We are delighted to announce that three of HR&A’s projects were recently recognized by the American Planning Association (APA) with its prestigious annual accolades: the New York Metro Chapter of the APA awarded the Strategic Plan to Reposition the Brooklyn Tech Triangle with the Meritorious Achievement Award, the Missouri Chapter of the APA awarded the Expansion Strategy for the St. Louis Zoo with the Outstanding Plan Award, and Arlington County’s Community Energy Plan was named winner of the APA 2014 National Planning Achievement Award in Environmental Planning.

The 2013 NY APA Meritorious Achievement Award recognizes work of unusual achievement, in this case the Brooklyn Tech Triangle (BTT) Strategic Plan, released on June 18th. The BTT strategic plan focuses on how to secure the Downtown Brooklyn, DUMBO and the Brooklyn Navy Yard areas as the 2nd largest cluster of tech and creative companies in New York City. Individually, these neighborhoods have attracted the interest of innovative tenants in the last several years, especially in DUMBO, which has become a recognized tech hub. As part of a consultant team led by WXY Architecture + Urban Design, HR&A spearheaded the real estate and economic analysis supporting policy recommendations to foster the area’s tech sector growth. HR&A helped develop a working definition of the target tech and creative industry sectors, assessed the current status of tech and creative companies in the Tech Triangle area, and recommended changes in public and private real estate development and management policies. Other members of the WXY team considered workforce development, transportation, and open space and streetscape strategies to foster the growth of the technology and creative economy in the area.

We are equally excited to share that the 2013 Missouri APA Outstanding Planning Award, which advances the science and art of planning through originality and innovation, engagement, implementation and effectiveness, honors our Saint Louis Zoo Expansion Framework Plan. For years the St. Louis Zoo has explored opportunities to expand its footprint across I-64, as it cannot accommodate its growing need for additional exhibition, back-of-house, parking, retail, and research space within its current location. In 2012, the Zoo acquired a hospital site located across I-64 from the Zoo, affording the Zoo this long-sought opportunity to grow. At the same time, the Zoo faces a challenge in devising a means to join the two sites across the interstate. HR&A was part of a multi-disciplinary team engaged to complete a framework plan for the 13-acre hospital site. To support this effort, HR&A conducted an analysis identifying market supportable uses for the site. In addition, HR&A analyzed the Zoo’s business operations to project the financial implications of utilizing the site to expand zoo attractions and program the new property.

The 2014 National Planning Achievement Award in Environmental Planning honors efforts to create greener communities that reduce the impact of development on the natural environment and improve environmental quality. HR&A advised on the development and implementation of Arlington County’s Community Energy Plan (CEP). The CEP for Arlington provides a comprehensive approach to reducing the County’s greenhouse gas emissions by 75 percent between 2013 and the year 2040. The plan advocates for improving energy generation, use, and distribution to create substantial economic, environmental, and quality of life benefits for the businesses and residents of the County. The Plan promotes a number of goals, which address residential and commercial building energy efficiency, implementation of renewable and district energy systems, transportation-related carbon reduction strategies, general County activities, and outreach and education. HR&A recommended implementation actions and public outreach approaches to advance the Plan and its goals, which included incentive and regulatory approaches, improvements to securing approvals, and social media. On Saturday, June 15, 2013, the Arlington County Board unanimously adopted the CEP as part of the County’s Comprehensive Plan, approved the Implementation Framework Plan, and directed the establishment of a CEP Implementation Review Committee.

• Read more about the Brooklyn Tech Triangle here: Gothamist, Daily News, Globe Street, Crain’s New York.
• Read more about the Saint Louis Zoo Expansion here: STL Today, Saint Louis Business Journal, and The State Journal Register.
• Find a final report of the Arlington County’s Community Energy Plan the plan here.

HR&A congratulates the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) for selecting the Westfield Group as master lessee of the $1.4 billion Fulton Center development in Lower Manhattan. The landmark agreement, approved December 18th by the MTA Board, leverages the expertise of one of the world’s leading mall operators to manage a world-class public space, and is the result of nearly two years of planning and negotiation.

When completed in June 2014 the $1.4 billion, 180,000-square-foot Fulton Center will link 9 subway lines, PATH service, and the World Trade Center site, serving as a gateway for approximately 300,000 people daily. It will also contain 63,000 square feet of retail and office space within the newly built structure at Broadway and Fulton Street as well as the newly restored historic Corbin Building at Broadway and Dey Street.

