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May 11, 2007

Greenbridge, Chapel Hill, NC

Going for the gold in green development

It's not easy being green. Greenbridge, a 104,000 s.f. urban infill community in Chapel Hill, North Carolina is planned to be the state's first mixed-use development to be LEED Gold certified by the US Green Building Council, no small feat considering the first LEED certified multi-unit residential ever was announced less than a year ago.

The vision starts with the six families that make up the development team. They shared the cradle-to-cradle approach to sustainability that ensures that "new products are designed from the outset to provide nourishment for something new, after their useful lives are over." So naturally (no pun intended), they hired the person that coined the term and wrote the book on it, William McDonough, who was presented on the cover of Time Magazine as a Hero for the Planet.

Greenbridge will provide 99 condos (15% affordable), 45,000 s.f. of retail and 15,000 of office with all of its 216 parking spaces underground, plus a fleet of Zipcars. It's list of sustainable development features is extensive:

- Green roofs with rainwater basin and cooling system
- Photovoltaic and microturbine electrical generation
- Maximum natural light exposure and clean-air filtration
- Sustainable building materials such as Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified wood, low-VOC paints, and natural metals and masonry, along with construction recycling.
- A community learning center to teach sustainable living practices.
- Condos will utilize low-E windows, low-flow toilets, energy-efficient lighting, HVAC systems and Energy Star appliances, some with green terraces.

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May 10, 2007

Ciclovia

Cities celebrating pedestrians in a big way each week

El Paso, Texas is a big city (pop. 600,000) without much buzz outside of UTEP, and even worse, it had a less than envious reputation, according to one local representative, "City leaders were faced with a challenge: to get a poor city of overweight, sedentary people moving when there weren't any parks or [bicycle] lanes. A national magazine declared the city one of the four fattest in the US, and that really got everyone's attention."

Welcome Ciclovia! Starting this month, the City will close several miles of road to cars each Sunday morning throughout the summer. The ciclovia (bike path) passes right through the city and is open to, well, anything but driving. So why the excitement?

The original ciclovia was founded in Bogotá, Colombia (pictured) in 1983, which now hosts 70 miles of roads closed every Sunday to cars. That event attracts one-and-a-half million people each week, spurring other Latin American cities to follow, some closing entire urban districts to vehicles. The idea was such an economic success that city merchants such as in Guadalahara, Mexico actually began opening their shops on Sunday to cater to customers they never had.

According to this article, the program is trending in the U.S. as well:

- Golden Gate Park in San Francisco will close down yet another stretch of road for pedestrian/bike traffic only.
- New York is is looking to do the same for its Central Park and Brooklyn Prospect Park perimeter roads.
- Philadelphia, Cleveland and Chicago are planning car-free days in public parks with the idea of making it more permanent.
- Davenport, IA, and Huntington Beach, CA are establishing car-free zones.

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May 9, 2007

American Tobacco Historic District

Durham turns the corner from industrial to information economy

Yesterday's entry profiled how a French town evolved from the industrial age to the information age. Today's entry profiles how a small American city is doing the same while respecting the history that put it on the map.

Just as the city of Robaix, France saw the transformation of its outdated textile factories into modern uses, Durham, North Carolina's downtown took a major economic turn upward when the first tobacco factory in the country (1874) reopened as the American Tobacco Historic District 130 years later. Being adjacent to the popular (and famous) Durham Bulls and their ballpark (pictured) provides a concentration of visitors, and the 400 plus lofts being built in the immediate area along with the on-site companies bestows a permanent one.

The developer, Capitol Broadcasting, rejuvenated nine factory buildings on 16 acres of downtown real estate into a $200 million, one million s.f. destination comprised of high-growth companies, restaurants (albeit one Starbucks), shops, some residences, and a central green (filled with people during concerts) wrapped by a 1/4 mile-long waterway (both pictured above). $43 million of the project's budget came from the City for parking garages. Yes, accommodating cars is costly on many fronts.

Check out discussions on the project before it opened here - it was destined to be a success.

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May 8, 2007

Robaix, France

How a French town modernized and kept its heritage

Roubaix is a typical small city in Northern France that thrived in the industrial age from the 19th Century through most of the 20th Century, specializing in textiles. However, that economy crashed in the 1970s as the economy rapidly and mercilessly transitioned to the global information age. How did the city evolve?

La Piscine, Robaix, France The city still has a reputation for fashion and fabrics, but has diversified. For one, they transformed one of their textile manufacturing buildings into a contemporary indoor urban outlet mall; a factory washroom building into an art and industry museum (pictured left); and a waffle factory into a community of artist studios.

Robaix is also an important example in demonstrating the power of color. The facades of many buildings, formerly greyed from industrial pollution, were repainted in bright colors to appeal to visitors, and as one city official says, "By giving the town back its colour, we've also given back pride to the inhabitants."

May 7, 2007

Beta community to own profit-based shares

For all that time you invest in helping choose the next American Idol, popularizing a book on Amazon via a review, or educating the world by updating Wikipedia entries, what's your reward? Many of us do it because we feel like we're making a difference in something that strikes an emotional chord. Well, what if we strengthened that emotional chord, greatly augmented the community difference you'd make, and financially compensated your valuable time as well?

That's what a beta community (future tenants/patrons partnered with an investor to carry out their collective vision) in Washington DC will enjoy, and rightfully so. Profiled at their first meeting a few weeks ago, the Washington DC Beta Community's first goal is to establish the greenest, healthiest, most innovative, community-oriented, educational cafe/bar/coffeehouse in the city, the kind of third place they'd want to frequent two to three times a week. The group (40 members and growing) and business owner/investor recently took a major step forward, agreeing to a share-based system:

Participants earn shares for attending meetings, summarizing what they said at those meetings, bringing others to the meetings or to join the group, and other result-based tasks that are also based on talent, as the needs arise. Sometimes needs such as identifying the business name or finding a location (paid in addition to the broker) are paid in cash, though they can also be paid in shares. These shares do not equate to ownership, but to profit-sharing on a weighted basis. For instance, for every 1000 shares the group earns, the business owner will profit-share 1% (up to 10%, maybe more), weighted to individual contribution once a minimum is met.

The group's third meeting is on May 21st in Adams Morgan at the Affinity Lab - click here to join the group if you live in the area and are interested in attending.

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