The City Is Back...And Better than Ever

Maybe it’s because of lengthening commutes. Maybe It’s because of changing demographics. Whatever the reason, a growing segment of Americans are clamoring for an urban lifestyle, helping to jumpstart city revitalization initiatives, and promoting the development of more sustainable new communities.

It’s not just weary commuters who are opting for urban condos and apartments these days. It’s also suburbanites tired of home maintenance chores; baby boomers freed from family responsibilities; families concerned about their proximity to church, family, work, and school; and those who simply prefer the excitement and activity of a city.

“Urban is cool again!”exclaims PBS&J Vice President and Architecture Division Manager Benton Rudolph, AIA. “City managers are looking at ways to revitalize underutilized urban areas. New communities are emulating the core city concepts of pedestrian-friendly walkways, planned transit nodes, and compact live-work-and-play environments. It’s exciting and it’s smart—because it makes our cities and towns more sustainable for the long haul.”

Revitalizing
In every major city, lovely neighborhoods coexist with blocks of ruin. Today, architects like Rudolph, their planning and engineering peers, developers, and city officials all see potential jewels in these tarnished pockets. They are paying attention to demographics and driving new policies to attract the new breed of city dweller. They recognize the fundamental shift in a city’s purpose: with global connectivity and Internet-based offices, central city living today appeals more for lifestyle reasons than economic ones.

For San Francisco in the early 1980s, what should have been the city’s biggest draw was its greatest blight. Most of the southern waterfront, extending from China Basin to Potrero Hill, had deteriorated into a rough stretch of abandoned rail yards, rundown warehousing and empty lots, echoes of the region’s working port. The natural beauty of the bay had long been walled off from the city’s hills by the Embarcadero Freeway.

But when the earthquake of ’89 brought that structure down, the opening of the waterfront helped push a longstanding concept for rejuvenation. “Today the Mission Bay project is one of the largest, single urban revitalization projects in the history of San Francisco,” says Bill Ziebron, formerly president of EIP Associates, which is now a division of PBS&J (EIP/PBS&J). The firm worked with city agencies and landowner/developer Catellus to conduct the environmental impact study that was the keystone to the development of more than 300 acres.

The overall project consists of two redevelopment plans and a land-use program, with the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) as the focal point. In fact, although the project has an entertainment complex, more than 6,000 dwelling units, a 500-room hotel, and 1.1 million square feet of retail space on the drawing boards, UCSF facilities are driving revitalization. With 15,000 employees, the university is one of the city’s largest employers. It occupies more than 100 acres within Mission Bay, and major new construction includes sites for teaching and biomedical research.

One of the main issues starting out, Ziebron relates, was whether to decentralize the facilities, or keep the campus centralized in its current location. The decision to cluster housing and retail units, 47 acres of open space, light rail, and pedestrian walkways has resulted in “a city within a city.”

“Major concerns included traffic, parking, views of the bay and the bridge, birds and other wildlife using the China Basin Channel, water quality, and the sewer system,” explains Ziebron. “We needed to assess the traffic impacts of the project’s 11,000 residents and 30,000 employees, along with traffic from other major bayside projects. And there were complicated public health issues related to decades of prior industrial use.”

In the end, the study provided a comprehensive water quality analysis of greater detail than typical for a project of this size—both to allay community concerns and to ensure the viability of the redevelopment in years to come. All voting regulatory agencies agreed to proceed.

Mission Bay’s role in the future of San Francisco can’t be underestimated. The university is the bedrock for the biotech advantage derived from its classrooms, laboratories, and hospital. Amit Ghosh, Chief of Comprehensive Planning for the city, points out that Mission Bay is, in fact, “the first physical manifestation of San Francisco’s future in the knowledge-based economy.” And this development is reviving that whole end of town.

Reenergizing
In San Antonio, Texas, officials are also looking to reignite a neighborhood’s economy, using a reinvigorated few square city blocks in the city’s municipal district as the catalyst.

Anchored by the 300-year-old San Fernando Cathedral, San Antonio’s Civic Center also includes a courthouse, city, and other commercial office buildings, the historic Spanish Governor’s Palace, and city hall. During business hours, the area bustles with activity, but when the working population of 5,000 leaves at the end of the day, the streets go silent.

“The area simply fell out of fashion,” explains John German, the city’s former public works director and PBS&J’s San Antonio district director. At the time of the Alamo, the plaza served as headquarters for the entire Mexican army, but today, “people mostly walk through it to get from one place to another, particularly since there’s a large bus transfer point on one corner.”

