HR&A is proud to participate in the Greater & Greener 2015: Innovative Parks and Vibrant Cities Conference in San Francisco, California. The annual conference brings together more than 1,000 park leaders, planners, design professionals, and urban park advocates from around the world to discuss urban park issues from health, public education, livability and social cohesion, to economic development and urban resilience.

HR&A Partner, Candace Damon, will be participating on a panel titled Collecting Data, Informing Decisions on Monday April 13th. This panel will focus on how technology is serving socially and environmentally vulnerable communities. Candace will highlight our recent work with the Open Society Foundation on Talking Transition in NYC and in Washington D.C. where we transformed the typically insular, closed-door process that occurs between Election Day and Inauguration Day into an opportunity for broad civic discourse. She will also discuss our project for the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in California. For the City of Santa Monica, we helped design and develop a new online public engagement tool that solicits input from citizens and stakeholders to reimagine the future of the Civic Auditorium and its site through a user-friendly, online interface.

HR&A Director, Elissa Hoagland Izmailyan, will participate on a panel titled Earning Income with the Entrepreneurial Park on Tuesday April 14th, where she will discuss strategies for creating financially sustainable parks that not only generate revenue, but also contribute to the economic health of their communities. Elissa will highlight recent work on Hance Park in Phoenix, for the Green Line Parks and Commons Initiative in Minneapolis-St. Paul, and on Shelby Farms Park in Memphis.

HR&A is a strong supporter of the Greater & Greener Conference and the City Parks Alliance.

How can a park be both engaging public space and a driver of economic, environmental and social activity within the local community? High Performing Public Spaces (HPPS) perform these functions to provide a rewarding experience and a constructive model for new park development. At the 2015 Park Pride Conference, HR&A Vice-Chairman Candace Damon and Director Connie Chung sat down with David Barth from Barth Associates, and Erica Madsen from Foresite Group to discuss the unique qualities of HPPSs and the different factors that influence their planning and design.

Speaking to our innovative work on The Lawn on D in Boston, Connie highlighted the importance of High Performing Public Spaces in jump-starting a neighborhood. The Lawn on D is a 2.7 acre outdoor space in the heart of Boston’s burgeoning Innovation District. Sitting between D Street and the Boston Convention and Exhibit Center, it’s surrounded by office buildings, hotels, warehouses, and a small number of new multifamily residences. To frame the Lawn on D as Boston’s go-to destination for leisure and play, HR&A worked with the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, Sasaki Associates, and Chris Wangro to implement the Five Building Blocks of Programming:

Since its launch in in 2014 The Lawn on D has hosted several successful events and installations including Swing Time, Punkin Fest, and the largest ice maze in the United States, positioning itself as a destination for recreation, leisure, refreshment, and innovative programming by employing this programming strategy.

See HR&A’s presentation here and learn more about Park Pride here.

The Long Island Index, a project of the Rauch Foundation, recently released Long Island’s Future: Economic Implications of Today’s Choices, an HR&A study that highlights the impact of Long Island-wide initiatives that tackle the region’s most pressing socioeconomic challenges. HR&A’s study illuminates the effects of targeted policies that leverage Long Island’s existing assets and re-orient the region towards sustainable prosperity.

Using complex economic modeling, HR&A found that socioeconomic trends including the loss of young workers and families, scarce employment options in high-paying fields, and high-cost housing, combine to dampen the region’s future prospects. Without targeted intervention, stagnating economic conditions threaten to erode the quality of life on Long Island.

HR&A explored the impact of a coordinated strategy to foster the growth of the area’s burgeoning biomedical cluster and increase multifamily housing production in downtown locations. HR&A’s concluded that implementing this strategy would attract up to 138,000 new residents and create up to 73,000 new jobs by 2040. Through these synchronized efforts, Long Island could gain up to $15.1 billion in gross regional product (GRP) and $600 million in new tax revenues in 2040.

