Northeast Archives - Page 4 of 5

New York Rising Community Reconstruction Program

February 8, 2016 / Comments Off

HR&A led a multidisciplinary team to develop comprehensive, strategic resilience plans for at-risk communities that were severely impacted by Superstorm Sandy, Hurricane Irene, and Tropical Storm Lee, and developed projects eligible for over $128M in federal disaster recovery funding.

On behalf of the New York State Office of Storm Recovery’s New York Rising Community Reconstruction Program (NYRCR), HR&A led a team of engineers, architects, planners, landscape architects, healthcare and other specialists to run two rounds of the NYCRCR Program. In close coordination with the general public and planning committees, comprised of local civic and social leaders within each community, the HR&A-led team developed comprehensive community plans for investing over $128M of federal Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funding towards strengthening the physical, economic, and social resiliency in Lower Manhattan, Red Hook, Howard Beach, Broad Channel, communities across the Rockaway Peninsula, Canarsie, Bergen Beach, Mill Basin, Marine Park, and several communities along the East Bronx Waterfront.

The HR&A-led team provided data analysis and technical evaluations to help residents understand real and projected risks and generated a spectrum of potential solutions to address issues and meet local goals. The team also estimated development and operating costs, evaluated funding options, and proposed phasing and implementation strategies. For example, the HR&A-led team:

Evaluated potential short- and long-term flood mitigation strategies for communities at risk from storm surge and wave action exacerbated by sea level rise;
Proposed low-cost loan programs to assist both business and residential retrofits;
Developed education programs to help the business-, home-, and building-owners learn, understand, make decisions, and take action; and
Proposed policy recommendations to ease the burden on building owners and increase access to more programs and funds.

In addition, HR&A managed the extensive community-led participatory process, running over 100 committee meetings and 40 large-scale public engagements, to iteratively gather feedback and present proposals and the community plans. In total, the team generated more than 120 near-term resiliency projects, each tailored for the specific community.

As of early 2016, Governor Cuomo has announced funding for four projects that the HR&A-led team drafted in collaboration with NY Rising communities: an energy resiliency feasibility study for New York City Housing Authority’s Red Hook Houses, a residential technical assistance pilot program in seven impacted communities, and two business corridor improvement projects, totaling over $12 million, for communities of the Rockaway Peninsula. The State is processing additional projects through the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development for implementation by City agencies and community organizations. In addition to this, FEMA has funded $1.2 million to advance technical and feasibility analyses of a double dune system in the Breezy Point community on the Rockaway Peninsula that was designed in concept in the NYRCR process and supported in the final plan. In his February 2016 State of the City speech, Mayor de Blasio announced a $91 million investment in downtown Far Rockaway, and has emphasized the importance of streetscape improvements in the Rockaway East community. The City has also approved the plans for implementing permanent ferry service to Rockaway West, a major priority advocated by the community’s planning committee.

A joint commitment by New York City and State in the amount of $100 million for an integrated flood protection system will protect Red Hook from future storm surges and the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery is more than doubling the City’s initial investment of $3 million in funding for the launch of the NYC Business Preparedness and Resiliency Program with an additional $4.51 million.

Game On! Programming for Water Street in Downtown New York

February 8, 2016 / Comments Off

On behalf of the Alliance for Downtown New York, HR&A developed and implemented a programming and neighborhood branding plan that transformed Lower Manhattan’s Water Street Corridor into Lower Manhattan’s playground.

HR&A led the development of a distinctive programming and placemaking plan for the Water Street corridor, from June through Labor Day of 2014 on behalf of the Alliance for Downtown New York. In collaboration with Auster Agency and 3×3 Design, HR&A conducted and managed the planning and execution of an effort designed to shift perceptions about a once-staid area of the financial district, originally home to insurance company headquarters.

The resulting program series, called Game On!, activated public spaces on Water Street with pop-up installations including play-oriented programming, beer gardens, mini-golf, and a “beach” installation. These temporary public space uses encouraged local residents, workers, and visitors to utilize these areas in new, lively, and fun ways. Local businesses were also engaged by and benefited from the program, which provided coupons to local cafes and restaurants that incentivized visitors to patronize local businesses. Other components of the initiative, including program-specific branding and a website developed for the series, helped ensure its success: Game On! attracted individuals between the ages of 25 and 33—37% of visitors—both on the weekends and in the evening in addition to people who work near Water Street, ensuring that Water Street remained active throughout the work day and into the evening. ADNY found that the Game On! brand resonated with 60% of those surveyed, as a result of a strategic advertising strategy, and that

Game On! and other initiatives on Water Street, such as the Downtown Alliance’s WiFi program and HR&A’s work with Water Street POPS, sought to leverage underused public spaces throughout the corridor. These neighborhood programming efforts evince the Downtown Alliance’s commitment to the revitalization of the Water Street corridor into a vibrant center of downtown life.

