Detroit: Model for urban redesign?

The work that urban designer Toni Griffin engages in these days is very interesting, challenging and nothing short of huge and amazing!  Thinking, working and organizing at this level is what it will take to renew the urban core of most American cities today.  After you've read the interview, let me know your reactions.  In my view, this is fascinating stuff.

Can This Planner Save Detroit?

Toni L. Griffin has just accepted a unique—and daunting—job: the reshaping of Detroit. She talks to ARCHITECT about population decline, urban ag, downtown’s revival, and more.
By: Fred A. Bernstein

Time magazine called Toni L. Griffin a “star urban planner,” which doesn’t have quite the same ring as “starchitect,” but properly describes the 46-year-old. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame and a Loeb Fellow at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, where she still teaches, Griffin began her career in the private sector, working first for Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) in her native Chicago. While at SOM, she helped turn the Renaissance Center, John Portman’s office and hotel complex in downtown Detroit, into General Motors Co.’s world headquarters.

From SOM, she went to work for the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corporation, focusing on planning and heritage tourism initiatives, and then to the Washington, D.C., planning office, where she oversaw redevelopment projects. From Washington, she moved to Newark, N.J., where, within three years, the planning office she rebuilt was winning awards—among them, an award from the New Jersey chapter of the American Planning Association for its work on sustainable infill housing guidelines.

This spring, Griffin signed on for what may be America’s toughest urban planning challenge: helping to remake Detroit, a city that has seen its population decline by half over 60 years. In September, Griffin helped Mayor Dave Bing’s administration launch the Detroit Works Project, a 12- to 18-month effort to map the city’s future. It began with a series of widely attended public forums.

A Manhattan resident, Griffin spends most of the week in an office in Detroit City Hall. In an arrangement that reflects the strong interest of philanthropists in Detroit’s future, her salary is paid by the Kresge Foundation (which has an endowment of over $3 billion). Rip Rapson, Kresge’s president and son of architect Ralph Rapson, is also giving the city funds for Griffin to hire a team of local, national, and international consultants, from the private sector and four Michigan universities. Several other foundations are expected to provide funding to support both the technical and civic engagement components of the project.

Author Fred A. Bernstein first met Griffin in 2004, when they were both participants in the Mayors’ Institute on City Design in Charleston, S.C. She spoke to him on a recent weekend from her apartment in Harlem.

How did the Detroit job come about?

When Mayor Bing began his first full term in January, leaders of the private sector were determined to help him tackle the extraordinary challenges facing Detroit. At the same time, Kresge and other foundations wanted to make sure their investments aligned with the city’s needs, both programmatically and spatially.

This leadership saw now as the opportunity create a shared vision for the city, across sectors and inclusive of broad civic engagement. I was asked to join the mayor’s team to assemble and manage a team to create this vision with members of his staff.

To read the entire interview click here.

Poor folks Downtown?

Are poor people welcome in Downtown Dallas? 

Great question. 

My office sits on the 3rd floor of our newly redone building at 511 N. Akard on the Arts District side of Downtown Dallas.  It is also going to be home to over 200 low-income persons.  So, since they live here, it's hard to say that poor people aren't welcome in Downtown.  We had help getting the development done, including help from the City of Dallas.  We're grateful for the partnership.

That said, it is clear to me that many people don't believe low-income folks can contribute anything positive to the revitalization of the central core of our city.  We've heard and received various expressions of concern and opposition to our City Walk project.  While the city's housing department helped us with the development by providing funds and counsel, compared to city support provided developments of upscale projects, what we received reflects the city's priorities about workforce and permanent supportive housing in the Downtown area.  Poor folks and their housing needs just aren't high on the city's list. 

Consider:  less than 1/10 of 1% of the general revenue operating budget for the City of Dallas goes to the Housing Department.  Most of those funds pay salaries and support specialized programs.  The city doesn't have a robust, adequately funded strategy for the development of affordable housing or permanent supportive housing.  The bulk of the development funds flowing from the city to developers comes from the federal and state governments.  Our local commitment to addressing the problem is anemic.

What to do? 

One:  begin a stairstep increase in the Housing Department's allocation from 1/10 of 1% to a full 1% over a 5 year period.  This would allow the department to implement an effective plan over 60 months as funds rose gradually.

