By Bob Caylor of The News-Sentinel

Thursday, April 19, 2012 – 10:11 am

Huntington University plans to offer graduate degrees in occupational therapy beginning the fall of 2014.

The school says it will be the first in northeast Indiana to offer advanced degrees in occupational therapy.

Ann McPherren, senior vice president for strategy and graduate/adult programs at Huntington, said that the programs will be offered at the new Life Science Education and Research Consortium of Northeast Indiana. That consortium will be based at the campus of Parkview Hospital Randallia. At the same time, Trine University – another member of that consortium – will begin a doctoral program in physical therapy at the same site.

Broadly speaking, physical therapy pertains to rehabilitating large-muscle groups and restoring large movements, while occupational therapy works more on fine-motor control and smaller, more precise movements.

McPherren said that providing advanced training in occupational therapy offers student an avenue into much-needed, well-paying jobs. Prospective students wanting to study occupational therapy are on waiting lists at many schools. When they are trained, McPherren said, they earn a median salary of $75,600, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics figures.

Offering the new programs also allows the school to further its mission by helping students “to develop their abilities for a life of God-honoring service to others,” she said.

“We want to create a campus where students, whether 16 or 60, will have an opportunity to learn and grow professionally,” she said.

She noted that occupational therapists are in greater demand as medical advances allow vulnerable people – especially the very young and the aged – to live, despite problems that once were fatal, from premature births to massive strokes.

“Medical technology allows us to service some conditions we wouldn’t have earlier, but we need rehab,” she said.

The university is looking for a director who will help to create the master’s and doctorate programs. This will be the university’s first doctorate degree and its first graduate programs in allied health, according to Huntington University.

The programs will also build on Huntington’s undergraduate degrees in exercise science, nursing and recreation management. Fort Wayne Community Schools, Ivy Tech Community College-Northeast and the University of Saint Francis will offer programs through the consortium, as well.

Parkview Health and several area educational institutions are collaborating to develop a joint life sciences teaching and research center on the Randallia Drive hospital campus that could become a national model for coordinated health care education.

There also are significant possibilities for economic development — including the formation of new businesses and the creation of new products, said Michael Bock, senior vice president of Trine University.

Trine helped get the ball rolling on the idea when it proposed a partnership with Parkview earlier this year.

The participating institutions — Trine, Huntington University, the University of Saint Francis, Ivy Tech Community College-Northeast and Fort Wayne Community Schools — plan to move all or parts of some existing programs to the Randallia campus, and also are in the process of creating new degree offerings.

“As this develops, who knows where this could take us?” said Sister M. Elise Criss, USF president. “The synergy of this has great potential we can’t even see today.”
“This is a big idea,” agreed Ann McPherren, senior vice president of strategy and graduate/adult programs at Huntington University.

“We’re trying to develop a vibrant educational community in northeast Indiana … We’re collaborating, trying to build on each of our strengths. To be a student on this campus — I wish I was 30 years younger!”

The Life Science Education and Research Consortium of Northeast Indiana, as the joint effort has been named, will use existing space on Parkview’s Randallia campus. The regional initiative will focus primarily on rehabilitation, senior care and behavioral health, providing training opportunities for students as young as 16 in high school programs all the way up through associate, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs.

The collaboration grew out of a multilayered economic development proposal Trine first offered Steuben County in late 2010. Among other things, it included plans for the construction of a new $7.5-million biomechanics and movement sciences center that would concentrate on developing practices, protocols and products for physical therapy and patient rehabilitation.

Within a few months, the Angola-based school announced that element of the program probably would be moved to Fort Wayne in partnership with Parkview. It has yet to sign a partnership agreement for the other parts of the economic development initiative.

Trine, which has a campus off Dupont Road, also had begun work to create a doctoral program in physical therapy that it planned to base in Fort Wayne to take advantage of opportunities for clinical rotations and training at the city’s hospitals.

Meanwhile, Parkview, which will move some services now at the Randallia campus to the new Parkview Regional Medical Center when it opens next March, had been looking for new ways to use the Randallia buildings.

Parkview will retain a hospital at the Randallia site with at least 120 beds — all in
private rooms — as well as a full-service emergency department, birthing center, surgical suites, doctor’s offices and some outpatient services. At one point, the new Manchester College of Pharmacy was expected to locate on the Randallia campus, but that is now slated for a new building on regional medical center campus off Dupont Road.

“As we looked at the Randallia campus, two things became apparent,” said Sue Ehinger, Parkview chief operating officer. First was “the absolute need for physical therapy and the lack of education available,” she said. And second was the proximity of Randallia to the VA Northern Indiana Health Care System-Fort Wayne Campus, and nursing homes and rehab centers such as St. Anne Home on Randallia Drive and Woodview Healthcare on State Boulevard.

As talks between Parkview and Trine progressed, other potential partners were brought on board and the idea expanded well beyond Trine’s original concept.

“As we extended our discussions and talked about the ‘what-ifs’… it made sense to become part of something much bigger,” Bock said.

Although there are many other examples of collaboration among educational institutions in the state and across the country, “there really is nothing we’ve been able to identify that’s exactly like this,” said Jeff Kingsbury, managing partner of Indianapolis-based Greenstreet Ltd., which has been consulting with Parkview on future uses for the Randallia campus.

“I think what’s unique about this is the combination of the educational institutions participating with a major employer. The impact on education and economic development is important, and it could be a model for the state going forward,” Kingsbury said.

The facilities the consortium expects to occupy are the Carew Medical Park, 1818 Carew St., and the Fort Wayne Cardiology building, 1819 Carew St. The details of who will use what space and what type of classrooms, offices, labs and other facilities will be needed are still being worked out.

A memorandum of understanding has been signed by all the parties.

Saint Francis, which has more than 1,000 students involved in health sciences curricula, is looking to offer its master of science nursing degree at Randallia, and also is exploring opportunities there for a doctoral nursing practice and its new certificate in rehabilitation counseling.

Huntington University hopes to use the campus for its master’s in counseling, as well as programs in human resource management, nonprofit leadership and and graduate degrees in occupational therapy, among others. Trine expects to offer programs in health care and emergency management, biomedical regulatory affairs, biomedical engineering and other bachelor and graduate programs in addition to its physical therapy doctorate.

Ivy Tech-Northeast will use the campus for associate degree programs in nursing, respiratory care, health care information technology and medical assisting, among others. FWCS wants to train students in biomedical sciences, certified nursing assistance and other programs, some of which will offer dual high school/college credits.

“For us, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for students to have this hands-on training and experience,” said Wendy Robinson, FWCS superintendent.

Through the Anthis Career Center, high school students from all over northeast Indiana will be able to participate in programs that prepare them for jobs after high school and/or additional training in health care fields.

“It will attract students who want to stay in Fort Wayne,” Robinson said.

The first programs could be up and running at the Randallia campus as early as fall 2012. “It’s going to be a gradual gearing up because a lot of different pieces have to come together,” Ehinger said.

One of the biggest pieces is funding, and some potential sources already are in the process of being identified, Ehinger said. The consortium hasn’t yet determined how much money it will need, but the collaborative nature of the effort should give it some strategic advantages.

“There’s more opportunities for funding working together,” Ehinger said.

©Copyright 2011 KPC Media Group, Inc.

Advocates for property-assessed clean energy (PACE) financing have long argued that the public works–style assessments used for green home retrofits can actually bolster the home mortgage market, not undermine it.

Now they have some numbers to back up their claims—and a new bill, introduced in Congress on Wednesday, July 20, aimed at removing the year-long federal stranglehold on PACE programs.

The numbers show a 0.1 percent default rate, or a total of 2 defaults, for the more than 2,500 homes with PACE assessments in Palm Desert and Sonoma County, California; Boulder, Colorado; and Babylon, New York—the three cities and one county with current or recently active PACE programs.

That is 1/30th of the 3.2 percent average for defaults on non-PACE homes in Sonoma and the other three counties where the residential PACE programs are located, says David Gabrielson, executive director of PACE Now, the advocacy group that put the figures together.

“You would expect 80 to 90 [defaults],” he says. “PACE has the potential to reduce defaults because it puts money back into homeowners’ pockets.”

The default comparisons, along with figures on PACE’s potential to create jobs and revenues for state and federal coffers, will likely be the centerpiece of the campaign for the PACE Assessment Protection Act of 2011.

Key provisions of the bill include the following:

• A requirement that the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency all rescind their 2010 directives advising banks not to issue mortgages or other financing for any properties with PACE liens.
• Validation of PACE financing programs as assessments that, like other local government public works assessments, have a senior position in the event of defaults. The senior-position issue triggered the directives from the federal agencies, which argued that PACE financing programs could destabilize residential and commercial mortgage markets and are really loans, not liens.
• Stronger underwriting provisions for homeowners seeking PACE financing, to reduce risk for Fannie, Freddie, and other banks. While still not requiring credit checks, the new standards would ensure that homeowners applying for PACE programs have at least 15 percent positive equity in their homes and are current with all property tax payments.
• Assessments also would be limited to 10 percent of the appraised value of a property and would need to pencil out to show that projects create a positive cash flow for homeowners or at least pay for themselves.

Unlike a similar, unsuccessful effort last year, this bill is starting out with bipartisan support. Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Sonoma), who carried the legislation last year, is back as a sponsor, now joined by Rep. Nan Hayworth (R-Mount Kisco) and Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Sacramento).

“If you’re looking for a bipartisan, bicoastal effort to deal with the challenges of the economy, this is a win-win-win,” Lungren said during a telephone press conference with Hayworth and Thompson on Wednesday. “It’s hard to figure out why someone would be opposed to this. It essentially allows those who own property and have equity in the property to achieve something we want them to achieve — to be more energy efficient sooner rather than later.”

An e-mail from FHFA spokeswoman Corinne Russell says that the agency “continues to have concerns with the first lien created by certain PACE programs and the absence of effective consumer protections. We will work with members of Congress on the particulars of any legislation.”

Jeff Kingsbury, chairman of the Urban Land Institute’s Sustainable Development Council, sees the bipartisan effort to reestablish PACE as “incredibly important” for developers navigating today’s growing market for adaptive use, brownfield, and similar types of projects.

“We’ve got a situation where in most markets we have excess supply. That’s going to favor existing real estate as opposed to new construction,” he says. “PACE gives state and local governments another tool in their redevelopment tool box to provide the private sector and local governments an opportunity to address those realities in a way that generates economic benefits without federal subsidies, mandates, or new federal programs.

“We need more of these types of programs that allow local governments to be creative with the private sector.”

