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.

 “Kate embodies HR&A’s values with her special talent, combining consummate teamwork and inspiring leadership with an impressive analytic mind.” -John Alschuler, Chairman, HR&A Advisors

HR&A is thrilled to announce the promotion of Kate Collignon to Managing Partner in our New York office. Kate Collignon has been a Principal at HR&A for 4 years, contributing her expertise in public-private partnerships, economic development, project management, and master planning with an emphasis on downtown and waterfront revitalization. In addition to providing continued project leadership, Kate will now also oversee the growth and operations of HR&A’s New York City headquarters.

Kate has over 15 years of private and public sector experience. Prior to joining HR&A as Principal in 2009, Kate served as a Development Director with Brookfield Properties, where she managed pre-development for commercial and mixed-use projects across the United States. Previously, she worked with the New York City Economic Development Corporation, where she served as Senior Vice President for Development and was in charge of large-scale planning and development initiatives.

At HR&A, Kate has provided strategic economic development and implementation advice for master planning projects across the country and has negotiated the partnerships necessary to see these plans through to implementation. Kate also has provided project management and real estate advisory services for complex private development initiatives in New York City, and has supported HR&A’s public policy and open space planning practices. Currently Kate is managing projects in New York City, Houston, Charleston, and Philadelphia.

With this strong addition to HR&A’s senior team, we look forward to continuing to support the economic development and public-private partnership goals of our clients in New York and nationally. Kate can be reached directly at (646) 695-5302 or kcollignon@hraadvisors.com

On Monday June 24th, the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) launched “Staten Island Storefronts: The Race for Space!” HR&A partnered with NYCEDC to design the competition, which seeks to attract catalytic retail businesses to Downtown Staten Island, and is advising NYCEDC through program implementation.

For Staten Island Storefronts: The Race for Space, NYCEDC established a fund of $425,000 in prize funds, to be awarded to eligible businesses opening new storefronts in Downtown Staten Island on a first-come-first-served basis. A map of the eligibility zone is available here, and almost any ground floor retailer is eligible to apply.

This innovative economic development initiative is designed to fill existing storefronts with businesses committed to the neighborhood and invested in its future. The competition also builds on the momentum of other planned projects in downtown Staten Island, including the world’s largest Observation Wheel, a new city incubator space, and more than a thousand new housing units planned for the New Stapleton Waterfront.

The first round of Staten Island Storefronts will close on September 30th, 2013, or when funds are exhausted. Read more in the Wall Street Journal.

HR&A also designed and administers Take the H.E.L.M. – Hire + Expand in Lower Manhattan, another NYCEDC competition designed to encourage innovative companies to join other businesses that have recently opened or expanded office space in Lower Manhattan.

This week the City of New York set a new standard for how cities can protect their residents, businesses and most critical assets in the face of growing climate change risks by launching the Mayor’s PlaNYC Report for A Stronger, More Resilient New York. In response to the devastating impact of Hurricane Sandy and the projected impacts of climate change, the report of the Mayor’s Special Initiative for Rebuilding and Resiliency (SIRR) has more than 250 specific recommendations for rebuilding the communities impacted by Sandy and increasing the resilience of infrastructure and buildings citywide.

The City will embrace these recommendations as part of a comprehensive, multi-layered response to the risks uncovered by last October’s storm, acknowledging that New York is, and will remain, a coastal city. From a range of coastal protection measures, to initiatives that will support adaptation and redevelopment of building stock, to a call for adapting federal policy, including flood insurance, to our urban areas, to economic resiliency measures for five key community areas across the City, New York has provided an important blueprint for resiliency in urban living that will contribute to cities around the world.

We are proud that Jamie Torres Springer led the Communities Initiative for the SIRR as Deputy Director and contributed to this important effort. Jamie will discuss the City’s response to climate change at an upcoming Urban Land Institute panel, Post Sandy & Irene: How is our Industry Changing? at UCONN Stamford on Wednesday, June 12th and at the Municipal Art Society’s The Road Forward: Putting Resilience into Action event on Wednesday, June 19th.

On May 2nd, 2013, a consortium in which HR&A is the economic development lead was selected by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) through a nationwide competition to launch and administer the “SC2 Network.” The Network, funded initially with HUD technical assistance resources, will provide direct assistance to cities across the U.S. in achieving locally identified priorities for economic growth and job creation. The Network will also use innovative methods of knowledge sharing, such as social media and peer networks, to communicate more widely what works in the revitalization of local economies.

Read more about the consortium here.

“HR&A is honored that our team was selected by the federal government to implement this important initiative,” said HR&A President Eric Rothman. “We’re excited to be part of this tremendous team and look forward to expanding our services to more cities.” HR&A’s partners in the SC2 Network are Enterprise Community Partners, Public Financial Management, Inc., New York University’s Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service, and the International City/County Management Association.

HR&A’s participation in the SC2 Network reflects the firm’s extensive experience over three decades in delivering on-the-ground assistance to local leaders to make cities more innovative, competitive, and prosperous for more of their citizens. “For HR&A, the opportunity to help launch and lead the SC2 Network affirms that we have been good listeners to our clients,” said HR&A Principal Stockton Williams. “We know we will learn a great deal as we work with more cities across the country through the initiative.”

On April 9th 2013, the New York City Council unanimously approved YoungWoo & Associates’ plans to redevelop Pier 57, the historic 375,000 square foot former passenger ship terminal which projects into the Hudson at 15th Street and the West Side Highway. HR&A served as strategic advisor and project manager for YoungWoo & Associates’ response to the RFP for Pier 57 issued by the Hudson River Park Trust.

Plans for the pier include roughly 425,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, a concept that builds upon the successes of the adjacent High Line Park, West Chelsea District, Meatpacking District, and Hudson River Park itself. HR&A managed the developer’s multidisciplinary team to craft this exciting concept for a revenue-generating destination within Hudson River Park as proposed within the RFP response.

The Council’s approval and YoungWoo’s investment will activate an underutilized prime waterfront site and unlock a new source of revenue to support operations for the Hudson River Park.

Read more in the NY Post, Crain’s NY, and NY Curbed.