 |
 |
|
 |
|
|
REKINDLING URBAN LEGENDS
America’s move to the suburbs in mid-20th century spelled doom for many downtowns, but a rekindled interest in urban residential and retail breathes new life into what had become nothing more than urban legends.
Driving the move back downtown are a number of factors, not the least of which are the financial and environmental cost of suburban sprawl. According to the Urban Land Institute, promoting good density can protect the environment and improve the economy, since compact development reduces infrastructure costs and saves money. Too, there’s no denying the demand by today’s young professionals and downsizing baby boomers for live/work/walk experiences.
Creating these live/work/walk developments has been a challenge for those developers responsible for the retail uses. As renewed downtowns are shaped, municipalities often become so focused on what the potential end users want that they gloss over what the service providers will need. “Just because you have density doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re going to force a retail component to work,” explained Dan Herman, senior VP of development for Beachwood, Ohio-based Developers Diversified Realty. “You still have to have accessibility and visibility and, in these urban redevelopments, many times you are faced with zoning ordinances that didn’t contemplate the density of development that would take place or the manner in which retail developments operate today.”
Builders of urban mixed-use projects that include retail are charged with summoning support from the various governmental bodies to craft new zoning ordinances better providing for retailers’ requirements.
“The format simply has to work for retailers, and that’s the hardest part for municipalities to understand,” said Herman. The Shops at Midtown Miami, a 633,754-sq.-ft. mixed-use urban sshopping center developed by Developers Diversified Realty, is an example of a successful teaming between developer and city. By bringing the city streets into the development and then connecting them to the bordering neighborhoods, the project and the street growth were integrated as though both had been there all along. “We needed to understand the neighborhood needs, the city’s visions and the dynamics of Miami’s regentrification process,” said Herman. “Then we met with the city to create a zoning code
that embraced the vision of what the
end product was going to be.”
Whole Foods Market Centre
Downtown Sarasota, Fla.
Developer: Casto Lifestyle Properties, City of Sarasota, Zenith Insurance Co.
Format: Mixed-use (residential and retail)
Size: 60,000 sq. ft. total retail and 95 condominiums
Status: Opened December 2004
Highlight: Fulfilled the downtown master plan adopted
by the City of Sarasota and provided a catalyst
for future residential and commercial development downtown.
Sarasota is a city that has yearned for a vital downtown. The artsy Floridian community has woven opera houses and live theaters into its urban fabric, but it needed a grocery store. And not just any grocer, but a specialty market consistent with the downtown aura.
When Sarasota-based Casto Lifestyle Properties developed the 95-unit 100 Central condo project in its hometown urban core, the company collaborated carefully with the city to ensure that the residential/ retail project was in scale with the downtown environment. “There were a lot of development and architectural guidelines that we conformed to voluntarily,” said Brett Hutchens, president.
Injecting Whole Foods Market into the retail component has had a significant impact on the success of the project as a whole. “Clearly, the retailers wanted to be near the traffic that Whole Foods generates,” Hutchens said, “but the grocer also contributed to the residential. “Whole Foods set the culture for the development, and the development has spurred a lot of other development,” he said. “Whole Foods set the the bar, and proved out the marketplace for others.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