Gabrielson notes that of the 27 states that have passed some kind of PACE legislation since 2008, eight have Republican-controlled legislatures, and the program plays well to cash-strapped local governments.

A study commissioned by PACE Now projects that an average PACE assessment of $20,000 per home would generate about $60,000 in direct and indirect economic activity, including $3,500 in federal taxes and $2,400 for state and local governments.

The current political standoff over budget and debt issues notwithstanding, Hayworth, Lungren and Thompson said Wednesday they are already working the floor in the House to sign up more sponsors for the bill, with the goal of having it passed by the end of the year.

“Part of our job is educating our colleagues,” Hayworth said. “It’s not easy to get three members of Congress, two from California, one from New York to agree on anything.”

A draft of the PACE bill is available online.

Indianapolis Star, May 10, 2011

Drive on Main Street in Speedway now, and you might do a double take — between 10th and 16th streets, you’ll see ornate light poles, welcome banners, fancy benches and landscaping, and an 8-foot-wide bike path.

To Speedway officials, the just-finished infrastructure upgrade and impending construction of Italian racing-car chassis builder Dallara’s U.S. headquarters signal an acceleration of the neighborhood’s planned resurgence, which is pinned on a mix of retail, business and entertainment offerings.

And the Speed Zone makeover is picking up speed right on time — as the metro area gears up for this year’s 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500 and the larger economy begins to recover.

The $500 million redevelopment will transform 350 acres south of the track into a racing-themed business and entertainment center. Plans include multistory retail and residential buildings along Main Street as well as commercial, office and light-industrial development throughout the area.

Expectations are bolstered by talks with three restaurants, two museum groups and motor-sports companies and teams, said Scott Harris, director of the Speedway Redevelopment Commission. A three- to four-star hotel also is being studied for 16th Street.

“We have something to show now, so we need to focus on how we can move forward as quickly as possible,” said Rollie Helmling, head of the motor-sports initiative for the Indiana Economic Development Corp., about Speedway’s plans. “I would anticipate significant development in the next two to three years.”

Major economic driver

Local and state officials expect Speedway’s makeover to have an impact beyond town borders.

Financial consultant Crowe Horwath predicts the project will create 5,200 temporary full-time jobs to construct roads and buildings and more than 2,200 permanent full-time jobs in offices and retail and manufacturing businesses by 2023.

Not only will the redevelopment attract an estimated $263 million in private investment, but it also could inject $4.6 billion into the region’s economy by 2023, Crowe Horwath estimates, through job creation, tax revenues, corporate investment and tourism spending.

“This redevelopment will bring jobs, technology and that entire (motor-sports) industry back to Indianapolis where it belongs,” Helmling said. “This is a very critical tipping point for motor sports in Indiana.”

Successful motor-sports makeovers have occurred in Charlotte, N.C., based around the Charlotte Motor Speedway and a nearly year-old NASCAR Hall of Fame, as well as in Wyandotte County, Kan., where developers turned 400 acres of farmland into a retail and entertainment district next to the Kansas Speedway.

“When you have such a huge anchor in your area like a motor speedway, developers are willing to invest in that area,” said Andy Papathanassiou, executive director for the North Carolina Motorsports Association. “We’ve seen it here; they’ve seen it in Kansas. The growth and sustainability of these projects work real well as long as everyone involved is on the same page.”

Emphasizing entertainment

For Indiana, a major puzzle piece fell in place last summer when Dallara announced it would build its U.S. headquarters in Speedway to design, test and build a new IndyCar chassis in time for racing next March.

Construction will begin any day on the $6 million, 100,000-square-foot building on Main Street to house Dallara and the Indy Racing Experience.

Dallara’s facility will have a racing simulator, a place to show how an Indy car goes from concept to assembly, and tours of Dallara’s workshop to view cars being designed, built and tested.

“Indianapolis is famous all over the world for its racing tradition,” said Stefano de Ponti, chief executive for Dallara’s U.S. division. “We want to build something that replicates that Indianapolis 500 experience by focusing on technology and providing that entertainment value.”

The redevelopment’s entertainment theme also will be emphasized with a Wall of Fame planned for the east side of Main Street at 14th Street.

Expected to be in place within two years, the outdoor exhibit will be more than 300 feet long and up to 30 feet wide and pay homage to the town’s heritage with art, racing-related displays, an interactive screen and water features.

The town and Indy Racing Experience also have discussed designing three-seat replica Indy cars for tours of sights in Speedway, much like the horse-drawn carriage rides in Downtown Indianapolis.

And Harris said talks are continuing with two groups that want to add museums focused on cars and motor sports to complement the Indianapolis Motor Speedway museum at the racetrack.

Town fathers always knew Speedway’s racing legacy would be integral to the redevelopment. At Thursday’s ribbon-cutting upon completion of the Main Street improvements, four local actors impersonated the initial investors in the racetrack a century ago: Arthur Newby, Frank Wheeler, Carl Fisher and James Allison.

“We want to revitalize the town by building upon its historic character and its motor-sports and advanced manufacturing heritage,” Harris said.

What’s next?

Harris said the Dallara building, which should be finished in five or six months, should pave the way for other development. Construction on at least two new buildings a block south of the Dallara site will begin later this year; a third likely will be built in 2012. Harris said all three will have commercial or light-industrial uses.

Dallara will surround its facility with subcontractors and auto-parts makers — and hire and train locally — as it does in Italy. Ten employees will be on board by the end of the month, and the company hopes to have 80 on the payroll by the end of its first year of operation.

“We want all of our employees in our U.S. operation to be from here,” de Ponti said. “We moved here not only to build the car but to create opportunities for people here.”

More street upgrades also are planned.

A partnership involving the town, city and state will pay for an $11.5 million 10th Street realignment — bowing it out about a block to the north in front of Allison Transmission. Other street changes also are planned to improve traffic flow.

Back to its roots

Incorporated in 1926, Speedway was conceived by auto pioneer and IMS co-founder Fisher as an appealing complement to the track and industry.

For its first 40 years, Speedway thrived, reaching 14,523 residents in 1970. It then began a contraction as many industries folded or left, leaving empty warehouses and vacant lots. Its population is currently more than 12,600 residents.

Although the redevelopment has drawn criticism from a few business owners and residents who could lose land needed for the road relocations, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and other local businesses endorse it. And if the Speedway redevelopment project achieves its goals, the Westside community’s decline will be reversed.

Doug Boles, head of public relations for IMS, said it is gratifying to see signs of the community’s resurgence.

“Main Street, 100 years ago, was the street in which James Allison founded Allison Transmission and built the cars that raced in the 500,” he said. “Getting that back with Dallara has developed an anchor that will allow this community to come full circle.”

Call Star reporter Josh Duke at (317) 444-2810.

by Mary Breuer and Marianna Leuschel

Urban Land, November 5, 2010

The new “normal” is about focusing on what is important and prioritizing what is meaningful, both as humans and as organizations.

Last year, a number of leaders throughout the country involved in land use—from lenders to landscape architects—were interviewed with the intent of capturing the qualitative side of the economic downturn and to describe their mood and behavior as they responded to the dramatic changes in the economy that affected work and life (see “How Is It Going?” September 2009, page 138 in the print magazine). People at the time were busy readying themselves and their organizations for whatever was to come next, without knowing quite what to expect.

There was a consensus among those interviewed then that the downturn represented a major reset in the industry, which had gone through a progression of denial, panic, and paralysis. They seemed ready to follow one of three paths—recommit to their core business and stay the course, try a new direction to take advantage of industry shifts, or reinvent their business altogether.

This year, the disparate group of people interviewed share several qualities: all are determined, but cautious.

This year has been more challenging than 2009, says Joe Brown, chief executive of AECOM’s Planning + Design + Development group. “Last year, we were still evening out the depth of the crisis. This year has been tougher, certainly in the U.S. and other developed countries,” he says. “We know so much more about the global economy and are committed to making progress in areas like carbon reduction. Yet the reality of making it happen in many cases seems to be slipping and still out of reach.”

All feel a sense of renewed focus, almost to the point of feeling reinvigorated. While the mood certainly would not be characterized as optimistic for the short term, there is a common theme that can only be called resolve. While the economic reset in the real estate community has been substantial, many express the belief that the downturn is a necessary course correction to an unsustainable rate of growth and attitude toward risk.

A Societal Shift in Progress?

Last year, many of those interviewed alluded to a “giant reset” or sea change that they saw coming in the land use community. This year, this notion has emerged as a probable full-blown societal shift. In his book The Great Reset: How New Ways of Living and Working Drive Post-Crash Prosperity, author Richard Florida writes, “Great Resets are broad and fundamental transformations of the economic and social order and involve much more than strictly economic and financial events… As it takes shape around new infrastructure and systems of transportation, it gives rise to new housing patterns, realigning where and how we live and work. Eventually, it ushers in a whole new way of life.” The downturn has forced people to examine alternatives to their lifestyles that they may never have considered before. For many of the 76 million baby boomers, this has meant simplifying their lives and shifting from material wealth toward a growing awareness of the impact of consumption, while the next generations seem to be more naturally attuned to social consciousness and to giving priority to quality of life over quantity of possessions.

The consensus among the people interviewed is that the economic shift has affected societal behavior, which in turn affects land use behavior in a fundamental way. They believe that change has not been in just the tools of the business—that is, in lending patterns and regulatory requirements—but also in the very fabric of development, such as land use patterns and density of development. Accordingly, this shift has opened up a vibrant conversation in the real estate community about the corresponding obligations and opportunities that come with new patterns of land use.

The industry has experienced a kind of reckoning, says Uwe Brandes, vice president, initiatives, at ULI, where he leads sustainable development and urban design research efforts. Instead of creating product that they hope will attract customers, industry leaders are placing much more emphasis on learning about what customers or tenants want and need, and responding to demand. Specific examples of changes in consumer-driven real estate behavior include:

• the downsizing of second homes, both for economic and environmental reasons—and, in some cases, as an example of reverse conspicuous consumption, with buyers reluctant to flaunt their wealth in this period;
• the migration of baby boomers back to cities for retirement rather than the “sand states” of the Southwest and Southeast;
• the shift to a preference for renting rather than owning real estate;
• the dramatic increase in the number of people who work at home; and
• the rediscovery of the benefits of urban living.