Two:  craft, support and pass a bond issue to create a City of Dallas Housing Trust Fund of $50 million in the next bond election, hopefully no later than 2011.  Such a trust fund would ensure the availability of resources for developers committed to building affordable housing and permanent supportive housing (PSH) for low-income residents of Dallas.  Once established, at least 30% of the fund's earnings should be earmarked for PSH.

Great media coverage of CityWalk Grand Opening!

We enjoyed great media coverage on last evening's "grand opening" at CityWalk!

Check it out. . .

here. . .

and here.

Possibly more later!  Thanks to all who supported us through this entire process!

CityWalk@Akard: Photos

To get a glimpse of our newly restored, Downtown office tower, know at CityWalk@ Akard, click here.

The project is mixed-use: office and retail. . .

Mixed-income: 200 units of affordable housing with 50 units reserved for formerly homeless persons and 6 market rate, for sale condos.

Our grand opening will be Thursday, March 25 from 4:30 to 7:00 p.m.

You and/or your group can furnish a home for a homeless person

People frequently ask me, "Larry, what can I/we do to help a homeless person?" 

Or, "What can I/we do to make a real difference in the life of a 'poor' person?"

Often, folks are looking for up close and personal moments, times that are very difficult to "arrange" without the loss of dignity or authenticity. 

Almost universally, though, those who ask about what they can do, really mean it. 

People want to do something.  They seek tangible involvement.  They want to look back and be able to say, at a minimum, "I did it!"

Defining the "it" is the challenge!

Well, here is something you, your family (possibly as part of an alternative Christmas giving approach), your business, your civic club, your Sunday School or Sabbath School class, your fraternity or sorority can actually do:  furnish one of the apartments set aside at CityWalk @Akard, our new building located at 511 N. Akard in Downtown Dallas.

Above you'll see a visual of the furniture for a typical studio apartment floor plan.  In addition, with my plan you'll also be furnishing the basics for cooking, cleaning and just living in a new place. 

The cost to completely outfit a unit with everything a person will need to set up housekeeping? 

$3,700.00.

Interested in putting your name on a unit? 

Email me at ljames@CentralDallasMinistries.org.

The Future of Downtown Dallas

>Here's an important note of interest to folks living in Dallas. Why not show up and have a say?

Creative, helpful housing as security

Larry and Ted Hamilton are good guys. We're glad to call them friends. Whether the issue is downtown renewal and upscale development or solving a security problem while helping others who find themselves in tough spots, these guys come up with very creative ideas!

Check out this report.

You'll see what I mean.

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Re: Vision Dallas Reprise. . .

I'm so proud of the Central Dallas Community Development Corporation and of John Greenan that I've got to give you two more links to our big Downtown development design competition.

For more fun and inspiration click here and then, click here!

Clearly, the Central Dallas CDC has sufficient capacity to continue to make a real, measurable impact on the rational, sustainable and inclusive development of our Downtown area.

One more time, "Way to go, John!"

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City Hotel a Good Thing for Private Hotels says Downtown hotel developer Larry Hamilton

What follows is an Op-Ed essay written by Larry Hamilton of Hamilton Properties. Larry is a Downtown hotel developer. His insights are very helpful.

City Hotel a Good Thing for Private Hotels
By Larry Hamilton

The barrage of TV commercials opposed to the City owned Convention Hotel might lead one to believe it constitutes unfair competition with nearby private sector hotels but the opposite is true, at least in this investor’s opinion.

My partners and I are constructing a 193 room privately financed hotel virtually across the street from the proposed 1,000 room convention hotel and we see the City owned hotel as revitalizing convention and group meeting business that will bring more City-wide events to fill up hotel rooms throughout DFW.

I saw this happen in Denver which had a convention center about half the size of Dallas’s and built an adjacent City owned 1,100 room Hyatt in 2005 and saw business mushroom that raised room rates and occupancy levels of all the privately owned downtown hotels.

In contrast, Dallas has a 1.5 million sq. ft. convention center that is dying on the vine and not competitive with Denver even though it’s twice the size. Dallas which once was a top tier convention destination has descended to the minor leagues compared to cities like Denver, San Diego, and Houston.