Images Courtesy of: 3×3 Design

Master Plan for Philadelphia’s Delaware Waterfront & Penn’s Landing

February 8, 2016 / Comments Off

HR&A created development, investment, and phasing strategies to support the award-winning Master Plan for the Central Delaware, and advised on redevelopment scenarios for a revitalized Penn’s Landing.

CHALLENGE

Philadelphia’s waterfront once bustled with industrial activity, but as the City’s manufacturing and shipping sectors shifted to accommodate Center City’s growing knowledge-economy, the isolated waterfront deteriorated. Cut off from downtown by an interstate highway, the waterfront suffered from disinvestment, increased vacancy, and underutilization.

In 2010, the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation, seeking to revitalize a seven-mile length of the central waterfront, asked HR&A and a team of designers, engineers, urban planners, and architects to create a master plan that would create an accessible riverfront, provide community amenities, and increase the values of surrounding parcels to encourage redevelopment along the waterfront.

SOLUTION

The resulting plan extends Philadelphia’s vibrant urban environment to the water by incorporating neighborhood-scale development, transportation connections, public-realm improvements, entertainment and cultural offerings, and open space and recreation opportunities.

HR&A worked with the planning team to identify the initial steps needed to finance and implement these improvements, starting with an assessment of local demand for residential, retail, commercial office, flex, and hotel uses. This assessment helped shape the development program, and informed the planning team’s strategy to extend the low- and mid-rise character of nearby residential neighborhoods, which would create signature waterfront destinations without absorbing a disproportionate share of demand from Center City’s building inventory and businesses. Additionally, HR&A explored phasing, financing, and implementation alternatives that leveraged the site’s private development potential to support essential first-phase public improvements and amenities.

In 2014, HR&A joined a team of landscape architects and planners to advance the framework for open space and development at Penn’s Landing, Philadelphia’s premier waterfront event space. As one of the first-phase redevelopment sites identified in the master plan, the site included a range of activating uses including residential, retail, and an 11-acre signature park with neighborhood-scale public spaces that would provide key connections across the I-95 expressway towards Center City. HR&A assessed market demand for new development, and coordinated with the study team to evaluate multiple development scenarios, including associated phasing.

IMPACT

The Philadelphia City Planning Commission adopted the master plan in 2012, and the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation is now advancing implementation.

In 2015, DRWC selected a development partner to construct 550 units of rental housing, 30,000 square feet of retail, and significant public space at Spring Garden. This new development will complement a new entertainment center and nearly 500 additional units of housing now under way on private land surrounding the waterfront, spurred in part by Delaware River Waterfront Corporation advancement of five major infrastructure projects recommended under the master plan.

Strategic Plan to Reposition the Brooklyn Tech Triangle

February 8, 2016 / Comments Off

The Brooklyn Tech Triangle, which includes the neighborhoods of DUMBO, Downtown Brooklyn, and the Brooklyn Navy Yard area is becoming the City’s largest cluster of tech activity outside of Manhattan, with nearly 10% of the sector calling this area home. 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. The challenge of nurturing this influx of innovation requires ensuring that the right kind of space and environment is available for tech firms, and both opportunities and talent are encouraged. However, a lack of appropriate office space and adequate job preparation, among other factors, threatens to stifle this growth and send companies to invest and hire elsewhere. Led by the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, the DUMBO Improvement District, and the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation, the Brooklyn Tech Triangle Strategic Plan seeks to address these challenges by providing a blueprint for nurturing the growth of this sector and ensuring New York can capitalize on the job creation of the industry.

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. The team as a whole also considered workforce development, transportation, and open space and streetscape strategies to foster the growth of the technology and creative economy in the area.

The final report focuses on actionable recommendations for implementation by both the public and private sectors, to nurture the growth of creative industries within the Tech Triangle while maximizing the employment benefits for local residents. The report describes five categories of recommendations to ensure that the Tech Triangle remains a world-class center for innovation and resources and the 2^nd largest cluster of tech and creative companies for New York City: creating space for tech to grow, connecting Brooklyn’s educational institutions to the tech sector, improving physical connectivity across the district, improving the urban fabric of the Triangle, and marketing Triangle-created new technologies, while also bolstering the digital infrastructure of the area.