While these results are impressive, they won’t come easy. The key to aligning Long Island’s future lies in the uncompromised link between the two policy recommendations: creating jobs through a biomedical cluster and expanding housing opportunities. These strategies must be implemented simultaneously, and in coordination with the enlargement of regional transit capacity, set forth in the firm’s 2014 study of the Long Island Rail Road Main Line Third Track. United forces to enhance regional connectivity, foster cross-sector collaboration, and create high density downtown living opportunities hold promise to revitalize Long Island’s economy. Developing multifamily housing in the region’s downtowns would create new space to support a growing biomedical workforce while preserving existing neighborhoods and open spaces. Cluster-based economic development strategies can catalyze the growth of Long Island’s burgeoning biomedical industry, provided adequate conditions to attract and retain a talented workforce.

The findings presented in Long Island’s Future continue to ignite and inform regional conversation about the actions Long Island should take today to enhance its future prosperity. Regional groups, including Accelerate Long Island and the Long Island Association, have pledged to incubate and support emerging biomedical firms as they seek opportunities for collaboration and funding on Long Island. Across Nassau and Suffolk counties, local politicians and lawmakers are rethinking municipal zoning policies that discourage multifamily residential development in downtowns. Within the last year, zoning boards in Long Beach and Babylon have approved proposals to construct dense, multifamily housing. Communities including Westbury, Patchogue, Ronkonkoma, and Rockville Center continue to explore integrating new land uses to benefit local downtowns as a part of the Long Island Index’s Build a Better Burb: ParkingPLUS Design Challenge.

Several national and regional media outlets, including the Altantic’s CityLab, Planetizen, Newsday, the Long Island Press, the Long Island Business News, and the Long Island Herald, have reported on the findings of Long Island’s Future. To read the full report, follow HR&A Partner, Shuprotim Bhaumik’s editorial published in the Long Island Business News, and join the discussion about Long Island’s trajectory, please visit http://www.longislandindex.org/.

In February 2015, the Strong Cities, Strong Communities (SC2) initiative, which includes the National Resource Network (the Network), was selected as a finalist by Harvard University’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation for its annual Innovations in American Government Award. SC2 also received a “Bright Idea” designation and joined the Ash Center’s Government Innovator’s Network. HR&A is proud to have helped design and implement the National Resource Network with its consortium partners, Enterprise Community Partners, Public Financial Management, International City/County Management Association (ICMA), and the NYU Wagner School.

The National Resource Network is a key component of the SC2 Initiative, which was launched in 2011 as a partnership between the federal government and mayors of distressed cities around the nation that have faced long term economic challenges. The Network was developed as a responsive and flexible vehicle to deliver high quality professional technical assistance to cities that need it most. With over 270 eligible cities around the United States, the National Resource Network has begun providing targeted assistance from coast-to-coast. The goals of Network projects are to create long-lasting economic improvements through implementation-focused projects covering a wide range of economic development challenges.

In HUD’s recent press release for the SC2 Initiative’s nomination, Secretary Castro highlighted the importance of developing new programs to empower local communities to build success.

“We’re living in a Century of Cities, a time when people around the world—including here in the United States— are urbanizing at a breathtaking pace,” said HUD Secretary Julián Castro. “The SC2 initiative is empowering local leaders with new tools to maximize federal investments, spark economic activity and expand opportunity for their residents. I congratulate the SC2 team, and all of its partners, for being selected as a finalist. I’m confident that this effort will continue to help build cities poised for future success.”

As part of the National Resource Network, HR&A is leading engagements in Meridian, MS and Kansas City, KS. Both cities are focused on revitalizing their downtowns. HR&A is working closely with the Unified Government of Wyandotte County in Kansas City to create a new Healthy Campus, anchored by a grocery store and new community center. This development is part of a larger effort to improve the health of residents. Building from the initial work completed by the City, community, and Gould Evans, a local planning firm, HR&A helping translate the vision for a Healthy Campus articulated in a plan into reality.

In Meridian, HR&A partnered with Perkins+Will, an international planning firm, to create a strategic redevelopment plan for the creation of a Health District adjacent to Downtown Meridian. The goal of the work is to provide a strategy for growing the local medical cluster, attract private investment to the area, create new jobs for city residents, and support the continued revitalization of Meridian’s city center. Under the National Resource Network’s “311 Assistance” program, HR&A is also working with the City of Lancaster, CA and the Antelope Valley Healthcare District to assess the merits of a medical and wellness district in that city, and strategies for procuring needed professional services to implement it.