Brandes recalls what he sees as a landmark—a press release in December 2007 from Forest City Properties virtually acknowledging that the firm is now in the property management business. That was a signal that the industry was changing its focus from development to stewardship, Brandes says. If it is true that nearly 50 percent of the U.S. building stock that will exist in 2050 is already built—as asserted by Peter Calthorpe, 2007 laureate of the ULI J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development, in his upcoming book Urbanism in the Age of Climate Change—such a change in focus is not an option. Professionals who for years have focused on new buildings and communities are now being challenged to apply their knowledge and skills to create value from the existing building stock.

Calthorpe appears to have been on the right track when he said last year that the current economic downturn would “finally be the death of sprawl.” Many people interviewed agree that it is becoming increasingly evident that patterns of growth established in the second half of the 20th century are not sustainable. “Living beyond our means both economically and environmentally has shocked us into being more responsible,” observes Clark Davis, cochair of HOK, one of the largest U.S. design firms. “This has given rise to development patterns that are more rational and resource friendly. Do we really need more retail space in most American cities? I think not.”

Jonathan Rose, president of New York–based Jonathan Rose Companies and cofounder of the Garrison Institute in the Hudson Valley, is exploring the systemic shifts being documented by emerging research that connects behavioral science to the built environment and climate change, and is identifying new opportunities to effect positive change at a personal, professional, and policy level.

Many people refer to this as the “new normal.” If this is a valid way to frame the changes being observed, the new normal seems to be fueled by three behaviors:

• Caution. While the focus on due diligence has tempered financing and development activity, a healthy degree of caution will require more fiduciary responsibility and realistic expectations for returns and outcomes going forward.
• Doing more with less. This is not just a function of assiduous cost cutting. There seems to be a genuine recognition that many common business practices in the past two decades were simply bloated. Necessary trimming has showed how productivity increases can be achieved with fewer resources.
• Higher purpose. The survey panel identified many examples of a drive toward authenticity and achieving more than just profits.

There is evidence of a growing need for a higher purpose in real estate investments as part of a global shift in consciousness, says Paul Milton, CEO of the development company for the Singita Partnership, a new global initiative raising funds to invest in conservation-based ecotourism development. In the process of meeting with high-net-worth investors and banks throughout the world, he has seen how the collective greed that drove many investment opportunities in the past has made potential investors wary. Milton notes the emergence of many new imperatives for investing, including the need not just to make a profit, but also to make a difference—particularly in the communities that will be affected by the investment­—as well as the need for more transparency and trust, and for alignment between investor and investment well beyond financial payback.

The “Why” Era

The deal, per se, seems no longer to be enough for anyone. “There is no longer investment for investment’s sake: there has been a shift in consciousness,” Milton says. “Buyers and investors alike are tired of promoters who have not delivered on their promises.” Today, decisions to invest, to build, to allocate capital, to buy, to lease seem increasingly to be centered on the question why, rather than how much. Investors and lenders question rationale in a manner that is redefining the word “scrutiny.” Many transactions have slowed or died as a result. Even on a personal level, individuals are examining their own behavior in ways they may never previously have considered by calling into question their own motivation and returning to their core values.

At a time like this, individuals and organizations need to ask themselves the “why question,” says Chip Conley, CEO of Joie de Vivre Hospitality (JdV), California’s largest operator of boutique hotels. In good times, companies and individuals focus primarily on what their goals are and how to achieve them. Conley contends that why is the harder question, but central to finding purpose and meaning in work and life, as well as to reenergizing an organization. Conley himself has made a dramatic change since he was interviewed in 2009. He sold his company and has found a new calling: while still consulting for JdV, he has begun to write, speak, and consult on the management philosophy that made his company successful. “We are straddling two eras, so there is bound to be friction” he observes. “The new normal really is about focusing on what is important and prioritizing what is meaningful, both as humans and as organizations.”

The Dark Cloud of Unemployment

Almost everyone interviewed recognized and commented on the fundamental role that unemployment is playing in blocking a speedy recovery for the U.S. economy. Mike Covarrubias, CEO of TMG, a San Francisco Bay Area–based regional real estate development firm working in all building sectors, uses the word “terrifying” to describe the potential for long-term unemployment. He makes explicit what may not have been obvious in formerly robust times. “Jobs drive real estate,” he says. “Without companies hiring, they are not expanding into new office buildings. Without new jobs, people are reluctant to invest in new housing or travel and have no real buying power.” A reversal of the downward trend in employment seems elusive, and several people interviewed are redesigning their businesses to adapt to the reality that reduced buying power will alter the nature of their work.

For example, Dave Howerton, chairman of Hart Howerton, a full-service planning and design firm with offices in New York City, San Francisco, and London, has addressed the sustained unemployment affecting his hospitality and residential clients by creating a smaller, tighter organization. He acknowledges that one year ago the firm was primarily focused on “stopping the bleeding,” but over the past year, Hart Howerton has refined its business model to become scalable so that it is viable at any size.

Eyes on the Public Sector

Jim Heid, founder of the sustainability consulting and development advisory firm UrbanGreen, subscribes to the philosophy that crises do not change trends, but they do accelerate them. The decisions made in the next 24 months will have an enormous impact on the built environment for decades to come, he says. “We cannot build communities for the 21st century with the 20th-century model.” He believes changes are needed at all levels, from development to capital markets and public processes, with perhaps the most important change coming in government regulations to encourage rather than stifle more sustainable forms of development.

In California, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) has effectively become a way to stop development, not improve it, as was intended when the law was passed in 1970. Few people in the land use industry in California would disagree with Heid that CEQA is deeply in need of a major overhaul. This is only one example of a phenomenon that people interviewed feel passionately about: government at all levels needs to step up to the plate to accelerate, not prevent, the right kind of development and to make changes to outmoded land use regulations.

As an active leader in economic development initiatives, Andy Ball, CEO of Webcor Builders, based on the San Francisco peninsula, has a way of leading a turnaround, not just for his business, but also for the region, that is bold and direct. He goes straight to what he considers the source of the problem: Washington. While the private sector is doing what it takes to cut back and make changes to adapt and survive, Ball believes that local, state, and federal governments have not made parallel cuts or developed the incentives that are required of them. Together with other business leaders as a part of the Bay Area Council, Ball travels to Washington regularly to meet repre­­sentatives to educate them on important land use issues. His most recent campaign is for a $1-per-gallon (26-cent-per-liter) gasoline tax to modify behavior related to fuel consumption and to promote clean energy technologies and infrastructure, such as high-speed rail, that are critical for the future of cities.

Stan Ross, chairman of the Lusk Center for Real Estate at the University of Southern California, is hopeful that this difficult period will encourage local and regional governments, which are now struggling with their own financial crises, to adopt a more positive attitude toward growth and be willing to work collaboratively with planners and developers to achieve—and even attract—well-considered growth for their jurisdictions to support the tax base.

Several people interviewed mentioned increasing involvement of their organizations with government at all levels; 70 percent of AECOM’s revenue, for example, is from government clients around the globe. Public/private partnerships (PPPs) are one vehicle for getting projects moving and transferring best practices to the public sector.

One current focus of Indianapolis-based Greenstreet Ltd. is on building PPPs necessary to solve the complex and interrelated problems of transportation, affordable housing, and climate change. Jeff Kingsbury, Greenstreet managing principal, recognizes that this approach can be much harder and take twice as long, but he believes that working together with public agencies as a developer and adviser toward a common vision will ultimately promote smarter, more sustainable growth. And, he adds, “while last year was about short-term urgencies, this year we are focused on the longer term.” For some organizations, the move to PPPs—which were not mentioned at all in last year’s survey—has required them to develop new competencies such as grant writing.

Many respondents think that the money allocated under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act did not serve to stimulate growth. But as Karen Alschuler, urban design principal at Perkins + Will, observes, because much of the stimulus money went to repair old infrastructure, the question now is what should be built in areas with the improved infrastructure. The financial realities are causing delays in development, she acknowledges, but she is happy to see that many landowners are at least moving forward with large planning initiatives, doing what is needed to ensure that built solutions have a sound rationale.

Capitalizing on Opportunity

What is the impact on business of these change factors in 2010? Simply put: diminished activity. The profound effects on many sectors of the land use community are known to anyone associated with them: much tougher competition for a greatly diminished roster of building projects, constricted access to capital, overbuilding in sectors fueled by consumer spending, apparently attractive deals that just do not pencil, 50 to 70 percent layoffs in construction, 30 to 40 percent layoffs in the design professions, and idle developers, with revenue streams only a fraction of mid-2000s levels. For many, domestic work has all but dried up.

But the macroeconomic changes challenging the industry have also created opportunities of a different sort for individuals, organizations, and the industry as a whole. Against this backdrop of economic and social change, land use leaders were asked how they—and their firms—are doing today. Several trends are apparent.

Focusing on basics has kept some organizations strong. Many of those interviewed remarked that operating with increased scrutiny, greater transparency, a more cautious outlook, and an eye for “doing the right thing” characterizes the context of the business of land use today. They also stress that these are principles of just plain good business. Organizations that based their operations on sound business fundamentals were not always the ones posting the biggest “successes” over the past decade, but they are often the ones that survive today, poised for what the future brings.

The leaders of businesses that always had a strong rationale and mission say they are doing fine today, if not exactly prospering. For TMG Partners, the core business and long-term strategy are no different than they were when the firm began 17 years ago. Covarrubias has implemented a conservative investment strategy over the past three years, refusing to ride the wave of increased leverage. The firm is now working on assets that others bought in previous cycles and seeking joint ventures for repositioning. This is not fundamental reorganization, but it is, in Covarrubias’s words, “changing where we point the ship.” Rose, whose company has also been vigilant about cash flow and appropriate leverage, believes that current economic conditions and value shifts support the fundamental objectives of his company, which are focused on urban renewal, the greening of existing buildings, and affordable housing.

Economic challenge has been a stimulus to become more efficient, creative, and entrepreneurial. According to Davis, a persistent culture of entrepreneurialism has enabled HOK to fare relatively well in this economic era because of the firm’s “try it and see if it works” attitude. “We see it in our professionals and in our clients: people who have critical needs figure out a way to move forward.”

Ross notes how quickly organizations have been able to restructure, improve productivity, and find new ways to generate revenue. The organizations that are the most entrepreneurial and creative during this period will set important examples for the future, he predicts.

Reduced size has had unintended benefits for Hart Howerton, as well. Younger people in the firm have had to step up and take on more responsibilities on projects and in firm management. It has also meant that the senior partners are working much more collaboratively in a kind of skunkworks fashion to get solutions to their clients quickly, which David Howerton calls “kind of exciting.”

For some organizations, the process of cleaning house has provided a chance to reinvent aspects of their business. “Good times let companies survive with bad practices, which can be fatal in a downturn like this,” Ball notes. “In good times, it is not as easy to see what needed to be fixed.” Most of the people interviewed acknowledged that opportunities for increased efficiency exist that they might not have recognized two years ago.

