REVITALIZING, REBUILDING & REPURPOSING

THE BENEFITS AND TECHNIQUES TO MAKE IT HAPPEN

Tracy Hadden Loh is a Fellow at The Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program-Bass Center for Transformative Placemaking. 

She co-authored an inclusive neighborhood revitalization report proposing that the federal government partner with state and local governments to facilitate the local ownership of real estate in disinvested urban and rural commercial corridors.

The report looks at more than $100 billion spent by Community Development Block Grant, empowerment zone and opportunity zone programs, plus a host of other federal spending programs and their relative failure at uplifting poor, marginalized communities. 

Many of the failures are because the programs are directed at outside capital, which doesn’t deliver cash to local entrepreneurs that can build wealth in a poor community and who understand the unique needs of the community. 

Funding zones also often are too geographically broad, so money is not invested in the areas that need targeting the most.

REVITALIZING, REBUILDING & REPURPOSING

THE BENEFITS AND TECHNIQUES TO MAKE IT HAPPEN

Stephen L. Atkins, principal & managing director of SouthEast Development Group, said the pro forma calculated $1.75 per square foot to make the deal work and new leases are going at $3 per square foot — an endorsement for urban living in Jacksonville. Twenty percent of the Residences at Barnett rent as workforce housing.

“We didn’t receive any incentives, other than financing. We financed under the new market tax credit structure. 

Also, my company has a subsidiary certified to do tax credits, so we used federal historic tax credits.”

He noted that occupying the Barnett building helped spur his more than $70 million mixed-use project across the street, featuring an Autograph Collection hotel, 170 multifamily units and commercial developed out of a trio of historic buildings plus an infill new build.

“Jacksonville, like a lot of cities, was not the greatest steward of the golden age of buildings,” Atkins said.

“A lot of great buildings were torn down and replaced with postmodern stuff. The thing about adaptive reuse is if you don’t make it work and support it, once the great buildings are gone, they’re gone. 

No amount of subsidy can take you back in time to preserve a razed building. 

People want to be in a vibrant downtown environment and converting old office buildings to residential creates that.”

REVITALIZING, REBUILDING & REPURPOSING

THE BENEFITS AND TECHNIQUES TO MAKE IT HAPPEN

Stephen L. Atkins, principal & managing director of SouthEast Development Group in Jacksonville, Fla., helped preserve that city’s most-treasured landmark after several attempts failed. 

Barnett National Bank once was Florida’s largest commercial bank, and its 1926-vintage, 18-story Renaissance Revival-style headquarters would be at home among the best of New York or Chicago skyscrapers.

The redeveloped building features 107 residential units on the top 13 floors, offices below that and a bank branch on the ground floor. 

A change in office tenants may allow for another 45 apartments in the building.

The Barnett National Bank building in Jacksonville, Fla., was repurposed into a mixed-use development.

“We delivered the project right in the middle of COVID, but it had 100-percent occupancy in a few months, and we have a waiting list of 40 or more,” Atkins said.

“The smallest studio is about 540 square feet and the biggest two bedroom is more than 1,000. It’s mostly young professionals, but we have a mix of business executives, empty nesters, the arts community.”

REVITALIZING, REBUILDING & REPURPOSING

THE BENEFITS AND TECHNIQUES TO MAKE IT HAPPEN

The historic Luna Lodge on Route 66 in Albuquerque, N.M., was converted into affordable housing

Ultimately, the historic features were preserved, and 28 units of affordable housing were created, earning an award from the Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition. 

The NAR report notes the heavy subsidies the project required, including: $3.3 million from out-of-state buyers of tax credits, $1.24 million from a City of Albuquerque Workforce Housing Construction Loan Grant, $344,120 in historic tax credit equity, $210,000 from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas Affordable Housing Program and $100,000 from the Environmental Protection Agency/New Mexico Environment Department.

PROUD TO BE QUOTED AS A UNIVERSAL DESIGN EXPERT & INCLUSIVE PUBLIC SPACE ADVOCATE

IN PRESTIGIOUS "WHAT MAKES A GREAT PLACE?” SERIES PUBLISHED BY PROJECT FOR PUBLIC SPACES

I am available as a keynote speaker & workshop leader on making your place more inclusive.

Here’s my part of the story:

For example, in the words of Steve Wright, an inclusive public space advocate who works in development and universal design, our streets and shared spaces often “give this image that if you use any kind of assisted mobility device, you are a second- or third-class citizen.”

And though physical mobility is by no means the only aspect of accessibility, its barriers are some of the easiest to spot: out-of-the-way ramps, sidewalks blocked with electric scooters or scaffolding, or non-functioning wheelchair lifts.

Not only does this cut people off from what a place has to offer, but it also hinders their ability to tap into a sense of belonging and social access.

https://www.pps.org/article/comfort-and-image-how-to-create-a-welcoming-place

REVITALIZING, REBUILDING & REPURPOSING

THE BENEFITS AND TECHNIQUES TO MAKE IT HAPPEN

A case study compiled by an NAR colleague of Snowden cited the Luna Lodge redevelopment as a prime example of overcoming hurdles.

The Pueblo Revival-style 1940s vintage Route 66 motel in Albuquerque, N.M., was on the National Register of Historic Places, but was declared unsafe to occupy and substandard when a city inspection discovered a litany of issues including raw sewage on the site.

The city approved rezoning to allow conversion to affordable units, but a neighbor litigated the zoning and the project endured 16 months of delay while the case went to the New Mexico Court of Appeals.

REVITALIZING, REBUILDING & REPURPOSING

THE BENEFITS AND TECHNIQUES TO MAKE IT HAPPEN

Brandi Snowden, NAR’s director of Member and Consumer Survey Research, said surveys done before and during the pandemic showed that zoning was often the biggest hurdle for adaptive reuse. 

When hotels experienced extreme vacancy rates during COVID, a lot of people looked at alternate uses. 

But even though hotels already had multiple units and fairly high density, many cities made it difficult to convert hotel rooms to small workforce or senior housing units.