Specific recommendations conceived and analyzed by HR&A included: a master lessee program to align tech tenants’ leasing preferences with traditional landlord financing requirements and a special innovation district to create more active space for the innovation economy in existing storage and warehouse buildings.

As of January 2016, a number of the initiatives we described are underway, and the Tech Triangle is now home to 1,351 innovation companies and 17,302 employees, up from 1,107 and 11,967 in 2012, respectively. In November 2013, the New York chapter of the American Planning Association honored the Brooklyn Tech Triangle Strategic Plan with its annual award for Meritorious Achievement citing the ambitious scale of the plan to serve as a model for economic development in urban centers.

NYC BigApps

February 8, 2016 / Comments Off

The NYC BigApps competition awarded over $200,000 to innovative civic tech startups and piloted new models for collaboration between tech and the public sector.

In 2014, the New York City Economic Development Corporation selected HR&A as program administrator of NYC BigApps, a trendsetting civic tech competition that has helped launched more than 500 apps and devices. HR&A has led all aspects of program design and management for BigApps 2014 and 2015, developing two interactive web platforms; producing more than 25 events; securing more than $500,000 in cash and in-kind sponsorships; managing partnerships with more than 100 organizations; and overseeing the selection processes that awarded $230,000 to 16 high-impact tech products.

HR&A led a major redesign of BigApps in 2014, the competition’s fifth year. To facilitate more targeted submissions, HR&A partnered with New York City agencies and nonprofit organizations to craft more than 30 “BigIdea Challenges” that awarded extra prizes for specific solutions. To engage the public, HR&A produced 11 events, including the BigApps Block Party, a day-long tech showcase that attracted more than 1,000 attendees. The competition received 117 submissions, the most of any competition year. Among the 2014 winners was Heat Seek NYC, which uses low-cost sensor technology to track heating violations in apartment buildings. Since winning $25,000 in prizes, Heat Seek has been accepted into two prominent incubator programs, introduced an improved sensor and software platform, and launched a winter 2015 pilot program that deployed 120 sensors across 40 low-income buildings throughout New York City.

For BigApps 2015, HR&A again recruited more than 30 City agencies, civic organizations, and private sector firms, but this time focused on four high-impact Challenges: Affordable Housing, Zero Waste, Connected Cities, and Civic Engagement. These Challenges were designed to support Mayor de Blasio’s OneNYC: The Plan for a Strong and Just City. Over a four-month period, partners co-created products with teams and committed to supporting the implementation of winning products. In December, BigApps awarded $125,000 to seven impactful civic tech products, including Benefit Kitchen, a mobile app that helps low-income New Yorkers access public benefits; JustFix.nyc, a web platform that empowers tenants to improve their living conditions; and Addicaid, a digital support network designed for individuals struggling with substance abuse. In addition to prizes, teams won four months of Incubation at Civic Hall, including access to meeting and work space, targeted workshops, access to professional networks, and expert guidance on business planning, marketing, funding strategies, and product development.

Read more about BigApps at NYC .gov, EDC.nyc, AM New York, and Crain’s NY Business.

100 Resilient Cities Challenge

February 8, 2016 / Comments Off

HR&A is supporting urban leaders in 100 cities across the United States as they develop comprehensive, actionable plans to become more resilient to social, economic, and physical risks and challenges.

HR&A supports the 100 Resilient Cities program, a global initiative pioneered by The Rockefeller Foundation, and Chief Resilience Officers across the United States as they develop comprehensive resilience strategies and implementation plans that respond to their cities’ unique set of risks and long-term vision and goals. Each strategy and implementation plan is designed to build the capacity of individuals, communities, institutions, businesses, and systems within a city to not only survive a major disruption event such as an earthquake or flood, but also to adapt and grow in the face of chronic stresses such as poverty or housing availability.

HR&A works with each Chief Resilience Officer and other senior officials to develop comprehensive resilience strategies.

At the forefront of Resilience Strategy Development, HR&A has supported the comprehensive strategic plans for Norfolk, New York City and New Orleans – the first to be delivered as a part of the 100RC program. In Norfolk, HR&A worked with the Chief Resilience Officer (CRO) to design initiatives that will make the coastal city more prepared for climate change, create economic opportunity in new and growing sectors, and strengthen communities and neighborhoods while deconcentrating poverty. New York City’s strategy, developed with support from HR&A, envisions a more resilient city embracing balanced growth, a more inclusive economy, sustainability in the face of climate change, and more resilient infrastructure and services. In New Orleans, HR&A supported the CRO in prioritizing initiatives advancing coastal protection and restoration, creating equity through opportunity, and redesigning regional transit systems. Future strategies may include the development of high priority implementable projects and initiatives that strengthen infrastructure, generate economic opportunity, improve governance structures, and build social capital.