In 1994, city officials planned for phased upgrades to strengthen the plaza’s historic character and tie it into the city’s key attraction, the River Walk. The goal was to bolster economic activity by creating an attractive area for people to visit, whether as an extension of a day on the river, as a pleasant walk-through to a popular nearby market, or simply as a destination to enjoy some of the city’s history.

“We’re now renovating Main Plaza,” says German. “This involves infrastructure improvements, including demolition, improved storm drainage, repaving streets and adding sidewalks, relocating utilities, and engineering new traffic patterns.” Original plans called for blocking off all four sides of the plaza for this overhaul. But PBS&J’s traffic analysis showed that closing the two east-west streets would create major traffic problems, “while closing the northbound and southbound streets could be accomplished with minimal traffic impact and still allow for plaza expansion,” said German.

Though not envisioned in 1994, the Main Plaza Beautification Program will also give an economic boost to what was once an undeveloped loop of the River Walk. In the past few years, condominium developments here have added a residential component. Along with the new offices, restaurants, shops and sidewalk cafes planned for this community, “these few blocks will become the vibrant front-yard gathering place for people moving into those condos,” German said.

Responding
According to some economists, the San Francisco Bay Area’s six million people could eventually merge with the Sacramento region’s projected two million to form the largest mega-region in the U.S. Statistics from City Mayors, the independent project working to promote strong cities and good local government, put Sacramento as 11th on its list of fastest-growing U.S. metropolises.

Like every city and county in California, Sacramento is required to have a vision for how it will look in 20 years. The General Plan, as it’s called, assumes principles of smart growth and strategies for infill development.

Even without this mandate, downtown Sacramento is experiencing a transformation driven by changing lifestyle preferences, says Bill Ziebron, who is managing the EIP/PBS&J contract to update the city’s General Plan. The changes taking place have implications that go beyond the inner core. “Sacramento is the urban center of the Central Valley,” he says, “and what is going on here will create the framework for the neighboring six counties.”

According to Ziebron, the region is moving from suburban sprawl to a denser model. Now with a total city population of 470,000, about 150,000 people work downtown and drive home. By 2030, Sacramento’s downtown core alone is expected to account for 35 percent of all jobs. Given lengthening commutes and rising fuel costs, many of these workers will likely desire to live in this core. Then there are the abundant empty-nesters, a recognized demographic in downtown living.

Sacramento’s planners are capitalizing on the many lush neighborhoods, the historic Old Town, and the river waterfront, already undergoing revitalization, as assets to build around. At least 28 major projects—valued in excess of $11 billion—are under way. And much more is to come.

For example, EIP/PBS&J is now preparing the environmental impact study fundamental to reshaping the city’s decades-old rail yards into a multiuse complex. Thousands of residential units, a million square feet of office and retail space, and cultural facilities are planned for the 200 acres.

Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo said, “The downtown Sacramento rail yards development is an amazing opportunity for the city. The redevelopment of the rail yards includes a vision embracing our unique history and coupling it with the modern excitement of our growing, urban downtown.”

This one project also illustrates the overall principles Ziebron—in fulfilling the vision laid out by the city council and city staff—is applying to the city’s General Plan. “The plan includes a range of smart growth and urban infill strategies to encourage thriving neighborhoods,” he says. “To ensure a vibrant, prospering city, we’ll provide a wide range of living, work, play, shopping, and recreation opportunities for residents and visitors alike. And to mitigate congestion, we’ll make access to light rail, along with other transportation alternatives, easy and prevalent.”

Mayor Fargo added, “Connecting the existing vibrant central city and our historic neighborhoods to the rail yard development maximizes use of our rapidly growing regional intermodal transportation center, a critical aspect of the smart growth model we have embraced in this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Ziebron concludes, “Sacramento is already changing. But right now we have the opportunity to build upon a dynamic, mixed-use city core that will serve as a model for the many satellite communities that collectively will form the Sacramento region.”

Revisioning
For years, civic leaders watched as thousands of tourists bypassed the stately homes and beautiful waterfront views of historic downtown Brunswick, Georgia, to vacation in nearby coastal resort communities. “Brunswick’s unique heritage dates back to Colonial days,” explains John Fish, PBS&J’s national director of planning and landscape architecture. “The city’s grid was mapped out by General James Oglethorpe in 1771.”