Thinking more holistically and working more collaboratively has expanded the definition of service. To many of the leaders interviewed, the fundamental nature of the economic downturn has exposed the interconnectedness of business, society, and politics. Brown is driven by the holistic imperative. “We need to look at the complex infrastructures of cities and information and understand how they interrelate,” he says. “Practitioners need to understand how their particular area of expertise relates to the broader context.” Brown goes so far as to say that “the way we have been delivering services to the real estate industry was broken. In fact, the whole system was broken. We can no longer think of solutions relating to land use, density, and transportation independently.” He points to the recent 62-mile (100-km) traffic jam that lasted ten days in Beijing as a graphic consequence of siloed thinking in which one solution creates problems for another part of the system.

AECOM has implemented what it calls a global cities initiative, working with selected cities around the world—including Phoenix and Beijing—to help them think more systemically about the problems they face. Brown points out that this initiative is not about selling AECOM’s growing platform of services, but about ensuring that what the firm delivers is presented within a much broader context than has been customary, even just recently.

Recognizing this more complex business ecology, Covarrubias has used this time to broaden TMG’s perspective in several ways: he is participating in many more community activities, and he has established an advisory board to provide insight and direction to the company’s development strategy, with members coming from various industries and organizations, not just from those involved in real estate.

Alschuler maintains that change will come from new kinds of partnerships, not just within design firms like hers, but also from outside partnerships. Perkins + Will is also exploring ways to bring together the generations within the firm to reinvigorate its culture and is encouraged by the groundswell of interest and talent in the emerging generation of planners who are committed to taking on the challenges that lie ahead and creating positive change.

What’s Next?

Last year, Heid worried that the economy might rebound too quickly and that those in the industry would miss the opportunity to take advantage of this down cycle to learn new lessons and make positive changes in the industry and in their lives. It appears that many key industry leaders have not let this crisis go to waste and are looking for ways to apply to this decade the lessons learned from the past one.

“There is a great deal of uncertainty about where we are going and how long it will take to get there,” Ball says. “All we know is that things will be different.” Everyone interviewed agreed that the necessary change is not going to happen quickly. Applying Newton’s law, Ball notes that the unprecedented growth that led up to the recession may dictate an equal and opposite reaction, which means, as many put it, “a five-year hangover.” But what do firms do in the meantime? As Covarrubias says, “We can’t do nothing forever!”

Despite convergence of opinion on the current business context, no one has a prescription for stabilizing the land use community and charting a course for its future. But most of those interviewed, in their own way, reflected on the big shifts that must happen over time: lowered, more realistic expectations for returns; longer-term thinking; a life that incorporates what is truly valued, both personally and as an organization; making a difference to a community larger than one’s own enterprise; replacing hubris and greed with humility and creativity; and using more qualitative metrics than the gross domestic product and the Dow Jones Industrial Average—such as downtime and perceived happiness—to track the health of society.

When asked how they plan for the future in an environment of such uncertainty and change, the leaders, in more than one instance, replied that they are hoping for the best, but planning for the worst. No references were made to the formal strategic planning processes that have characterized business practices of the past two decades. Most seemed more concerned about strengthening their organizations in general and finding ways to be more resilient in order to be prepared for ongoing change.

Brown thinks it is all about action. At AECOM, he seeks to make bold moves rather than be prepared to react. Do not protect your organization; project it, he says. “You have to be agile as an organization to respond to the chaos and crises in the economy.” He says he has told his team for years, “If there is no chaos, create some! If there is no crisis, make one! Just get out and move. Make it happen.”

At the close of summer 2010, the survey group cannot be characterized as an optimistic cadre of leaders. Yet the survey did lead us to believe that, while future direction is still uncertain, leaders in the land use community are more realistic this year than they were last and ready not only to embrace change, but also to use it to improve their own practices in support of a better form of existence. Isn’t that something to be optimistic about?

Mary Breuer leads Breuer Consulting Group, which conducts executive search for the built-environment community. Marianna Leuschel heads L Studio, a communications consulting and design firm specializing in sustainable land use, energy, and climate.

(This survey was conducted by Breuer and Leuschel as part of their ongoing research collaboration. More than 20 professionals were interviewed this year for the second in a series of surveys and articles that will be done annually over the next decade to mark the qualitative shifts and attitudes in leadership in the land use community nationwide.)

Inside Indiana Business

07/12/2010

Construction scheduled to begin in the Fall on East Village at Avondale

The Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority (IHCDA) recently approved a reservation of more than $1.9 million annually in federal low-income housing tax credits from the State’s 2010 allocation, to be used to develop a 248-unit, mixed-income, environmentally-friendly multi-family residential development known as East Village at Avondale.  The tax credits are expected to result in more than $13 million in equity for the $25 million project.

The East Village at Avondale joint venture between Strategic Capital Partners, The Sterling Group, Meadows Community Foundation and the City of Indianapolis will kick-start the first phase of the transformational Avondale Meadows redevelopment.  Construction is scheduled to begin early this Fall.

“The Challenge Foundation Academy and the Charles A. Tindley Accelerated School began the transformational change of the Meadows,” said Gene Zink, Chairman and CEO of Strategic Capital Partners.  “With these great schools as the nucleus, East Village at Avondale will add a second dimension of high-quality, affordable and market housing.  Following close behind will be a retail component with a grocery store, a world-class community center, a health campus and additional phases of housing.  All of this will be accomplished in an environmentally-friendly, sustainable manner.  SCP is proud to join with The Sterling Group, the State of Indiana, the City of Indianapolis and its many community partners to ‘Make Magic in the Meadows.’”

Avondale Meadows is a comprehensive community redevelopment project focused on the holistic redevelopment of the challenged, disinvested Meadows area into a safe, sustainable, environmentally-friendly neighborhood in order to improve and enhance life in the Meadows community.  When complete, this redevelopment will offer more than 800 mixed-income apartments, townhomes and single family homes, a grocery store with other commercial retail, a five-acre active use park, several green space areas, community gardens, walking and biking paths, and a community center offering recreational facilities, child care services, job training and job placement programs and other social and human services.

September 25, 2010

Near-east-side residents were mad. They were tired of the skyrocketing foreclosure rates in their pocket of town and frustrated by feelings of being ignored by city leaders. They wanted to take their neighborhood back.

That was in 2004.

Six years later, residents and community leaders in the area just east of downtown have raised more than $100 million to improve the neighborhood. The deployment of so many resources to one area is almost unprecedented in Indianapolis; only the $97 million Fall Creek Place neighborhood revitalization compares.

And the near-east side is nearing an important benchmark. It has raised all but $1 million of the $11.2 million needed for a community center that will provide programming for area residents. The center will include an NFL-sponsored Youth Education Town, one of 13 facilities geared toward youth outreach in Super Bowl host cities across the country.

It is, in many ways, the marquee component of a broader effort to improve the 40,000-person tract through road projects, sewer improvements, housing rehab and improved community venues.

Involvement from the Super Bowl organizers and NFL sponsors has played a role in propelling the neighborhood from one extreme to the other. But the community’s success has been driven by more basic ingredients: creating a strategy and bringing together neighborhood residents and community movers and shakers to execute it.

What’s happened as a result, many hope, will provide a model for other Indianapolis neighborhoods—and cities across the United States—to achieve similar things.

“I feel better about the future of our neighborhood now than I ever have,” said Ruth Shaw, a 36-year resident and a longtime neighborhood leader. “Finally, people know we exist. They’re listening to us and are doing it our way.”

Progress after adversity

The neighborhood discontent that surged to the surface in 2004 had been brewing for years.

It was triggered in part by the implosion of Eastside Community Investments, a not-for-profit developer in the area that overextended itself.

When it failed in the mid-1990s, the group left behind neglected and abandoned rental properties.

“There was a lot of neighborhood frustration built up,” said Bill Taft, executive director of the Local Initiatives Support Corp., which provides resources to not-for-profit developers across the city and has been instrumental in the revitalization effort. “It took a while for people to pick up the pieces from that.”

As residents struggled to do so, foreclosure rates in the area were rising, as were crime rates and instances of mortgage fraud. Some neighborhood groups, such as the East 10th Street Civic Association, had been working to improve the neighborhood in other ways, but the housing issues seemed too overwhelming to tackle at the time.

As conditions worsened, residents lost patience. James Taylor, CEO of the John H. Boner Community Center, which has been at the center of the revitalization efforts, recalled a town hall meeting in 2004 attended by city officials.

In no uncertain terms, residents let the leaders know how they felt: The neighborhood had been passed over.

That meeting planted the seed for the formation of a resident-driven group called the Near Eastside Collaborative Task Force. Today, the group remains instrumental in the changes taking place.

Its members began to mobilize. They worked with city leaders to establish a tax-increment financing district, in which property tax revenue from development could be channeled toward improvement projects.

Then in 2006, the neighborhood was one of six selected for an initiative facilitated by Taft’s group to get residents to formulate “quality-of-life plans” for revitalizing their hard-hit parts of town.

About 400 residents turned out to a meeting one Saturday morning in June 2007 at Arsenal Technical High School. They spent five hours talking about areas of concern in the neighborhood and formed committees to tackle them.

Shaw said there was lingering skepticism among neighbors that the meeting would be a hollow effort. But residents were hungry for change.

“We’d heard all the complaints,” Shaw said. “That day, we didn’t want to hear the complaints. We wanted to talk about solutions.”

Over the next six months, the committees met every two weeks to put together an ambitious strategy that included 150 objectives.

As residents formulated their plan, the neighborhood began scouring for money to fund it. Goals included basics such as improving sewers and renovating buildings. Also on the wish list were a neighborhood welcome center and housing developments.

Early help came from not-for-profit groups such as LISC, which gave tens of thousands of dollars in grants, and architecture students at Ball State University, who came up with plans to redevelop the neighborhood’s housing and business corridor.

Eventually, the community began scoring bigger contributions: $10 million in local dollars from the tax-increment financing district, $3.3 million through a partnership with JPMorgan Chase, $2.4 million from United Way of Central Indiana.

Tina Walters, vice president of the JPMorgan Chase Foundation in Indiana, said her group was impressed by the neighborhood’s aggressive planning and leadership.

“Not only was that on the ground at the resident level. They had other stakeholders such as city leaders and the strong nonprofit leaders [involved],” Walters said. “All of those components are really key to moving a plan that they had forward.”