The claim by the other side that if the hotel would make money the private sector would do it is demagoguery of the worst sort. A city financed hotel can raise funds issuing tax exempt revenue bonds that might bear an interest rate of say 6%. On the other hand a private hotel would get maybe a 60% conventional loan at 8% interest with say a 15% second mezzanine loan at 13% interest and 25% of the funds in equity that would demand a return of perhaps 25%.

Under that scenario the all in cost of funds for the private hotel would average 14% or 233% higher cost of capital than the 6% tax exempt City financed hotel. Thus the private model would have to get returns that were 233% higher which is not likely to happen.

Other cities have wrestled with this dilemma and decided to finance their hotels with tax exempt revenue bonds that pledge the revenues from the hotel for payment of the debt as opposed to general obligation bonds which would obligate tax payers to come up with the funds. This is another canard that has been widely advertised and is false – that the taxpayers will have to eat the hotel’s losses.

The bond holders will bear that risk and finance the hotel if they are convinced revenues will be sufficient to meet debt service. Because of the favorable financing the hotel is highly likely to generate a profit which is what has happened in Denver. The excess revenues have gone into the City’s general fund.

So if Dallas wants to be a player in the convention market it needs to compete on a level playing field with all the other cities that have used public financing vehicles to build their convention hotels.

Dallas needs a revitalized downtown and our firm has been active in that effort. Our new 193 room aloft hotel in partnership with Sava Group will open in September across Young Street and a block to the east of the site for the Convention Hotel. In recent years we rehabilitated the Davis Building, Dallas Power & Light, and Mosaic into hip urban loft residential projects with ground floor retail to attract residents and 24 hour activity to a formerly forlorn and empty downtown that shut down at the end of each business day.

The City’s aggressive attitude has helped to secure the modest gains we have made to date, but to have a really world class downtown we need convention delegates walking around in great numbers like our peer cities’ downtowns.

The irony is we do have a world class convention center, one of America’s largest, but it is dying on the vine because we don’t have the attached headquarters hotel that our competitor cities now all have. Dallas used to be a top five convention destination by most measures. Now we are barely in the top five in Texas since Houston, San Antonio, Austin and Ft. Worth all have publicly financed convention center hotels and we don’t.

That’s why all the private hotel owners I have talked to are ardent advocates of the hotel and would encourage a no vote on both the propositions before Dallas voters on Saturday. It seems the opposition is mostly one hotel owner of the Anatole Hilton that hasn’t seemed to grasp that a rising tide raises all the ships. Too bad for him but what is he doing to our City?

Convention Center Hotel: Good Analysis

If you are looking for sound analysis of the issues surrounding the proposed Convention Center hotel development that Dallas residents will vote on this coming Saturday, read what John Greenan writes here.

John serves as the Executive Director of the Central Dallas Community Development Corporation.

As usual, you'll find his insights smart and on-target.

To vote for the hotel, vote NO on the ballot!

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More on our Urban RE:Vision Dallas dream

Watch local news reports on our RE:Vision Dallas dream here.

One thing my experience at Central Dallas Ministries has taught me is that nothing new, significant or world-changing ever happens without vision and large dreams.

John Greenan and Brent Brown have provided our community both in this project.

Stay tuned for outcomes!
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Real progress. . . at last!

At some point soon I'll probably post in detail about the unbelievably complex and difficult process that we've been through to finally close the construction loan on our 15-story building in Downtown Dallas.

To learn more about our project you can use the "Search" tool here: just type in "citywalk@akard" and you'll be able to get the background.

The closing process with all of our partners (and we have a number due to the complexity of the project) took about three weeks from start to finish.

What an education!

Thanks to amazing support from the Rees-Jones Foundation, we were able to complete the demolition and asbestos remediation while working on the closing and tax credits syndication. This allowed us to save 6-8 months on our project timeline.

Now the reconstruction phase is getting underway!

Tomorrow, Tuesday, August 26 at 11:00 a.m., the Central Dallas Community Development Corporation and Central Dallas Ministries will host a "Media Advisory" that will include Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert, City Council Member Angela Hunt, our partners in the project and potential residents of the building once it is completed.