Over time, Brunswick became an important port city with both a large maritime business and an active industrial one. “Originally the source of its success, that industrial base ultimately contributed to its downfall,” comments Fish.

When malls and strip development sprouted along the new highways, many retailers and their clients followed. Brunswick was left with vacant storefronts, a fading downtown, and a reputation as an undesirable, industrial city. As real estate values along the coast surged, the city’s historic core declined. Leaders were very concerned about the economy and continuing decay.

Recognizing the need for action and positive change, city leaders came to PBS&J for guidance.

“After carefully analyzing the market and assessing Brunswick’s existing assets and physical features, we applied proven planning principles to help develop a holistic strategy for revitalization of their historic downtown,” says Fish. The resulting “Blueprint Brunswick”—a comprehensive economic and community development implementation strategy—summarizes the community’s vision of a multifaceted, “livable” downtown that pulses with layers of activity, rather than a local economy pinned to a single development.

“We started out by identifying key sites with great potential,” explains Fish. “They were evaluated based on their physical characteristics, location, and size, as well as their ability to generate positive momentum. We found nine. We called them our catalyst sites.” With GIS technology, the team created maps that became the basis for conceptual planning, illustrations, and detailed financial summaries for each location.

Blueprint Brunswick is both an architect’s vision and a pragmatic implementation plan. “This small city had very limited resources and needed an organizing vehicle to focus their redevelopment energies,” Fish says. “So we helped them create a 501(c)3 nonprofit development entity—with representatives from the city, county, and Chamber of Commerce.” Blueprint Brunswick, Inc., now has two full-time staff members who dedicate each day to moving the vision forward—usually on multiple fronts.

Today, downtown is astir with significant development activity. Renovated restaurants are open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Several loft apartment/condo projects are under way or complete. A new boutique hotel is going up, and the city has renovated and now occupies two beautiful historic structures. In addition, Blueprint Brunswick is currently managing the redevelopment of the Oglethorpe Block. This infill, mixed-use project will include a small conference center along with retail, office, and living space. Standing at the historic northern entrance to downtown, the project anchors one end of the premier commercial corridor, Newcastle Street, to promote a busy retail environment. It will also serve as a link to the revitalized waterfront.

The city and Blueprint Brunswick together have succeeded in restoring Brunswick’s historic purpose—city living. People, the lifeblood of any community, are once again coming downtown to work, to shop, to dine, and most importantly, to live.

Reinventing
Thirty-year projections continue to show that growth in the U.S. population—and the estimated 50-percent increase in space devoted to the built environment—will largely take place in the sprawling neighborhoods of the South and West. But mounting traffic congestion, changing demographics, increasing densities, and shifting consumer preferences have prompted a reinvention of the suburban lifestyle.

Today’s model master-planned communities are being built with the busy town center as an integral element, offering residents the best features of “downtown living.” Proponents of the New Urban/Neotraditional design philosophy say that these communities provide easier access to the necessities of living, making life easier for kids, the elderly, and people who just don’t want to drive all of the time.

SouthWood, in Tallahassee, Florida, is one of these new communities. SouthWood was the first planned community of the St. Joe Company, a company that transitioned from a paper maker to a place maker in the late 1990s. The largest private landowner in Florida, St. Joe is also a premier developer of Florida’s “Great Northwest” as well as other parts of the state.

Selected last year as the number-one community among Florida’s “Five New Urban Communities to Watch” by Florida Travel and Life, SouthWood offers a mix of multi- and single-family homes clustered in and around a town center and community services. Pedestrian walkways and bicycle paths connect neighborhoods, businesses, and amenities.

“The community was part of the city of Tallahassee’s ‘Southern Strategy’ to redirect growth to its southeast sector,” says Charles Redding, P.E., senior vice president and regional service manager. “Officials wanted to balance the
city’s infrastructure, so they relocated state government to the new Capital Center Office Complex on former pasture land. SouthWood was built, in part, to provide housing for these state workers.”

“SouthWood’s town center was designed to function as the hub of the community—a place where residents can run day-to-day errands and interact with friends and neighbors,” said Bill Wier, vice president, SouthWood. “Over time, we believe it will become the emotional center of the community, serving the same purpose as the town square in any small town. Many people today are looking for the benefits of suburban living combined with the conveniences of an urban lifestyle, and we think SouthWood offers a really good balance.”