Several groups were doing their own part to chip away at the effort, Taylor said, but they all had the same plan in front of them.

“It all starts with having citizens come together with a consensus on vision and a plan,” Taylor said. “Too many initiatives have skipped that step.”

By mid-2008, the neighborhood had about $45 million in hand or in the pipeline. Then the Super Bowl stepped in.

Super Bowl boost

In early 2008, Super Bowl Host Committee Chairman Mark Miles was looking for a community project that could accompany the Super Bowl—a world-class sculpture, maybe, or an art center. Then Taft approached him about helping the neighborhood complete its quality-of-life plan.

After Miles learned more, he was sold. He talked to Taylor and others in the neighborhood a couple of weeks before the city presented its bid for the 2012 game in May 2008.

“Our philosophy about it has been, we’re trying to harness the excitement of the Super Bowl to encourage the broader Indianapolis community to access resources and talent, so the neighborhood can get further faster in their plan,” Miles said.

That’s just what has happened. The monetary contributions of the Super Bowl have been small compared with the overall fundraising effort. The host committee kicked in $782,000 to pay salaries for three staff members to execute the neighborhood-revitalization effort. The NFL has contributed $1 million for the Youth Education Town in the Legacy Center, a 27,000-square-foot facility on Tech’s campus that will host groups such as the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and provide activities for area residents.

But the bigger impact is less tangible. The Super Bowl has brought name recognition, Taylor said, that has made the neighborhood more competitive for certain federal grants, such as the $9 million received earlier this year to make homes more energy-efficient.

The host committee’s involvement has brought together some of the city’s powerful elite, who have used connections to grease the wheels and secure sponsorships from M&I Bank, State Farm Insurance and other companies.

“You can’t put a price on those relationships,” said Anne Marie Hanlon, a 30-year neighborhood resident who leads the collaborative task force. “Any other time, we would struggle months and months to try to get the right people to talk to us and understand what we were and [were] talking about. Now they’re coming to us and saying, ‘How can we help?’”

Leaders are hoping the strategy will play out in other struggling communities across the city, and even the nation. Neighborhood advocates as close by as Martindale-Brightwood and as far away as San Diego are taking notice. One of the staffers working on the local project spoke at a neighborhood-leader conference in the California city about how Indianapolis pulled it off.

“People at the end of the day will say, ‘We could have done this without the Super Bowl,’” Taft said. “You create partnerships and expectations that this kind of thing will happen over and over again. There’s no reason why it can’t.”•

Urban Land Magazine

by Ron Nyren

September 21, 2010

Buildings with sustainable design features may cut energy costs and have less impact on the environment than conventional buildings, but until the past few years, there has been little data about the economic benefit for their owners. Recent studies have indicated that commercial office buildings with a green rating have lower operating costs, higher occupancy rates, higher lease rates, and higher resale values. Now, there is evidence that even in the current economic downturn, the green premium holds true.

In 2007, John Quigley, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley’s Haas Real Estate Group, and Piet Eichholtz and Nils Kok of Maastricht University in the Netherlands, analyzed 694 U.S. office buildings that had either received a rating from the U.S. government’s Energy Star program or the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification system, developed by the Washington, D.C.–based U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). The authors’ goal was to determine whether green features affected the market value and effective rents – the rent per square foot multiplied by the occupancy rate. They found that effective rents are 2.8 percent higher in buildings with the Energy Star rating than in conventional buildings. With LEED-certified buildings, although effective rents were slightly higher than in uncertified buildings, the difference was not statistically significant. “But there were far fewer LEED-certified buildings in our sample than Energy Star–certified buildings, so that factor in and of itself reduces the statistical significance of the findings,” Quigley says.

The team also found that energy efficiency seems to drive up the resale value of buildings. “If you simply look at the energy savings on the Energy Star buildings and capitalize those savings, then virtually all the difference in the selling price of the buildings is capitalized energy savings, which suggests that the market is rather good at rewarding energy efficiency in terms of increased market valuations,” Quigley says.

The study has been accepted for publication in a forthcoming issue of American Economic Review. In 2009, the authors conducted a follow-up study, analyzing the same buildings as in the 2007 study to see if the economic premium provided by energy efficiency changed during that time. “To our surprise, there was no decline in the premium for green buildings during the period in which the commercial office market went into decline,” Quigley said, even though selling prices and rents dropped for all categories of buildings, and even though the number of green-rated buildings on the market was much higher by 2009. In that same study, the team repeated the original study using a much larger cross-section of office buildings rated by the LEED or Energy Star systems, finding much stronger evidence that ratings in either system seemed to grant a premium in rents or selling prices. With higher levels of LEED certification – Silver, Gold, or Platinum – those premiums rose even more substantially. The follow-up study is currently undergoing peer review.

Other studies have identified economic premiums for commercial office buildings incorporating sustainable strategies, points out Jeff Kingsbury, managing principal of Greenstreet Ltd., a Zionsville, Indiana–based real estate development, brokerage and consulting firm, and chair of the Urban Land Institute’s Sustainable Development Council. He mentions studies by the London-based construction consultancy Davis Langdon and by the Bethesda, Maryland–based CoStar group, provider of commercial real estate information. With the work of Quigley, Eichholtz, and Kok, “the new information is that the recession doesn’t appear to have affected the momentum that we see in green and sustainable real estate strategies,” Kingsbury says. “It is continuing to be a viable market differentiator and expression of quality.”

Given the economic downturn and the current fundamental restructuring of the commercial office market, “the conversation about sustainability is now much more focused around reducing operating expenses and energy costs,” Kingsbury says. “I think this is positive, that green is being measured much more by its performance. Sustainability will continue to remain a viable differentiator.”

http://urbanland.uli.org/Articles/2010/SeptOct/NyrenGreenMarket?Site=ULIMC

Zionsville Times Sentinel

May 19, 2010

By Nick McClain

Two local land use professionals shed light on an often-misunderstood form of zoning at a Planned Unit Development educational forum, Tuesday, May 11. The forum was just days before the Zionsville Plan Commission was to vote on enabling PUDs in the town at their meeting on Monday, May 17.

The experts, Brad Johnson, president of Ground Rules Inc. and Jeff Kingsbury, a Zionsville resident and managing principal of development firm Greenstreet Ltd., told those who attended that they felt PUDs are a needed mechanism for flexibility from rigid zoning laws.

“The issue is, do we want the PUD tool in the toolbox?” Johnson said. “It is in a city or town’s best interest to have it, because all zoning and subdivision ordinances have flaws.”

Kingsbury agreed, saying it can lead to creative development.

“It can be a very good tool for communities to implement the vision that they have,” he said. “As a developer, I like the opportunity to create something different that responds to the marketplace but is also in line with the community’s vision.”

PUD is a type of building development and regulatory process that allows for designed groupings of varied land uses, including housing, recreation, commercial centers, even industrial parks, all within one contained development, something which can’t be accomplished under traditional zoning without the timely process of multiple variance requests.

The Cornerstone Club, a group of Zionsville citizens interested in educating the public, hosted the session. Approximately 70 people, including the entire Zionsville Town Council and most of the plan commission, were in attendance to hear from Johnson and Kingsbury, who were chosen for their expertise and local ties.

After the plan commission voted on the PUD enabling ordinance on Monday, May 17, it will go to the Zionsville Town Council, who will vote on it at its Monday, June 7, meeting.

Ground Rules is an urban planning firm in Zionsville that works primarily with municipalities. Johnson also resides locally. He cleared up what he felt were misconceptions to PUD zoning, including the idea that it was a “blank check” to developers.

“It’s not an entitlement to develop, it’s actually the opposite,” Johnson said.

It is often more expensive and risky to developers to go through the PUD process, he said, and a PUD differs from conventional zoning in that a municipality has more leverage in negotiations with a developer.

“You can deny a PUD for pretty much any reason,” Johnson said.

In the case of conventional zoning, if a developer meets the ordinance, they have to be approved by the plan commission, whether the community wants the development or not, he said. Similarly, while under conventional zoning, developments are approved only by the appointed plan commission, PUDs must be approved by the plan commission and the elected town council.

“That’s the great thing,” Johnson said. “You can elect them out of these offices if they are not doing what the community wants.”

Kingsbury advocated Smart Growth, a development principal that involves incorporating walkability and mixed uses and creating communities where people can live, work, shop and play. He said PUDs are one way to achieve that.

“It’s a tool in a toolbox that allows you to achieve Smart Growth,” Kingsbury said.

Kingsbury said while PUD zoning can be one mechanism to supplement the shortcomings of zoning ordinances, he said a community must have a clear vision of what it wants to be.

“Do we have clarity in what we want the community to look like?” he asked.

Council president Matt Price said they do.

“We do know exactly the direction we’re going,” he said. “We know we are committed to low-density development, diversifying our tax base in target areas and a commitment to green space and open areas. It’s simply a matter of what tools do we have at our disposal to get us to that point.”

Price said he didn’t envision using the PUD zoning except in certain areas, such as the Dow site on 106th Street.

“I think we’ll have very few opportunities where a PUD would make sense, and no one is seriously advocating PUD use for residential development,” he said. “But we have unique parcels of property in Zionsville that will require flexibility in order to attract commercial development.”

The moderator for the forum was Jean Palmer Heck, a Zionsville resident and president of Real-Impact Inc., a communications firm. Johnson also spoke at a PUD educational seminar hosted by the Boone County Economic Development Corporation last summer in Zionsville.

Cornerstone member Cindy Lamberjack said she felt the event was very well attended. Cornerstone intends for the PUD forum to be the first in a series of three informational sessions on current issues affecting the town. As of press time, they have no set topic or dates for the next two sessions. Ideas can be sent to zcornerstone@gmail.com.

Their goal is to provide answers to the questions surrounding the redevelopment of an old industrial site east of downtown.  The initiative is part of the Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and CRA/LA’s long term vision of transforming the site into the world’s top clean technology manufacturing corridor.  The Mayor expects the corridor to encourage the development and attraction of business and green collar jobs, putting Los Angeles at the forefront of the clean technology revolution.

“We expect to receive valuable recommendations from ULI that will make the CleanTech Corridor a national model for transforming an old, downtown industrial core into an incubator for green jobs and technology,” said Villaraigosa. “I look forward to learning more about how to make Los Angeles the global capital of clean technology by leveraging development trends such as sustainability and green urbanism that will create good-paying green jobs.”

Next week’s 10-person panel will spend five days touring the subject area as well as meeting with stakeholders and members of the local community. After carefully analyzing the area and interviewing up to 100 individuals, the panel will then spend two days framing their recommendations and drafting a report which will be presented to the public on May 21, 2010 at the Kyoto Grand Hotel.