HR&A President Eric Rothman Speaks at New Jersey Future’s Annual Redevelopment Forum

The New Jersey Future’s Annual Redevelopment Forum brings more than 500 leaders from both the public and private sectors to discuss how New Jersey can re-use infrastructure, take advantage of historically strategic locations, maintain and improve its communities and preserve its open spaces.

In March 2015, Eric Rothman participated on a panel titled “Redevelopment in an Era of Risk”, which focused on maintaining a strong momentum of redevelopment while also planning for the damaging effects of climate change and other natural disasters. Eric highlighted HR&A’s work for HUD’s Rebuild By Design Competition in Hoboken, a UN Role Model City for Resilience that is in the process of rebuilding after Superstorm Sandy and planning for future flood risk.

HR&A found that an investment in a comprehensive urban water strategy in Hoboken, which includes a mix of infrastructure improvements; a network of porous, greenspaces throughout the city; and new zoning policy, would generate significant value for the City and its businesses, institutions, and residents by preserving current assets; reducing future defense and emergency services costs; enhancing amenities for the community; and sustaining long term growth. OMA’s urban water plan Resist, Delay, Store, Discharge, which received funding from HUD, would incorporate innovative a mixture of funding strategies through public investment, value capture, and public-private partnerships with flood insurance providers to support project implementation in a virtuous cycle of development, value creation, and resiliency.

Learn more about this year’s Forum here and view Eric’s presentation here.

Santa Monica Rolls-Out a Breakthrough for Informed Participation.

On January 31st, the City of Santa Monica unveiled a first-of-its-kind online planning tool that will help decide the fate of the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium (Civic) and its surrounding 10-acre site, which the City aspires to transform into a mixed-use arts and cultural campus. The tool, designed jointly by HR&A and software developer MetroQuest, solicits input from citizens and stakeholders to reimagine the future of the Civic and its site through a user-friendly, online interface. Translating HR&A’s real estate, operational and financing analysis into this interactive format helps the public to better understand development tradeoffs and the City to include many voices in the planning process.

The Civic is a 58-year old historic landmark that used to host the Academy Awards and large concerts, in addition to community events. In June 2013, the City closed the Civic due to the loss of Redevelopment Agency funds needed to rehabilitate the facility, which today would cost an estimated $100 million. In October 2013, the City Council appointed a Civic Working Group (CWG) to lead a community planning process and advise the Council about options for the Civic and the site, with the assistance of a multidisciplinary team led by HR&A.

To support the community planning process, HR&A partnered with MetroQuest to design an interactive tool that allows users to share their complete vision for the Civic and its site. HR&A led a team of consultants (John Kaliski Architects, Cultural Planning Group, and Sam Schwartz Engineering) to research and analyze the numerous real estate and operating assumptions and implications underlying the decisions available in the tool, which tracks land use choices across four indicators: amount of land used, parking required, construction costs, and net operating costs.

Over 100+ participants who attended the two-day community workshop on the future of the Civic and its site used the tool on iPads, which enabled attendees to match their planning aspirations for the site with available funding options. Participants, including those who can access the tool online for two weeks after the workshop, are able to try different approaches to filling the site with cultural, open space and private land uses and to match the resulting selections with associated financing options to pay for both capital and net operating costs. In doing this, the tool demonstrates the land use and financial tradeoffs associated with funding new cultural and open space uses on the Civic site through both private on-site real estate development and other public and private sources, such as taxes, bonds, and philanthropy.

During the workshop, the results were analyzed in real-time such that it was possible to share the input gathered that day with the full group of participants. The tool helped the CWG and the City’s Cultural Affairs Division to collect and share perspectives from a larger group of stakeholders than is the norm at public workshops. HR&A will continue to support the CWG in analyzing the public’s feedback and designing implementation recommendations to the City Council for the iconic Civic and the mixed-use arts and cultural campus it is planned to anchor.