Under the innovative public-private partnership, Westfield will be responsible for leasing, operating, and maintaining the entire facility, including 100,000 square feet of non-commercial space. Westfield and the MTA will share in the revenues generated by commercial spaces and digital advertising displays.

HR&A was pleased to serve as strategic business advisor to the MTA on the Fulton Center project, providing support for: the creation of a retail vision and deal structure; RFP development and release; evaluation of bidders; and final bidder selection and deal term negotiations.

“HR&A has transformed its Los Angeles presence, broadening our services to clients we have proudly served for over thirty years. Stronger transactional and real estate advisory skills will expand our practice in Southern California, and the western states. Symbolized by moving our office downtown, HR&A will continue to contribute to the reinvention of urban life that is the common passion of our growing partnership.”
-John Alschuler, HR&A Chairman

 

HR&A is thrilled to announce a significant expansion in our Los Angeles office with the addition of Amitabh Barthakur, AICP as a new Partner and Judith Taylor as a new Principal. As of December 16, 2013, HR&A’s Los Angeles office has also relocated to downtown LA.

“The addition of Amitabh and Judith, coupled with our move to downtown LA, enables us to further support our clients with industry-leading real estate development, economic revitalization and energy efficiency advisory services,” says Paul J. Silvern, the Partner-in Charge of HR&A’s Los Angeles area office.

With over 20 years of experience, Amitabh brings a combination of international experience and a deep understanding of planning, policy and market issues pertaining to California and the western US. Amitabh has led an extensive range of high-profile local and international studies in the areas of sustainability, land use economics, land use and environmental policy, strategic planning, tourism, and hospitality. His clients have included the City of Los Angeles, State of California, the Southern California Association of Governments, the Housing Authority of Los Angeles, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation in India, and Economic Zones Company in Qatar, among others. Amitabh comes to HR&A after serving as a Vice President of AECOM, where he headed the economics practice in Los Angeles and then as Regional Director for the Planning, Design, and Development (PDD) business line for AECOM in India. He was previously a Principal with Economics Research Associates.

Judith brings 10 years of experience in the fields of land use consulting and community development, with an emphasis on economic analysis to inform community plans, specific plans, revitalization and land use strategies, and the entitlements process. Judith has a wide range of experience providing customized analysis for her public and private clients throughout the west coast. Judith’s specialties include fiscal impact analysis, economic impact analysis, real estate market analysis, and economic development and funding strategies. Prior to joining HR&A, Judith served as a Partner and Director of Real Estate and Economic Planning practice at Pro Forma Advisors, a land use economics firm headquartered in Hermosa Beach, California, and as a Senior Associate with Economic Research Associates and the economics practice at AECOM.

With these strong additions to HR&A’s senior team in Los Angeles, we look forward to continuing to support the economic development and public policy goals of our clients nationally and internationally.

Starting December 16th, our new address in Los Angeles is:

700 S. Flower Street
Suite 2730
Los Angeles CA 90017

Our main phone number in Los Angeles will remain the same. Please contact us if you have any questions: (310)581-0900. Amitabh can be reached by email at abarthakur@hraadvisors.com and Judith can be reached at jtaylor@hraadvisors.com.

Airbnb, an online service for short-term vacation rentals, recently released HR&A’s study of the economic impacts of Airbnb rental activities in New York City.

A follow-on to HR&A’s previous study of the company’s impacts in San Francisco, the study found that Airbnb generated $632 million in economic activity in New York in one year and supported 4,580 jobs throughout all five boroughs.

In one of the most detailed studies of the new “sharing economy” to date, HR&A found that Airbnb is a new kind of economic activity that helps to grow and diversify the City’s economy. It brings new kinds of visitors who stay longer, spend more, and visit neighborhoods that do not traditional benefit from tourism. Moreover, it supports hosts who use the money they earn to help make ends meet, generating income through a more efficient use of resources that is facilitated by technology.

HR&A’s extensive study was based on a custom survey of 1,300 New York City hosts and guests, historic Airbnb booking data, and estimation of Airbnb’s direct, indirect, and induced economic effects.

HR&A’s Economic Impact Study on the City of New York has been covered by WNYC, The Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, Real Estate Weekly, Media Post, New York Business Journal, Digital Journal, Tech Hive, Curbed, and Morningstar.

The official press release for the New York Study is available online.

Kaye Matheny, former Chief of Staff and Deputy Commissioner for the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, joins HR&A.