“Cleantech is really at the intersection of ULI’s sustainability mission and the new global economy that is emerging in large metropolitan areas,” said Panel Chair John M. Walsh, president, TIG Real Estate Services, Inc., Carrolton, Texas.  “We think this an excellent opportunity evolve existing industrial into a Green-21st century economic engine.”

In addition Panel Chair Walsh, other panel members include:  Brian T. Coleman, chief executive officer, Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center, Brooklyn;  Thomas Curley, AIA LEED AP, Thomas Curley Associates LLC, New York;  Ron Golem, principal, Bay Area Economics (BAE), Emeryville, Calif.;  Diana Gonzalez, president, DMG Consulting Services, Miami;  Jim Heid, founder, UrbanGreen, LLC, San Francisco;  Jeff Kingsbury, managing principal, Greenstreet, Ltd., Zionsville, Ind.;  Ralph L. Nunez, president/design principal, Design Team Limited, Southfield, Mich.;  Sharon E. Pandak, partner, Greehan, Taves, Pandak & Stoner, PLLC, Woodridge, Va.;  and Michael A. Stern, principal, Strada, Pittsburgh.

Through the advisory services program, ULI assembles experts in the fields of real estate and land use planning to participate on panels worldwide, offering recommendations for complex planning and development projects, programs and policies. According to Tom Eitler, Vice President at ULI, the strength of the panel program lies in ULI’s unique ability to draw on the knowledge and experience of its nearly 30,000 members, including land developers, public officials, academics, lenders, architects, planners and urban designers.

This analysis from a wide variety of land use experts, coupled with substantial input from representatives of the communities, produces excellent results “time after time,” Eitler says. “The panel process helps build consensus to support an effort that benefits the entire community. It’s often the fresh, outside view provided by the panel that achieves these results. We seek possibilities and opportunities that might have been overlooked. The advisory services panel program is all about seeing things a different way.”

ULI teams approach the project from all perspectives, including market potential, land use and design, financing and development strategies, and organizing for implementation. Each team proposes practical solutions that serve as a blueprint to move the project forward. Panelists have developed strategies for a broad range of land uses, including downtown revitalization; retail/entertainment development, inner-city neighborhood revival, affordable housing, brownfields development, public facility sites such as stadiums, arenas and convention centers, transit-oriented development, resort and master-planned communities, and military base reuse.

Past sponsors of ULI advisory services panels include: federal, state and local government agencies; regional councils of government; chambers of commerce; redevelopment authorities; private developers and property owners; community development corporations; lenders; historic preservation groups; non-profit community groups; environmental organizations; and economic development agencies.

For more information on the ULI Advisory Services panel for the Los Angeles Cleantech Corridor, go to:  http://www.uli.org/cleantech

About the Urban Land Institute:
The Urban Land Institute (www.uli.org) is a global nonprofit education and research Institute supported by its members. Its mission is to provide leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide. Established in 1936, the Institute has nearly 30,000 members representing all aspects of land use.

‘There is a lot of pride there,’ said consultant who toured town
By Josh Duke
The Indianapolis Star
October 4, 2008

A panel of national experts in planning and land use has endorsed a plan to reinvigorate Speedway.

The Urban Land Institute released a 33-page report Friday lauding the town’s $500 million redevelopment project to bolster 350 acres south of the track. The report also recommended local officials encourage statewide support, saying it’s an attraction that could benefit all Hoosiers.

“The report inspires and challenges us to continue to move forward,” said Scott Harris, executive director of the redevelopment. “They validated the direction we are going, which is a comfortable feeling.”

Mansur Real Estate, the lead developer on the town’s redevelopment project, suggested inviting the Urban Land Institute to evaluate the project.

The six-member panel visited Speedway for three days in May. They reviewed the project, met with local leaders and toured the area.

“There is a tremendous opportunity for this community if they can continue to work together,” said Joe Davis, a panelist from Silver Spring, Md., who runs a planning and consulting firm. “I had never been to Speedway before, but I quickly realized in touring the town that there is a lot of pride there.”

The panel recommended no significant changes to the town’s plan, which became public in June 2007. The plan calls for shifting major streets, bringing in more retail and industry, and creating a racing-related theme to draw tourists.

The panelists did recommend creating unique concepts to draw tourists to the area such as a new racing museum and track experience,  a tall tower ride to get a bird’s eye view of the track, race car driving simulators and even a driving school for racers and fans.

“They couldn’t believe we had this sporting icon with an area around it that they thought were lost opportunities,” Harris said.

Developments outside track could help Speed Zone plan

Anthony Schoettle
Indianapolis Business Journal
November 8, 2008

Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials are in talks to move their Hall of Fame Museum from the interior of the oval to a spot just outside the south end of the track, an area that could also house a new Speedway hotel. An announcement could come as soon as early next year. That move could fuel a flurry of commercial developments that Speedway town officials hope to start unveiling in the first quarter of 2009.

The museum move would be done in conjunction with the Speedway Redevelopment Commission’s plans to revitalize the areas immediately south and west of the track and along Main Street in the town on the west edge of Indianapolis.

Speedway redevelopment officials want the museum and hotel to anchor an entertainment and retail district at the southwest corner of the track. The Redevelopment Commission’s plans call for vacating parts of 16th Street and Georgetown Road to make it happen.

“At this point, with our hotel and museum, we’re in serious discussions,” said IMS Chief Operating Officer Joie Chitwood. “The hotel is a top priority. The museum now is in a great location, but who knows what the future holds. We’re looking at all our options.”

The new and expanded museum and Speedway hotel wouldn’t be the only attractions in the area. Scott Harris, who became executive director of the Speedway Redevelopment Commission when it was created in 2005, said he is in discussions with at least one other motorsports-related museum along with restaurants and other retail operators.

“We’re moving forward aggressively and hope we’ll have some announcements to make in the first part of 2009,” said Harris, 58, a 10-year resident of Speedway who previously served as a consultant to medical practices. “The Speedway knows our time lines, and we hope they have an announcement some time in the spring also.” An announcement, Harris said, could come as the IMS celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2009.

Year-round attraction

If IMS and the redevelopment commission can work together to bring multiple attractions to the area outside the track, it would create a new visitor experience that could draw hundreds of thousands of visitors to Speedway each year—far beyond the month of May and during the Brickyard 400, said David Moroknek, president of MainGate Inc., a local maker and retailer of motorsports-related goods and apparel.

“If they did a museum or even an expanded hotel stand-alone, I don’t know if it would work,” said Moroknek, who served as senior director of marketing and consumer products for IMS from 1994 to 2003. “But if you do it as part of a whole redevelopment and tie the community in, I think it would be a big success.”

Moving the museum from the track’s infield to a prominent place near a jazzed-up entrance would lift the image of the facility and dramatically increase traffic there, said Tim Frost, president of Frost Motorsports, a Chicago-based motorsports business consultancy.

“It’s about visibility, and right now the Speedway’s museum doesn’t have any,” said Frost, who recently completed a study on motorsports museums. “Unless you’re seeking it out, you’ll never see it where it is on the interior of the track. I think moving it to a more prominent location and into an enhanced space would be a tremendous benefit to the Speedway.”

Moroknek thinks moving it to a more prominent location could make it as much a destination for locals and visitors as The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, the Indianapolis Museum of Art or the Indianapolis Zoo.

“It would create a central gathering place for people visiting the track,” Moroknek said. “And I think that raises a lot of other development possibilities.”

While the Speedway’s collection of cars is impressive, Frost said it’s in need of a makeover.

“When you look at what NASCAR is doing with their new Hall of Fame in Charlotte, it may be time for the Speedway to make a move,” Frost said. “There’s a difference between a museum and a car collection. In today’s environment, people are looking for more interactivity.”

The $160 million NASCAR Hall of Fame being built now will include a theater, a restaurant, and office and meeting space. The museum scheduled to open in early 2010 will have more than three times the IMS museum’s 30,000 square feet of exhibit space.

Museums are usually modest profit centers for tracks and race series, Frost said, but the exposure is invaluable. The IMS museum draws 250,000 visitors annually, about one-third during the month of May.

“By moving this facility to the outside of the track and creating a central place of activity, you make this a year-round attraction,” Frost said. “I think it becomes not only a regional and national draw, but an international draw.”

The redevelopment commission’s goal is to link the revitalized district, including the new IMS museum and other attractions, to Speedway’s Main Street, Harris said. “We want that area to be like Broad Ripple or a Mass Avenue downtown.”

IMS’ Chitwood said the idea of creating a zone that draws people to the area year-round has fueled talk of a new hotel. The current Speedway-owned motel, renamed the Brickyard Crossing Inn in 1994, was built in 1963. It has 108 rooms and modest gathering areas, but few other amenities to attract visitors or corporate entertainers year-round.

Work about to begin

The larger project, dubbed the “Speed Zone,” is starting to rev its engine. Key to its success is shifting 16th Street to the south, away from the track, to create a pedestrian zone. That’s the area most likely to be the site of the new museum. Planners also want to close Georgetown Road south of 25th Street to create a park and pedestrian promenade immediately west of the track.

Two multi-lane roundabouts also are planned—one at the junction of Crawfordsville Road, 16th Street and Main Street, and one where an extended Holt Road would cross the new 16th Street.

The infrastructure changes, Harris said, are “fundamental aspects” of the project, because they reroute traffic to make the area pedestrianfriendly and help increase the visibility of Main Street businesses.

Harris said local officials are very close to obtaining 28 acres along Main Street from two property owners he would not identify. Speedway town officials recently started appraising land for right-of-way acquisition. Some of that land is owned by IMS, which is cooperating on the project.

Harris said design and engineering work for the rerouting of 16th Street is 95-percent complete. Indianapolis-based American StructurePoint won that $1.6 million contract, part of the $30 million it will cost to move 16th Street. Other parts of the project will be put out to bid in January or February.

“We think we’ll be moving dirt sometime between February and April, and then I think you’ll see a number of announcements to follow,” Harris said.

The cost for the entire project, which has been estimated at $400 million to $500 million, should be more concrete in February, he said. The town will pay for the proposed infrastructure changes—including Main Street enhancements—through a series of bonds paid off by revenue from the town’s 350-acre tax increment financing district. The rest of the funding will come from public-private sources, Harris said.

