HOUSING RESILIENCE

CHALLENGES AND BEST PRACTICES

As the first solar-powered community in the United States, Babcock Ranch uses more than 650,000 solar panels to power homes through underground power lines that are not susceptible to windstorm damage.

On-site water and wastewater utility facilities are elevated above the 100-year flood plain and underground fiber optic lines provide data connectivity during extreme weather events.

Heather McGowan, manager of Association Archives for the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), wrote about Babcock’s nature-based resilience in the report “A Case Study on Building Communities with Sustainability and Resiliency at the Forefront.”

Babcock Ranch was successful because it was designed and developed to work with the environment.

“Babcock Ranch was successful because they designed and developed to work with the environment.

They worked with canals, lakes and marshlands to absorb water when it could flood,” she said.

“It’s cool that they never brought in artificial fill.

That was environmentally sensitive and sustainable.”

HOUSING RESILIENCE

CHALLENGES AND BEST PRACTICES

“We carefully selected a team of homebuilders with a shared commitment to creating an innovative, responsibly developed hometown that exists in harmony with the environment," said Syd Kitson, former NFL player and leader of Florida real estate development firm Kitson & Partners.

Focusing on both resilience and sustainability, all homes in Babcock Ranch are built to minimum of Bronze level Certification by the Florida Green Building Coalition’s Green Home standards, meaning homes are not only more energy efficient, they are also designed to withstand 160-mph wind loads,” said Kitson.

Many things contributed to Babcock Ranch’s resilience. 

When Kitson negotiated for the massive site, it planned to sell 74,000 of its 91,000 acres to the state of Florida.

The sale created the largest conservation buy in state history. 

Stone quarries were tailored to blend with natural water features to create extensive water retaining ponds to handle storm surge.

It is located 30 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico and natural fill built it up to 30 feet above sea level to reduce the risk of flooding.

HOUSING RESILIENCE

CHALLENGES AND BEST PRACTICES

Florida’s Gulf Coast has been battered by multiple hurricanes. Babcock Ranch, in Charlotte and Lee Counties near Fort Myers, was designed to be a sustainable, environmentally friendly planned community hardened against crushing windstorms and floods.

Hurricane Ian, a Category 4 storm with wind gusts up to 150 mph, made a direct hit on Babcock’s 5,000 residents in September 2022.

It was the supreme test of a 27-square-mile community with a huge nature preserve, nature-based stormwater controls, buried electrical lines and solar electricity.

By the time Ian left Southwest Florida, 149 lives were lost and $112 billion in property damage was done.

Babcock Ranch, surrounded by disaster, was virtually unscathed.

HOUSING RESILIENCE

CHALLENGES AND BEST PRACTICES

An Urban Land Institute report notes that the single-family rental and build-to-rent sectors are among the fastest growing segments of residential real estate.

They accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic and show continuing signs of growth and demand.

Resilient buildings are more valuable buildings.

“This will be a big driver of real estate. Resilient buildings are more valuable buildings,” Augie Williams-Eynon, a manager with Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) Randall Lewis Center for Sustainability in Real Estate, said.

“Resilient homes make securing financing easier; they attract a high-quality tenant and when a disaster strikes, they reduce losses.”

HOUSING RESILIENCE

CHALLENGES AND BEST PRACTICES

Augie Williams-Eynon, a manager with Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) Randall Lewis Center for Sustainability in Real Estate, hopes the lessons learned by large investors in single-family rentals can be passed on to individual homeowners — though individuals cannot match the economy of scale of building hundreds to thousands of units in the same phase.

“They are building a structure that’s well connected and fastened from room to floors to foundation.

They are designing roof and exterior walls to survive impact and not be ripped off in high winds,” he said.

They are building for floodproofing with elevated mechanicals. Single-family, build-to-rent developments have underground utility lines, which keep a property up and running after a severe storm.

HOUSING RESILIENCE

CHALLENGES AND BEST PRACTICES

Augie Williams-Eynon, a manager with Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) Randall Lewis Center for Sustainability in Real Estate, was the lead author of ULI’s “Sustainability in Single-Family Rental and Build-to-Rent” study.

“The challenge for large portfolio owners — acquiring or building then managing tens of thousands of homes — is that each house faces a different risk profile.

They are not just looking at operating efficiencies through low-energy appliances, LED lights and better windows/insulation (for lower heating/cooling costs) — they are making sure these homes are built and [located] in places with reduction of risk to disaster,” Williams-Eynon said.

PROUD TO HAVE PLAYED A ROLE IN MAKING

LITTLE HAVANA’S CALLE OCHO

THE CROWN JEWEL OF AUTHENTIC MIAMI

It was an honor to work as the senior urban policy advisor for Miami District 3 City Commissioner Joe Sanchez.

Two decades ago, Calle Ocho was sleepy.

We worked to strengthen arts and culture.

Now millions visit annually.

Good Morning America broadcast from the Ball & Chain World Famous Bar and Lounge on Calle Ocho in the heart of Miami's Little Havana this week.

I was there to meet GMA Weather Anchor Sam Champion and to see the success story that has made the Ball & Chain Miami’s best location for live music, crafted drinks and elevated bar food.

https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/video/124408344