Through the Resilience Strategy Development process, HR&A supports cities and CROs to:

Identify and prioritize potential acute shocks and chronic stresses that their cities face;
Provide thought leadership by guiding use of best practices and delivering data-driven analyses;
Coordinate and facilitate stakeholder workshops; and
Design a Phase-1 Resilience Strategy

HR&A led agenda-setting workshops for six of the ten selected North American cities: Los Angeles, California; Norfolk, Virginia; Boston, Massachusetts; Boulder, Colorado; Tulsa, Oklahoma; St. Louis, Missouri; and El Paso, Texas. Prior to each workshop, HR&A analyzed the city context, including demographic, economic, social, and physical metrics, to define a city-specific strategic plan. Learn more about the program at 100resilientcities.org

New Jersey Performing Arts Center

December 18, 2015 / Comments Off

HR&A has supported the New Jersey Performing Arts Center since its inception. We helped craft the rationale for its funding and have provided development advisory services as it considers abutting residential development to achieve its founding mission of stewarding economic revitalization in Downtown Newark.

The opening of the half-billion dollar New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) symbolized downtown resurgence and a redefining moment for Newark. Since its opening over a decade ago, NJPAC has drawn over 6 million visitors, and is considered a pioneering project in downtown Newark that has been followed by major investments such as the Prudential Center (the New Jersey Devils’ arena), increased office occupancy, the redeveloped 1180 Raymond, and One Theater Square.

HR&A developed an economic and fiscal impact study, and a long-term financial plan for NJPAC.

HR&A’s study of NJPAC’s effectiveness in revitalizing the Newark economy was integral in securing federal, State, City, and private funds including grants, bond and tax increment financing, and special assessments. At the project’s inception, HR&A projected NJPAC’s development, visitation and spending impacts.

HR&A provided real estate advisory services to NJPAC on the development of the first mixed-use project on an adjacent site, One Theater Square.

The original plan allowed NJPAC to acquire abutting parcels for private development in order to provide a long term source of revenue to fund the arts. In partnership with the City of Newark and State of New Jersey, HR&A assisted NJPAC in crafting a financial structure, then identified a highly qualified development partner. We consulted on the use of a variety of incentive programs for this development (Low Income Housing Credits, New Markets Tax Credits, and others). Although plans for the proposed redevelopment initially suffered due to the economic downturn, the adjacent mixed-use development plans were unveiled in 2010. One Theater Square has been approved for $38 million over ten years in funding from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority’s Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit Program and will also receive significant contributions from the State of New Jersey.

PlaNYC & OneNYC

December 18, 2015 / Comments Off

HR&A supported multi-agency, cross-disciplinary planning efforts for PlaNYC and led the creation of OneNYC, the City of New York’s long-term plans.

The Bloomberg administration first developed PlaNYC in 2007 as the City’s bold plan for sustainable growth in New York City through 2030. HR&A provided policy advisory services for the creation of the initial plan and supported the development of an update in 2011. In 2015, HR&A worked closely with the Mayor’s Office to project manage the update to PlaNYC, incorporating Mayor de Blasio’s policy goals of equity and inclusion in OneNYC: The Plan for a Strong and Just City.

As project manager and lead advisor for OneNYC, HR&A worked with over 70 agencies and the Mayor’s Office to develop a plan focused around four visions for the City of New York: Growth, Equity, Sustainability, and Resiliency.

OneNYC will guide the city on a path of broad-based growth that includes all five boroughs and lifts up the city’s most vulnerable populations. HR&A worked with departments and agencies to set ambitious long-term targets and create major initiatives to support job creation, population growth, household income, housing affordability, and transit access to jobs for New Yorkers.

In addition to project management and agency coordination, HR&A implemented a community and stakeholder outreach initiative and prepared an in-depth policy analysis.

We worked with the Mayor’s Office to develop an outreach strategy to ensure that the voices of New Yorkers were incorporated into OneNYC. Through town hall meetings, elected official briefings, and a public survey, our team sought input from thousands of New Yorkers to understand how the City’s 30-year plan could better serve them. HR&A also prepared an analysis of the economic, demographic, and environmental trends influencing the city and its surrounding region today and in the future. This critical work led to the development of the Plan’s economic, transportation, and housing initiatives.

Mayor Bill de Blasio launched OneNYC on April 22, 2015.