Find more information about the project at the City’s website. Read more in The Santa Monica Mirror and The Santa Monica Dispatch. For any questions regarding the tradeoff tool, or its development process, please contact Remy Monteko at rmonteko@hraadvisors.com.

HR&A is pleased to announce that on January 12, the Philadelphia 30th Street Station District Plan project website, www.PhillyDistrict30.com, launched. The website launch marks the beginning of the District Plan’s public outreach efforts and will serve as a major resource for communicating project information and updates. The launch of the website also coincides with the first public open house on January 28th at 30th Street Station.

On behalf of a partnership consisting of Amtrak, Brandywine Realty Trust, Drexel University, and SEPTA, the 30th Street Station District Plan is being created for the area surrounding Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station, which encompasses the station, adjacent rail yards, and nearby property including sites that make up Drexel’s planned Innovation Neighborhood. The District Plan seeks to create a vibrant and cohesive community surrounding the station and improve connectivity with the city and region.

The 30th Street Station District Plan is being prepared by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP in association with Parsons Brinckerhoff, OLIN, and HR&A. HR&A is evaluating commercial opportunities and crafting an implementation strategy for the master plan. HR&A will guide decisions for phasing development and structuring sources of capital for funding infrastructure and other catalytic investments.

HR&A congratulates the 30th Street Station District Plan’s Project Principals on the launch of the Plan’s website and reaching its public outreach milestone. More information about the District Plan and ways to get involved can be found at www.PhillyDistrict30.com.

On November 10, 2014 the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) Fulton Center officially opened its doors to riders. The station, spanning 180,000 square feet over three buildings, connects 300,000 daily passengers to nine subway lines to function as downtown Manhattan’s largest transit hub. Fulton Center also provides over 63,000 square feet of retail, restaurant, and commercial office space accompanied by the installation of more than 50 LED screens, which provide advertising opportunities and live-transit information. A central part of the City’s downtown revitalization efforts, Fulton Center transforms an area devastated by the attacks on September 11, 2001, into a bustling hub for transportation, retail, and public space.

HR&A served as strategic business advisor to the MTA on the Fulton Center project, creating a retail vision, developing and managing the master lease RFP process; evaluation of bidders, and assisting in final bidder selection and deal-term negotiations.

HR&A congratulates the MTA and the Fulton Center’s master lessee, the Westfield Group, on their innovative public-private partnership. Under the partnership, Westfield will manage and fund the Center’s leasing, operations, and maintenance, dedicating private dollars to the upkeep of a landmark public space. Westfield and the MTA will share revenues generated by commercial operations and digital advertising displays.

Read more in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and the official press release on the MTA’s website.

HR&A Expands Capacity to Support Land Use Approvals

“The addition of Jee Mee Kim to our New York office increases our capacity to manage complex projects from inception, through approvals, to project implementation.”
– John Alschuler, Chairman

HR&A is thrilled to welcome Jee Mee Kim as a new Principal in our New York office. Jee Mee brings over 15 years of experience in project management for public and private clients. Her experience leading complex land use approvals and multidisciplinary planning studies will broaden the capacity of the firm in New York City and around the country.

Prior to joining HR&A, Jee Mee was a Director of Planning and Design at Sam Schwartz Engineering (SSE), a transportation planning and traffic engineering firm. At SSE, Jee Mee spearheaded land use approvals, environmental review, and traffic studies for some of New York City’s largest development projects. Her extensive portfolio includes the Atlantic Yards, the New York Presbyterian Hospital Master Plan, and the Brooklyn IKEA.

Jee Mee is currently managing the New York Rising Community Reconstruction Program in Southeast Brooklyn on behalf of the New York State Office of Storm Recovery. She is also providing technical support for the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities Centennial Challenge, an ambitious program to help cities become more resilient to increasing physical, social, and economic challenges.

For over thirty years, HR&A has provided strategic advisory services for some of the most complex neighborhood, downtown, campus, and regional development projects across North America and abroad. With the addition of Jee Mee to the HR&A team, we look forward to continuing to support the economic development and public policy goals of our clients. She can be reached at jkim@hraadvisors.com.