By the Indianapolis 500’s centennial celebration in 2011, Harris hopes the reconfigured road system, a new park beside the track, and improvements on Main Street will be complete. Larry DeGaris, director of academic sports marketing programs at the University of Indianapolis, said by making the area a destination with multiple attractions, the potential economic impact spreads far beyond Speedway.
“I think this project has a ton of potential, and could possibly double the traffic to the Speedway’s museum, and in turn provide fuel for other developments,” DeGaris said. “That’s why this project makes so much sense.”

Bruce C. Smith
Indianapolis Star
April 21, 2009

Developers helping Speedway to rebuild Main Street are working on a short list of businesses considered strong prospects to join in the town’s project to remake the areas around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“We’re focused on approximately 23 prospects, which are consistent with the master plan for the Speed Zone,” said Charles R. Cagann, president of Indianapolis-based Mansur Real Estate Services.

The company was selected by the Speedway Redevelopment Commission as the master developer for the $500 million project to rebuild the aging Main Street and industrial areas near the race track.

And Cagann’s report to the redevelopment commission Monday night was one of the latest indications that the project continues to inch forward.

The town’s engineers, American Structurepoint, are more than 40 percent complete on some of the technical designs for the work.

Redevelopment Commission Executive Director Scott Harris said town representatives are working for state and federal grants, “so we can use our Speedway (local) dollars most effectively.”

He said applications for that money are targeted for funding of Speedway projects by 2010.

Cagann put a similar 2010 time frame on the development company’s work to attract new businesses to the Speed Zone, the redevelopment area spreading between Main and Holt Road, and between 10th and 16th streets.

Cagann didn’t name any names but he said Mansur is looking for new businesses for the Speed Zone to fit the master plan.

That includes several more restaurants, some neighborhood businesses, motor sports-related companies, auto museums and a college with classes in auto racing or technology, all intended to draw more people to Main Street.

Regarding the search for preliminary deals for businesses to settle on the new Main, he said, “Our goal is to have at least four or five letters of intent signed by the end of this year.”

For Immediate Release

Media Inquiries

Scott Harris

Speedway Redevelopment Commission

317.695.9161

Speedway Gives Green Light on Master Developer

Speed Zone Master Developers Take On Second Major Speedway Project

SPEEDWAY, INDIANA – August 8, 2008 – The Speedway Redevelopment Commission today announced that it has retained Mansur Real Estate Services, Inc. and Greenstreet Ltd. as the Master Developer for the second major redevelopment project in the Town of Speedway.  Several shopping centers, motels and apartment complexes are located in the redevelopment area that spans nearly 300 acres on the northwest side of Speedway, east of I-465 along Crawfordsville Road.

Mansur and Greenstreet are also currently partnering as the Master Developer of the Speed Zone, a 400-acre redevelopment area south of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  The additional area announced today brings total Speedway redevelopment efforts to nearly 700 acres.

“Members of the Commission felt that the partnership of Mansur and Greenstreet has performed well in the Speed Zone.  Further, a unified approach is essential as we focus on this second and equally important redevelopment area,” said Scott Harris, Executive Director of the Speedway Redevelopment Commission.

“We’re excited and eager to increase our involvement in helping to develop the future of Speedway,” said Chuck Cagann, president of Mansur.  “We applaud the vision of Town officials, and appreciate the opportunity to help them achieve that vision.”

The second redevelopment area is currently being planned by Indianapolis-based American Structurepoint, Inc., which was also responsible for the master plan of the Speed Zone.  Principles of the redevelopment strategy include:

• Foster a safe and secure mixed-use neighborhood;
• Develop a diversity of housing options;
• Create a regional shopping destination, which complements the redevelopment efforts within the Speed Zone;
• Integrate into a multimodal regional transportation network; and
• Increase walkability and transportation alternatives.

Mansur, Greenstreet and Structurepoint will be engaged in a formal master planning process for the area, which will include various opportunities for public involvement.

More information can be obtained from www.redevelopspeedway.com

###

About the Speedway Redevelopment Commission

The Speedway Redevelopment Commission (SRC) is comprised of five volunteer members who are residents of Speedway.  The SRC is committed to fostering economic growth in order to redefine the Town of Speedway as a 21st Century community, which simultaneously recognizes its heritage and embraces its future.

About Mansur Real Estate Services, Inc. and Greenstreet Ltd.

Founded in 1982, Mansur Real Estate Services is one of the Midwest’s leading real estate development companies, and specializes in serving the development and historic redevelopment needs of municipalities and private landowners, and assisting companies with build-to-suit and turnkey development services.  Founded in 2004, Greenstreet Ltd. is a real estate development and advisory firm, which leverages sustainable strategies in the planning, development, marketing and sale of urban redevelopments nationwide.  Collectively, Mansur and Greenstreet have developed and sold nearly $1 billion in real estate throughout the United States and abroad.

Media Inquiries

Scott Harris

Speedway Redevelopment Commission

317.695.9161

Speedway Taps Master Developer

Town Selects Team of Mansur Real Estate Services, Inc. and Greenstreet Ltd.

SPEEDWAY, INDIANA – December 5, 2007 – The Speedway Redevelopment Commission today announced that it has selected Mansur Real Estate Services Inc. and Greenstreet Ltd. as master developers for the town’s one-half-billion dollar redevelopment initiative.

Mansur, based in Indianapolis and founded in 1982, has developed a diverse portfolio of Indianapolis projects, including office towers (Market Tower), hotels (Omni Severin), golf course communities (Hamilton Proper in Fishers), and numerous historic redevelopment or adaptive reuse projects such as Farm Bureau Insurance headquarters, WellPoint headquarters on Monument Circle, and Lockerbie Marketplace development downtown.

Founded in 2004, Greenstreet is a real estate development, brokerage and advisory firm, which leverages sustainable strategies in the planning, development, marketing and sale of urban redevelopments nationwide.   The principals of the firm have sold over $350 million in real estate and been involved in the planning, entitlement and development of over 35,000 acres, including some of nation’s most notable redevelopment initiatives.

According to Harris, “Mansur and Greenstreet have everything we are looking for:  experience, construction and design capability, and national relationships to help us market the property, and a strong vision.  Additionally, they have the knowledge base and creative acumen to provide us with the most appropriate development options and help the SRC make the wisest decisions for our taxpayers, fellow public officials, our business and educational communities, including Allison Transmission, Praxair Surface Technologies and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  While the other presentations were very strong, we believed the Mansur/Greenstreet team clearly distinguished itself.”

Mansur President, Charles R. Cagann, describes the project as, “…one of the most ambitious, exciting and challenging we will ever have the privilege of working on.  What is truly distinctive about this development, in addition to its various components, is the fact that is allows us to aggregate our core strengths in planning, community development, construction and leasing, and direct them uniformly to create something genuinely and authentically extraordinary.  Our entire team is exceptionally honored by the trust and confidence the Speedway Redevelopment Commission has placed in us.  We are committed to justifying their trust.”

Elements of The Speed Zone including the re-routing of 16th Street, the extension of Holt Road north to 30th Street, the vacation of Georgetown Road from 16th Street to 25th Street, the revitalization of Speedway’s main street, and the creation of dozens of new sites for retail, hotel, industrial and manufacturing facilities, many related to the racing industry.  Infrastructure work is expected to begin in 2009.

###

About the Speedway Redevelopment Commission

The Speedway Redevelopment Commission (SRC) is comprised of five volunteer members who are residents of Speedway.  The SRC is committed to fostering economic growth in order to redefine the Town of Speedway as a 21st Century community, which simultaneously recognizes its heritage and embraces its future.

About Mansur Real Estate Services, Inc. and Greenstreet Ltd.

Founded in 1982, Mansur Real Estate Services is one of the Midwest’s leading real estate development companies, and specializes in serving the development and historic redevelopment needs of municipalities and private landowners, and assisting companies with build-to-suit and turnkey development services.  Founded in 2004, Greenstreet Ltd. is a real estate development and advisory firm, which leverages sustainable strategies in the planning, development, marketing and sale of urban redevelopments nationwide.  Collectively, Mansur and Greenstreet have developed and sold nearly $1 billion in real estate throughout the United States and abroad.

For Immediate Release

Urban Land Institute Gives Speedway, Indiana’s Redevelopment Stamp of Approval

Expert panel calls “Speed Zone” redevelopment plan “unique in America,” and sees

potential for world-class motor sports center that will benefit entire state

SPEEDWAY, INDIANA – Ocotber 3, 2008 – The Speedway Redevelopment Commission (SRC) released the ULI advisory services panel report today for the Town of Speedway, validating its Master Plan, highlighting market potential and encouraging statewide support.  The Urban Land Institute (ULI), based in Washington D.C., is an international research and education organization committed to sustainable land use.

The Speedway Redevelopment Commission and the master developer for the initiative, Mansur Real Estate Services, Inc. and Greenstreet Ltd., requested a ULI advisory services evaluation after the SRC completed its “Speed Zone” Master Plan, a $500 million revitalization strategy focused on a 400-acre section of land near the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Following ULI’s selection of Speedway as one of the more than 20 advisory service panels conducted each year, it participated in a three-day evaluation of Speedway’s redevelopment opportunities and identified implementation strategies, including public/private financing sources, themed/destination retail development and sustainable energy solutions.  The unbiased team of six nationally recognized experts conducted the process which included interviews with more than 30 public and private stakeholders in the Speed Zone.

In the panel report, the community of Speedway is applauded for its willingness to embrace the future while continuing to incorporate the town’s unique history.  “The Speed Zone has the potential to transform Speedway,” said ULI advisory services panel chairman Michael Maxwell, a real estate developer in Miami, Florida.  “The panel understands the vision and validates its direction.  We see tremendous opportunity for Speedway to create a world-class motor sports education, technology and cultural center within a revitalized town center.  This would be unique in America.  The community’s combination of talent, track, technology, education, place and the drive to succeed are its strengths and essential tools.’

The panel stressed the importance of recognizing and capitalizing on the town’s amenities, identifying specific development districts and implementing strategies to revitalize retail and entertainment in the area.

Recommendations include:

• Defining development districts to address individual segments of Speedway’s markets. Districts include the Motor Sports Technology district, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway district, the Museum/Entertainment/Retail district and the Town Center district
• Working with the state of Indiana to define targeted efforts to attract domestic and international companies, stimulate startup firms and leverage proximity to the IMS
• Expanding the Town Center district, also known as “Main Street” to include three distinct areas: the Town Center, Educational/Incubator and Business Services Center
• Developing a new central utility plant and sustainable energy systems to serve the area’s industrial and commercial users
• Creating a business assistance program to support existing and new businesses that will provide management, marketing maintenance and safety to Speedway
• Refining the brand of the town to create an identity that evokes an immediate, recognizable sense of place

The panel noted that this development would have positive implications for the city of Indianapolis, the central Indiana region and the state of Indiana, and that these entities should play a role in financing these projects.