The City subsequently proposed a 10-year capital strategy within its executive budget that included $22 billion in capital allocations to OneNYC initiatives. Prior to the launch, HR&A spearheaded an effort to create a database and map of $266 billion in planned future capital investment by the City and its regional and state partners. Our work on this will provide the City a valuable tool to inform and track future investment decisions.

HR&A also provided advisory services for the creation of the initial PlaNYC 2030, unveiled in 2007, and supported the development of an update in 2011, for which we provided policy support.

In 2007, HR&A served as project manager and lead advisor for the development of a long-range transportation plan under PlaNYC. We provided the foundation for the final policy initiatives, which created a comprehensive framework for future transportation planning in New York City. To cover the wide range of complex and interrelated issues related to transportation planning in the City, HR&A convened and led an interagency team with representation from the Mayor’s Office, the Department of Transportation, and the New York City Economic Development Corporation. The team evaluated the current state of local transportation systems, and drafted policy recommendations to improve and expand sustainable transportation infrastructure. In addition, HR&A identified strategies to spur brownfield redevelopment and in August 2010, then-Mayor Bloomberg launched the nation’s first municipal brownfield cleanup program.

In support of PlaNYC 2.0 in 2011, the first major update to PlaNYC, HR&A evaluated existing energy efficiency and clean distributed generation funding programs available to real estate owners and tenants in New York City. The firm examined existing energy program budgets and expenditures, and issued policy recommendations for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the programs.

Single Sales Factor Tax Analysis

December 18, 2015 / Comments Off

HR&A demonstrated the economic and fiscal benefits of the Single Sales Factor tax policy in New York City and State.

Single Sales Factor is a tax policy change that encourages companies to keep jobs and capital in New York City. HR&A worked on behalf of a consortium led by the Motion Picture Association of America—composed of Fortune 500 companies and including executives from The Walt Disney Company—to conduct an economic and fiscal impact analysis to demonstrate the benefits generated by establishing Single Sales Factor corporate taxation in New York City.

Based on HR&A’s findings, New York State signed into law legislation that contains single sales factor tax reform for New York City in 2009.

At the time of HR&A’s study in 2008, 20 states, including the State of New York had adopted Single Sales Factor apportionment. HR&A researched and reviewed academic analysis of jurisdictional tax policies across the 50 states, prepared an economic analysis of the proposed policy change for New York City, weighed evidence in support of and opposed to modifying corporate income taxes, and presented a policy proposal to senior New York City policymakers.

Take the H.E.L.M Competition

December 18, 2015 / Comments Off

HR&A designed a high-profile business competition, which attracted 25 new companies to Lower Manhattan’s growing innovation district.

Lower Manhattan has long been the world’s financial capital. But, as the financial sector evolves, creative and tech companies are playing an increasingly vital role in the diversification of city’s economy, bringing new energy to a neighborhood still rebuilding from 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy. In 2012 and 2013, HR&A partnered with the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) to accelerate Lower Manhattan’s transformation by designing and administering Take the H.E.L.M. – Hire + Expand in Lower Manhattan, a competition that awards prizes to catalytic new office tenants in the neighborhood, including startups and companies seeking their first office in New York.

Working with NYCEDC, HR&A designed and administered Take the H.E.L.M. HR&A’s responsibilities included:

Design of competition guidelines and evaluation criteria to ensure that companies receiving prizes brought net new jobs to Lower Manhattan in innovative tech and creative industries.

Management and delivery of a website that served as a resource to prospective Lower Manhattan tenants media, and portal for competition entries.

Marketing to prospective applicants using traditional media, social media, and through direct marketing at tech meet-ups, conferences, and other events. The Take the H.E.L.M. website received over 20,000 unique visitors from companies based around the world, attracted nearly 1,400 registrants, and led to several high-profile media articles.

Design and management of a rigorous selection process that included a high-profile panel of judges – led by former Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission Arthur Levitt – with deep experience in venture capital, economic development, and finance.

Over two competition rounds, Take the H.E.L.M. received over 600 applications and awarded $2.25 million in prizes. The competition generated significant promotion for the City and neighborhood, including coverage in the Wall Street Journal, Crain’s New York Business, and Fox Business News.

Take the H.E.L.M. is widely credited with opening the door for tenants that otherwise would not have considered locating in Lower Manhattan. As 2015, 25 H.E.L.M. applicants have signed leases in Lower Manhattan, including Paperless Post, STELLAService, Booker, the Flatiron School, Grapeshot, WeWork, and Rock Shrimp Productions. These new businesses occupy nearly 500,000 square feet of net new office space and support over 1,500 full-time-equivalent jobs.