HR&A conducted an analysis of the regional impacts of the Saratoga Racetrack and found that the track produced an economic impact on the surrounding nine counties of between $186 million and $213 million per year. HR&A’s findings were eagerly awaited by local interests, and received attention in the local Albany Times Union, and Bloomberg Business Week.
HR&A Partner Carl Weisbrod was recognized by the Center for an Urban Future as “one of New York’s most innovative economic development leaders over the past three decades” at their 15th Annual Gala. Carl joined HR&A as a Partner in 2011, and currently leads efforts to transform the Hudson Square neighborhood into a mixed-use district focused on creative industries through an innovative rezoning proposal. In addition to his role at HR&A, Carl is a Clinical Professor at New York University’s Schack Institute of Real Estate where he also serves as Academic Chair of the Concentration in Global Real Estate.
On November 8th, the New York Times published an overview, entitled “Study Clarifies the Energy Savings in Retrofitted Buildings,” of a study commissioned by Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation and Living Cities, showing how lenders can use a simple model to predict savings from installing energy efficiency retrofits, and therefore underwrite larger loans. HR&A completed this study in partnership with Steven Winters Associates.
City Parks Alliance and HR&A surveyed 58 dedicated park stewardship organizations across North America to understand their role in park management and the opportunities they create for signature city parks. Among the findings were that these organizations augment public investment with substantial private funding to improve public spaces. The typical organization sponsors 60 programs each year and provides park maintenance, volunteer recruitment, and other key functions. These parks are resourceful in securing funding, spending an average of $160,000 per acre managed, but real estate value capture remains a substantial, often untapped opportunity to support signature city parks.
Earlier this month, the Minneapolis City Council approved the re-design of Peavey Plaza, a one-acre public space on Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis, that was completed by oslund and assoc landscape architects with support from HR&A. This City-owned civic space, which has been the front yard of Orchestra Hall since the 1970s, has suffered from a lack of routine maintenance and capital reinvestment, even as its position as the primary outdoor event venue in downtown Minneapolis has taken hold. The result of a several-months collaboration between oslund and assoc, HR&A, and a committed group of stakeholders is a compelling design, programming strategy, and preliminary business model. The redesign of the deteriorating plaza was profiled in the the Minneapolis Star Tribune, which praised the plan for promising to restore safety, provide economic benefits, and incorporate sustainable design.
On November 3rd, Austin City Council gave preliminary approval to the Downtown Austin Plan. HR&A was pleased to support McCann-Adams Studio in creating the Plan, which supports the City’s efforts to attract and retain workers and residents to the neighborhood and strengthen Downtown’s brand.
HR&A played numerous roles in the development of the Plan.
As a subcontractor to Atkins, one of the largest international engineering firms, HR&A is advising the Saudia Arabia General Investment Authority (SAGIA) and its affiliated Economic Cities Authority (ECA) on the development of four new cities in Saudi Arabia. These include King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC), a new mixed-use development about 90 km north of the major Red Sea port city of Jeddah. The master plan includes a new deep-water port, a major central business district, and numerous residential, commercial and industrial components, to meet the Kingdom’s goals for creating jobs and catalyzing foreign investment, global trade, commerce and industry. When complete, the 168 million square meter development will be home to 2 million residents. The project is being developed by Emaar, one of the world’s largest international construction and development companies.
HR&A is assisting SAGIA and ECA to design and implement an orgnizational structure for efficiently managing governmental development review and permit process for KAEC and the other three Economic Cities, and advising on various KAEC master plan implementation issues, including coastal resource and coastal access protection strategies.
Duke Energy’s Smart Energy Now (SEN) initiative is a first-of-its-kind community behavioral change efficiency program that encourages commercial building owners, tenants, facilities staff, and employees in Uptown Charlotte to modify their current energy consumption while at work. SEN aims to ultimately cut energy use in Uptown Charlotte by 20 percent, the first 5 percent through behavior change. HR&A managed the program design on behalf of Duke Energy.
SEN has the personal commitment of local elected leadership and key Uptown Charlotte business community members, including Bank of America and Wells Fargo. It also includes partnerships with IFMA, ULI, and USGBC.
The Master Plan for the Central Delaware Riverfront was recognized with a Commonwealth Award Gold Medal in Plans and Planning by the 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania. The Central Delaware Master Plan is a redevelopment plan for a seven-mile stretch of the Delaware River in Philadelphia. HR&A worked in partnership with Cooper Robertson & Partners and the Olin Studio on behalf of the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation to ensure that the plan supports the City of Philadelphia’s long term economic development goals, and will provide recommendations on the initial steps toward reconnecting Philadelphia’s neighborhoods with the River.
The Commonwealth Gold medal lauded the Plan as “a brilliant blueprint for revitalizing the waterfront and intelligently integrating it with the character of the city’s many neighborhoods along the Delaware River.”
Read more about the Commonwealth Award Gold Medal in Plans and Planning
On October 4, 2011 HR&A presented our analysis of the curernt operation of Santa Monica Airport to the Santa Monica City Council. The results showed that the airport, and business and non-profit operations on “residual land” adjacent to the airport runway, generate about $275 million of total economic activity in the City’s economy and support about 1,475 total jobs. The analysis was commissioned by the city to assist in plannnig for the future of the 227-acre area in advance of 2015, when all existing leases expire.
Santa Monica Airport has played an important role in the city’s development and in the history of U.S. aviation since it was established in 1926. The airport was formerly the site of a major Douglas Aircraft manfacturing plant that was crucial to supporting military aircraft production during WW II and the Korean War. Today, it is one of the busiest general avaiation airports in Los Angeles County, but is surrouded by Santa Monica and City of Los Angeles neighborhoods. Despite precedent-setting noise control sytems and other local measures to render the airport more compatible with its neigbors, the operation of the airport remains controversial. HR&A’s baseline economic analysis will assist the City in evaluating the potential benefits of future redevelopment alternatives in the next phases of planning.