. Live/work units can be found in projects as diverse as Rosemary Beach on Florida’s Gulf Coast; Vermillion in Huntersville, North Carolina; Kentlands; and Orenco Station. Courtside Village in Santa Rosa, California, will add live/work units in the next phase of construction. The transit connection Transit-oriented planning has made inroads in several metropolitan areas around the country. Portland, Oregon, may be the most well-known example, but San Francisco; Washington D.C.; Baltimore; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Atlanta are also pursuing transit-oriented development (TOD) projects. The integration of light rail with new urbanist projects has lagged behind, but that may well change in the near future. Several potential TODs have come to the fore in the past year. Plans are on the books for two transit-oriented developments on Charlotte’s future light rail line, in addition to Vermillion which is under construction. Lind-bergh Center in Atlanta could become a model project for that city. Owings Mills Town Center near Baltimore will be an important demonstration project for the state’s smart growth initiatives. Existing projects with light rail access include Orenco Station and Gresham Station in Portland, Addison Circle near Dallas, the Commons Neighborhood in Denver, and Centennial Crossing in Vernon Hills, Illinois. Sales stay on course Many regions of the country continue to enjoy a strong real estate market, and generally speaking, new urbanist projects appear to have held their own. Sales at Disney’s Celebration in Osceola County, Florida, have surpassed last year’s rate by 20 percent so far, according to Marilyn Waters of the Celebration Co. The wide variety of housing types and price ranges has been instrumental in keeping sales high, Waters says. In Northlake Park at Lake Nona, another Florida project, builders sold 22 townhomes and 25 single homes over an eight-week period. Lakelands in Gaithersburg, Maryland, has also sold homes at a higher rate than expected. Sales began in November 1998 and approximately 500 of the planned 1,400 homes have been sold to date. The picture is not so rosy across the board. When one builder suddenly pulled out of the Tucson, Arizona TND Civano, the ensuing negative publicity cut into the sales for all builders. The developers of Historic Malbis in Alabama and Oswego Village Square in Illinois point to rising interest rates as a major factor in slowing lot and home sales. The danger of dilution Few days go by without the mention of a newly planned new urbanist project in the press, but to an increasing degree, the use of the words “New Urbanism” proves misleading. In the Midwest in particular, where new urbanist models are scarce, many development plans promoted as New Urbanism turn out to be little more than conventional suburban development with a superficial mixing of uses. If the label sticks, however, and such hybrid projects become models on the local level, they threaten to dilute the meaning of the term New Urbanism. The challenge of separating the genuine article from the hybrid and fostering constructive criticism from within the new urbanist movement will likely take on added urgency in the next few years.