The Urban Land Institute is a nonprofit education and research institute supported by its members.  Its mission is to provide leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide.  Established in 1936, the Institute has more than 40,000 members worldwide representing all aspects of land use and development disciplines.

###

Speedway’s Main Street Project Shifts into High Gear

One of State’s largest redevelopment plans begins with $6.7 million Main Street road project

SPEEDWAY, INDIANA – November 19, 2009 –  Officials from the Speedway Redevelopment Commission (SRC), Town of Speedway, Marion County and the state broke ground today on the town’s first redevelopment‐related construction project.  The $6.7 million Main Street road construction project is part of Speedway’s aggressive plan to attract new development and investment to the area.

“Main Street will be the backbone of a bustling, vibrant downtown district,” said SRC President Vince Noblet.  “The project we’re commencing today will bring a safer pedestrian experience, with room for sidewalk cafes and a bike path to re‐energize the atmosphere on Main Street and attract new businesses, shops and restaurants.”

The Main Street project is the first milestone in the town’s Redevelopment Area One and is part of a $500 million investment to breathe new life into 400 acres of multi‐use property that will be primed for commercial, shopping and entertainment, residential and research and development projects.  Made possible through private and public investment, the redevelopment zone will be a vibrant, thriving and attractive downtown that will foster growth within the existing business community and encourage development of new business.

In total, Speedway’s Redevelopment Area One will bring an anticipated total economic impact of $5.2 billion from road improvements, new development and business operations over its first 10 years.  “This Main Street project starts the engine of one of the largest public/private redevelopment projects in the state.  This project will not only impact the Town of Speedway, it will impact the region and the state of Indiana,” said Indianapolis City‐County Councillor Marilyn Pfisterer.   “This construction project will help invigorate our strained construction sector by putting skilled workers back on the job.”

Fully funded by the Town of Speedway, a redeveloped Main Street will be the centerpiece of the SRC’s Redevelopment Area One.  “We see tremendous opportunity for Speedway to create a world‐class motorsports education, technology and cultural center within a revitalized town center – this would be unique in America,” stated the Urban Land Institute in a report on the viability of the redevelopment project.

The master developer of the initiative is Mansur Real Estate Services, Inc. and Greenstreet Ltd.  American Structurepoint, Inc. is the civil engineer for the Main Street project and construction will be completed by Calumet Civil Contractors in four phases, allowing Main Street and its shops and businesses to remain open and accessible during the upgrades.

Key stakeholders in the project include major central Indiana employers, including Allison Transmission, Praxair Surface Technologies, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the Indy Racing League.  “As we celebrate our Centennial Era and look toward our next 100 years, the Town of Speedway joins us in looking toward the future by moving forward with a redevelopment plan that is crucial to the success of the businesses that call Speedway home,” said Fred Nation, Indianapolis Motor Speedway vice president of communications.  “Racing is an integral part of the culture in Speedway and the redevelopment of Main Street will attract race fans by providing a variety of entertainment options close to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.”

“Redevelopment in Speedway is not only important to attracting new businesses, it is critical to the long term success of this community and the large and small businesses located here, such as Allison Transmission,” said Eric Dickerson, director of public relations and marketing for Allison Transmission. “Breaking ground on Main Street marks the beginning of a project that will give the Town of Speedway and its business community a competitive edge.”

Once completed, the Main Street project will result in safer walkways for pedestrians, designated paths for bikers and features to help attract business to the street.

Bike path – A dedicated path will be added on the east side of Main Street to allow bikers and pedestrians to navigate Main Street safely

Sidewalk cafes – While upgrading the sidewalks on Main Street, certain portions will be increased in size to help attract future cafes and restaurants with outdoor seating.

Spacious sidewalks – Sidewalks on Main Street will be replaced and will increase in size. Intersections will have designated crosswalks to safely move pedestrians through the street.

Safety considerations – To help ensure Main Street will be pedestrian‐friendly, traffic calming elements will be installed to slow traffic at intersections. Raised intersections and curb bump‐outs will call attention to intersections and potential crossing pedestrians.

The project also includes green infrastructure features, such as permeable pavement and rain gardens which have the benefits of reducing the amount of stormwater flowing into the Town’s sewer system.  While upgrading the street, the Town of Speedway will also separate the sewer system that runs below Main Street.  The Town’s combined sewer system causes backups and flooding in neighborhoods, and overflows into Eagle Creek during large rain storms or snow melts.

“Combining these projects will save on engineering and construction costs because the above‐ground and below‐ground work can be coordinated as a single project,” said Barbara Lawrence, town manager. “To ensure healthy waterways in the future, we must comply with state and federal regulations by upgrading our wastewater treatment plant and eliminating the remaining combined sewer lines in Speedway.”

###

Good to Great by Jim Collins, 2001
My Place by M.R. James, 1992
Hot, Flat and Crowded by Thomas Friedman, 2008
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah, 2007
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, 1997
Deep Economy by Bill McKibben, 2007
The Experience Economy by Joe Pine and Jim Gilmore, 1999
A River Runs Throught It and Other Stories by Norman Maclean, 1976
Quiet Strength by Tony Dungy, 2007
The Day After Tomorrow by Alan Folsom, 1995

Fiction and non-fiction, business and biography…all thought provoking for a variety of reasons.

jk

The Journal Gazette

October 20, 2009

Parkview hopes to present a plan next year for how its Randallia campus will look after it moves some services north in 2012 as part of a nearly $500 million expansion plan.

After the opening of the Parkview Regional Medical Center on the Parkview North campus in 2010, some services – including the Level II trauma center, heart, neurosciences and cancer services – will move north from the campus at 2200 Randallia Drive.

Sue Ehinger, Parkview chief operating officer, said the hospital wants to explore how to best use the facilities at the Randallia campus.

The hospital on Monday announced hiring the team of EDEN Collaborative, of Indianapolis, and Greenstreet Ltd. of Zionsville, to lead the redevelopment planning process for what the area will look like. The team also includes Moake Park Group, of Fort Wayne, and Williams Creek Consulting, of Indianapolis.

“We want to be in a position to offer residents opportunities for health care and other needed services that will assist in making the neighborhood sustainable and successful for years to come,” Ehinger said in a statement.

Hospital officials say Parkview Randallia, which now has 582 beds, will retain a 64-bed hospital and a 107-bed behavioral health hospital at 1720 Beacon St. that treats patients suffering from emotional, behavioral and chemical dependency problems.

It will have a full-service emergency room, outpatient services, obstetrics and surgery suites.

And it will keep the Parkview Eye Institute in Carew Medical Park at 1818 Carew St., near the Randallia site. With the reduction of beds, the hospital expects to raze the patient tower and parking garage.

City Councilwoman Karen Goldner, D-2nd, serves on the Parkview Select committee, which includes neighborhood and community leaders interested in the future of the Randallia campus. She said it was good news Parkview was taking this step because it showed the hospital’s commitment to the community.

“I’m just really excited they’ve decided to pursue this effort,” she said.

Parkview said it will work with community stakeholders to have a redevelopment plan to present to the public by mid-2010.

Indianapolis Business Journal

November 19, 2009

Speedway officials broke ground Thursday morning on the first phase of a $500 million redevelopment project they hope will transform the small town into a year-round racing-themed destination.

Initial work involves $6.7 million in road improvements to Main Street that should be finished by May 2011, laying the foundation for redevelopment to follow.

Though completion is roughly 18 months away, the project is generating interest from dozens of prospects who could locate along the aging thoroughfare plagued by vacant buildings and deteriorating façades.

Indianapolis-based Mansur Real Estate Services and Greenstreet Ltd., the master developers in charge of identifying tenants, said they’ve fielded calls from about 40 businesses, including restaurants, retailers, and motorsports companies.

“I think people get it,” Mansur President Chuck Caagan said. “They understand how this type of program could be a major draw.”

Dubbed the “Speed Zone,” the entire plan calls for new roads, parks, retail, restaurants and entertainment attractions to spruce up the Main Street business district and surrounding neighborhoods.

The ambitious redevelopment includes more than 350 acres from Main Street to Holt Road and from 16th to 10th streets, just south of Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

In all, 2.5 million square feet of new development could be constructed, which could return a 10-year economic impact of up to $5.2 billion and more than 2,000 jobs, officials say.

Work on the project began in July 2005, when town officials created the Speedway Redevelopment Commission to begin drafting a master plan for the redevelopment.

Scott Harris, executive director of the commission, is confident the redevelopment will come together as planned.

“It’s obviously picked up a lot of momentum, because we’re actually doing something,” he said. “It’s going to recreate what was a very historic Main Street.”

In the 1950s and ’60s, the seven-block Main Street served as the vibrant center of town, with a grocery store, two barbershops, a pharmacy and a cinema. But as factory work shifted and new shopping centers opened across town, Main Street suffered.

The Speed Zone project calls for widening Main Street, building an interactive “racing wall of fame” in front of the Praxair Surface Technologies plant that lines the east side of the thoroughfare, and adding mixed-use retail and condominium space on both sides of the street.

Area manufacturers such as Praxair and Allison Transmission employ about 3,500, which makes the area attractive to retailers as well, said Jeff Kingsbury, managing principal of the Greenstreet real estate development firm.

“Given the state of the economy and the overall real estate market, I think the level of interest we’ve had so far is really encouraging,” he said. “But I think it also points to the fact that we’ve got some exceptional assets to build upon.”

As part of the project, Allison and the Speedway Redevelopment Commission are seeking the closure of a 1,354-foot section of Grand Avenue, just south of West 10th Street.

Another part of the 10-year project includes rerouting 16th Street south, away from the track to create a pedestrian zone near the racetrack.

Planners also want to close Georgetown Road south of 25th Street to create a park and pedestrian promenade beside the track. Traffic would be diverted to Lynhurst Drive.

Two multi-lane roundabouts are planned—one at the junction of Crawfordsville Road, 16th Street and Main Street, and one where an extended Holt Road would cross the new 16th Street.

The town will pay for the proposed infrastructure changes and the Main Street façade and streetscape enhancements through a series of bonds paid off by revenue from the town’s 350-acre tax increment financing district. The rest of the funding will come from public-private sources, planners said.

The improvements to Main Street should be finished by May 2011, in time for the Indianapolis 500’s centennial celebration.

Whitestown-based Calumet Civil Contractors Inc. is the contractor for the Main Street road improvements.