It will be a celebration for sure.

The location? At the building--511 N. Akard!

Read more here.

Join us if you can.

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"Snooty" is never pretty

Here's one for the books.

If you live in the Stonebriar subdivision in Frisco, Texas, pay careful attention to the make and model when you buy a pickup.

Jim Greenwood is learning his lesson the hard way.

You see, Jim bought himself a brand new Ford F-150 pickup, brought it home to Stonebriar and parked it in front of his house. I bet he was proud of that new truck. I sure would be. You know, new car proud, the emotion that makes your eager to show your neighbors?

Bad mistake.

Jim started receiving notices from the Stonebriar Home Owners Association (HOA) notifying him that he was in violation of the rules of the community that prohibit parking pickup trucks in driveways out front of homes.

As it turns out, that's not quite true.

The HOA does allow residents to park "luxury" trucks on driveways, including the Cadillac Escalade, the Chevrolet Avalanche, the Lincoln Mark LT and a few others, like Chevy Suburbans and Hummers. . .just not the standard Ford F-150.

Bill Osborn, a member of the HOA board, explained, "The high-end vehicles that are allowed are plush with amenities and covers on the back. It doesn't look like a pickup. It's fancier."

When Greenwood appealed, noting that his truck is not a lot different from the Lincoln, the HOA responded, "It's our belief that Lincoln markets to a different class of people."

Can't believe they said that!

Snooty just isn't pretty, is it? Class is a bigger issue in this nation than we'd like to admit, but then, this is not a new development.

Tomorrow I'll post a note about an interesting development that is starting to play out in the nation's cities. It seems that wealthy folks are actually moving back to the central cities of America, while the poor are moving to the suburbs.

Watch out, Stonebriar! The pickups are headed your way.

[This post was inspired by reading Steve Stoler's report, "HOA: Pickup not in right class," in The Dallas Morning News, Sunday, August 17, 2008, 2B]

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511 N. Akard

These shots of our citywalk @akard building were taken recently by friends from the Corporation for Supportive Housing.

We are about 1/3 complete on the asbestos removal and the demolition. By early 2009, 200 units of affordable housing will be open to the public for lease. Fifty of these will be set aside for the homeless.

A friend is pictured below selling copies of Streetzine, a publication designed and marketed by the homeless.

I hope this gentleman finds a place of his own in our building.

"Housing First" Works!

Newsflash: homeless people are not criminals, nor are they deserving of the treatment they usually receive. What people who lack homes need is decent, permanent housing.

As I've related here before, lots of national research and numerous case studies document the fact that once given a place to call home, an overwhelming majority of formerly homeless persons manage their lives very well without much additional intervention (87%, to reference one major study).

Well, we now have our own experience to report in validation of the reports from other cities.

Thanks to a grant from the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Central Dallas Ministries is placing homeless persons in permanent housing in two undisclosed Dallas locations.

We have funding for 50 apartments. We have secured these housing units through an agreement with one property owner. We control 25 one-bedroom apartment units in each of two different locations. In each location our living units are part of a much larger, multi-family development.

So far we have placed 18 homeless men in permanent housing. These guys now have a key to the place they call home. Thanks to a couple of area churches, they also have what they need to set up housekeeping.

We've been at this for several weeks now. Before too much longer we will have filled all 50 of our apartments.

Guess what?

No problems whatsoever from our tenants. They are so grateful for the housing and for the freedom, you should hear them talk. Without a doubt, these gentlemen will become some of these developments' best residents.

Their stories are all a bit different.

All are dealing with various disabilities.

All are capable of life on their own. They proved that surviving on our mean streets, some of them for several years.

What they share in common is an extremely positive, appreciative response to having a home of their own.

Here's the chief solution for our Downtown "problems with the homeless." Develop the housing. Provide the support to move folks from the street to a quality, decent home. The problem can be solved. We are kidding ourselves if we say otherwise.

If I was a Downtown, upscale developer, I'd call CDM and ask how to make an investment in our future development plans.*

I'm just wondering if we have the will, the smarts and the vision as a community to simply practice the Golden Rule? If we do, the outcome will be wonderful for everyone.

(*By the way, my phone number is 214.823.8710 ext 116!)


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