HR&A welcomes Kaye Matheny as a Principal. Her deep experience with public-private development and urban planning will advance our clients’ economic development and public policy goals in New York City and abroad. Her experience at the forefront of housing finance further broadens the capacity of the firm. Kaye’s prior experience as an accomplished consultant, combined with her leadership of the nation’s largest housing agency, demonstrates her potent skill set. We are thrilled to have her join our New York office. Immediately, Kaye will serve as Project Manager for the New York Rising Community Reconstruction Program’s efforts in the Rockaways, Breezy Point, Howard Beach, and Broad Channel.

Kaye’s achievements at the City’s Housing Preservation and Development Department (HPD) included leading the Bloomberg administration’s housing response to Hurricane Sandy, helping to launch the initiative to build New York City’s first micro-unit building, and re-writing the 10-year New Housing Marketplace Plan to ensure HPD could continue to meet its 165,000 unit target and maintain the stability of families and neighborhoods during the housing market downturn.

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 Kaye joining the firm, we look forward to continuing to support the economic development and public policy goals of our clients. As a leading expert at the intersection of policy, housing, and urban development, Kaye will concentrate on directing planning, policy and financing projects that respond to Hurricane Sandy’s impact on the northeast region and future threats related to climate change, in addition to supporting our work on housing and development projects.

Please join us in welcoming Kaye to HR&A. She can be reached at kmatheny@hraadvisors.com.

For the first time in 12 years, New Yorkers have a new mayor.

So we’re getting together and we’re Talking Transition, transforming the typically closed-door transition process between Election Day and the Inauguration into an opportunity for New Yorkers to make their voices heard.

HR&A is proud serve as the program manager leading the design and implementation of this innovative civic engagement initiative on behalf of a coalition of ten New York City foundations, including the Open Society Foundation, Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and others. Talking Transition aims to foster New York City’s first “open” transition by providing thousands of New Yorkers the opportunity to participate in public conversations about policy issues, ideas and questions that affect their communities.

Over the course of two weeks, starting today, Talking Transition will create the forum for these conversations by hosting live events in an open tent on Canal Street, bringing the discussion to all NYC neighborhoods with “mobile tents” and more than 100 canvassers, and elevating the best ideas on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. By mid-December, Talking Transition will demonstrate the results of this expansive initiative, revealing New Yorker’s sentiments about their neighborhoods and the direction of the city as told through TalkNYC, a new digital experience, and a series of live, interactive public engagement opportunities.

In addition to managing the overall initiative, HR&A developed the content for TalkNYC with Control Group and is leading the programming of events and activities. The project is already making quite a stir in the press, and we encourage you, your colleagues, and your friends and families to get involved: Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter, #TalkingTransition. Visit our website: www.talkingtransitionnyc.com

One year after Hurricane Sandy’s arrival, we reflect on the devastating toll the storm took on individuals and communities across the region.

While the impact was tragic and the need for recovery takes top priority, Sandy’s arrival also triggered a clearer understanding of how climate change will impact our coastal areas over time, and particularly of the challenges of adapting our nation’s dense, built-out urban areas.

HR&A is proud to continue to support efforts to grapple with this problem through innovative and community-driven planning and economically-driven strategy.

On Monday, October 28th, we presented our initial contributions to Rebuild by Design, the federal government’s competition to identify innovative projects to protect and enhance coastal communities in the Northeast region. HR&A teamed with Cooper, Robertson & Partners to develop ground-up design and financing strategies to promote resiliency in neighborhood commercial corridors. We also provided analytical support to design teams led by PennDesign/OLIN and the Office of Metropolitan Architecture. Read more about Rebuild by Design here and about HR&A’s work here.

We also reached an important milestone in the community-driven plans initiated by New York State through the New York Rising Community Reconstruction Program, submitting conceptual plans for recovery and rebuilding in seven Sandy-impacted neighborhoods in New York City, including Lower Manhattan, Red Hook, Broad Channel, Howard Beach, and the entire Rockaway Peninsula. Read more about New York Rising here.

In the months and years ahead, HR&A is committed to working with public, private, and non-profit partners to learn from our common experiences and to design and implement strategies that promote resiliency in urban places over the long term.

Read more in Curbed and Washington Square News.

HR&A celebrates open space with LEGOS, laptops, and lemonade

HR&A Advisors invited Tribeca pedestrians to join us in celebrating the importance of urban open space on Friday, September 20, when we transformed three metered parking spaces into a vibrant, mixed-use Live/Work/Play community as part of Park(ing) Day 2013.

HR&A’s second PARK(ing) Day installation temporarily reshaped the northern curb of Harrison Street, between Hudson and Greenwich Streets, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pedestrians relaxed in a comfortable landscaped space with a hammock, HR&A employees and office workers worked on laptops nearby, and passersby used LEGO blocks to “vote” for their most important mayoral campaign issues and played Ping-Pong.

“At the core of HR&A’s mission is the reinvention of American cities as vibrant places to live, work, and play,” said HR&A President Eric Rothman. “PARK(ing) Day is a one-of-a-kind opportunity not just to promote HR&A’s vision and mission, but also to engage the public in the type of change that we expect to see more of, in New York City and around the world.”

First conceived in 2005 by Rebar, a San Francisco-based art and design studio, PARK(ing) Day challenges people to rethink the way streets are used and reinforces the need for broad-based changes to urban infrastructure. Since 2005, the project has blossomed into a worldwide grassroots movement: Past PARK(ing) Days have included nearly 1,000 “PARK” installations in more than 160 cities in 35 countries on six continents.

HR&A’s PARK(ing) Day installation was divided into three spaces:

• The Live space activated the streetscape and invited passersby to enter the park-like setting with temporary landscaping, comfortable seating, and a hammock. This space highlighted the importance of open space for urban residents and invited passersby to enter, relax, and enjoy some lemonade.
• The Work space provided an outdoor workspace for HR&A employees and the public. Tables, chairs, electricity, and wireless internet were available for everyone’s use, creating a productive environment by showing how work can be flexible and balanced with living and playing.
• The Play space engaged and educated passersby through an interactive survey on top issues in the upcoming mayoral election. Each “vote” was represented by a LEGO brick, which allowed participants to literally “build” their vision for a better New York City. Nearby, pedestrians challenged each other to games of Ping-Pong at the edge of the park.

HR&A Advisors, Inc. (HR&A) is an industry leader in economic development, real estate and public policy consulting. Equipped with a unique understanding of the intersection of the public and private sectors, HR&A has served a diversity of clients since 1976. HR&A has extensive experience advising on some of the most complicated real estate and economic development projects in communities across the country. We approach each assignment by focusing on how to achieve our client’s goals in the context of the public sector’s priorities and the private sector’s motivations. Our approach has allowed hundreds of public and private clients to transform public infrastructure, real estate and economic development concepts first into actionable plans, then into job-producing, community-strengthening assets.

See more pictures of our Park(ing) Day installation at WNYC, Untapped Cities, Tribeca Citizen, and on NTD Television.

For more information about the history of PARK(ing) Day, please visit www.parkingday.org.

HR&A’s Resiliency Efforts Continue with the Federal Rebuild by Design Competition and New York Rising Community Reconstruction Program

Hurricane Sandy, while destroying lives, communities and property across the northeast region last October, also created an unprecedented moment in which three levels of government and the private and non-profit sectors are thinking concertedly about adapting our cities and towns to the future impacts of climate change. HR&A has continued to play an important role in these activities, and we are pleased to have been selected last week by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to lead one of ten distinguished teams to develop innovative projects that will protect and enhance Sandy-affected communities.

Our role in the competition follows Jamie Torres Springer leading community planning efforts as part of the Mayor’s Special Initiative for Rebuilding and Resiliency, which prepared the far-reaching PlaNYC Report for A Stronger, More Resilient New York, and our upcoming role as planning consultants to the State of New York’s New York Rising Community Reconstruction Program.

As the only team participating in HUD’s competition led by urban economists, HR&A will focus on the resiliency and vitality of commercial corridors and retail destinations throughout the flood-impacted areas of the northeast, which serve as the lifeblood of communities and help to drive recovery. Joined by a team of experts including Cooper, Robertson & Partners, Grimshaw, Langan Engineering, Hargreaves Associates, W Architecture, Alamo Architects, Urban Green Council, Ironstate Development and New City America, we will combine innovative design, financing and management approaches to create solutions for this critical sector of our economy.

HR&A is also proud to have been selected to support the work of visionary planners PennDesign/Olin team and the Office of Metropolitan Architecture team as sub-consultants. To read more on each team’s approach please visit the Rebuild by Design Website and click on Teams.

We are also pleased to be supporting the work of the State of New York to provide rebuilding and revitalization assistance through community planning efforts across the state under the New York Rising Community Reconstruction Program. Work will commence this fall on this critical planning initiative.

These initiatives will support the efforts of the Bloomberg, Cuomo and Obama administrations to make communities across the region more able to withstand the impacts of climate change, risks made undeniable by Sandy. We are proud to be making our contributions.

Read more in The Atlantic, Crain’s, ArchDaily, Curbed, the HUD Press Room, and the Rebuild by Design Website.