Speculative Subdivision

For the last blog of the semester I took pictures of a partially finished subdivision across the street from my house. I've been hoping to do a blog on this site all semester so I decided to write it up for my last post. Basically this land used to be wooded with some nice walking/riding trails. Also, a farm was located behind the woods and you could go visit the cows in the pasture. My wife and I would take our dogs for a walk in the woods and she would ride her horses on the trails. About 2 years ago (maybe a little longer) they cleared the land and started to build a subdivision. Unfortunately for them the housing market crashed and the pictures you will see illustrate what a partially completed subdivision looks like after 2 years of development. The good news is that we still walk our dogs over there since it is mainly vacant land and my wife still rides her horses over there as well.

First of all the name is very interesting considering that to my knowledge a lake doesn't exist on the land. There is a small lake adjacent to the subdivision, but that is owned by a private residence.

Looks like a guard shack all ready to go. I don't think anybody has been required to man the booth. You can also see in the background the long main entrance with the lack of houses.





This was a clubhouse they started to built quite some time ago.





Here is a retention pond. Maybe this is supposed to be their lake. Our dog Little Bit sneaked into the picture on the left hand side.



This is our dog Ranger sitting in front of trash that consistently gets dumped onto the site. Fortunately there has been a major effort to clean up that trash and what you see represents a minuscule amount of what was there a few months ago. Still, we have to yell at Ranger every walk to stay away from the trash.




Wide open spaces. At least the sewer and manholes have been installed.




I like this picture where they decided to end the first phase of their development. The picture reminds me of the book of poems we all read as kids by Shel Silverstein titled "Where the Sidewalk Ends".

This last picture depicts the heavily developed portion of the subdivision. The houses are actually pretty nice.

About one month ago our house and land was bought by the Gwinnett County School Board and they plan to build a high school on it. Rumor has it that the open land not developed across the street and pictured here will also be bought by the school board and they will build a middle school on it to coincide with the high school. To no surprise we heard the development was very interested in selling off their undeveloped land for the school to be built.

Manget-Marietta Part II

Here are the pictures as promised. I don't know why it wouldn't let me post them earlier...

Sera at Lindbergh

http://www.scenesofsera.com/

So I didn't realize Sera was just under construction when I decided to visit but anyway. As you can see in the photo Sera is under construction so much of the effect of the developer's dream is yet to be realized. Sera is a product of the Lane Corporation and the Dawson Company. According to the Dawson Company website they are focused on sustainable development. Their design for Sera is the "old world neighborhood". As a whole it seems that Sera won't fulfill all of the New Urbanism criteria. To start with, the residences are are starting around $300,000, so many working class people won't be living here. As far as proximity to transportation and businesses go, there will be a significant amount of stores in easy walking distance not to mention the short walk to the Lindbergh Marta Station. They offer outdoor parking and garages with their residences and sidewalks, which supports their "pedestrian friendly" claim.

The website is designed in a very peculiar way. The theme used to present the Sera development is like a movie production. Each little informational page has some kind of scene about how nice it is to live in Sera but there seems to be a very regular connection intended concerning finding someone special or being with a significant other. It reminds me in a way of the classic 50's scences of the traditional suburban family with children playing, dad mowing the lawn, and mom tending the flowerbed. According to the drawings, at Sera there will be couples walking the dog in the park or riding bikes, but there are no sketches of the residence. NO CHILDREN TO BE SEEN in any of the sketches. They certainly go into detail about the local places for shopping and eating but when they list education things start getting vague. Obviously they are focused on selling the location, not the residence.

The market they appear to be going after is young professionals. On each of the floorplans, they list granite countertops, European-style cabinets, and stainless steel appliances for their kitchens. For the bathrooms they list a "large soaking tub". I'm quite certain this is yet another sign that Sera is intended for those without children, since those without children are the ones who would have time to enjoy a large soaking tub.

http://www.scenesofsera.com/pdf/Siteplan.pdf -Site plan of Sera

Centennial Place

Centennial Place as a representation of New Urbanism or Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND) doesn’t immediately compute with me. There are houses available to a mixture of incomes, schools and offices close by, and shopping/entertaining arguably within walking distance. But those distinct elements—coined “live, work, play” by marketers— formed more organically than what stands out in my mind as the showcase of New Urbanism or Smart Growth projects in Atlanta like Atlantic Station or Edgewood. In his article “Social Capital and New Urbanism: Leading a Civic Horse to Water?,” Thomas H. Sander qualifies the “urbanism” in the movement as meaning a community that is diverse with mixed land uses and demographics; walkable, which entails being within a five minute walk from your front door to the store via a pedestrian pathway; automobiles are not given favor over pedestrian traffic in the design; the community is open, not gated and marked by a clear center and edges. Proximity to what is traditionally considered an urban area may or may not factor into the recognition of a community as New Urbanism.

For the most part, Centennial Place fits the criteria of New Urbanism as defined by Sander. Moreover, Centennial Place won three distinctions for its developer, the Integral Group including the 2000 Smart Growth Award from the Urban Land Institute. My question is what is the difference between a housing development that is purposefully built convenient to life’s activities and a community designed with the principles of New Urbanism in mind? If the rules governing what defines these types of projects are interpreted loosely, every new single or multi family dwelling built in close proximity to a shop or office might be understood as being part of the movement. At least this would explain the diverse and unapparent projects that are put forth to represent this sort of community planning. However, undeserved praise and critique of these theories and their manifestations might result in future interpretation of New Urbanism’s impact on the residents and the larger community that experience them.

Manget-Marietta

Manget's Phase I in Marietta was recently completed off of Manget St. in Marietta. It's near Fairground St. off of the South 12o Loop near the Marietta square. The community is planned by the award-winning Hedgewood homes, and will eventually be four phases. The units range from the $300s-$700s and are a combination of single-family homes, townhomes and stacked flats. The website boasts that "timeless architecture blends seamlessly with the existing small town charm and tree-lined streets of Marietta."This isn't quite true if you are familiar with the area at all. In fact, I would argue that this community actually stands out like a sore thumb compared to the surrounding older (and much smaller and less expensive) houses. The develepors did a good job though with the landscaping in keeping older trees and adding natural looking plants to at least attempt to blend the development into the surrounding environment. It looks like, from the site plans on the website, that the other three phases are actually going to take over these existing houses. I'm not sure if they are planning on buying these people out, or if I just read the plans wrong. The lots are very small, but there is a garden and will be eventual walking trails and a pool with a cabana. What I thought was really funny about the website was that it advertises that Manget is in walking distance to downtown Marietta. Well, as of right now, distance wise yeah it's not that far, but there are no easy access trails or pathways to get there. Maybe there will be once the other phases are built. But, as of right now, you wouldn't want to walk to the square through that area. The houses are very pretty and different from each other, and the landscaping is very picturesque and looks natural. Even though they did attempt to blend the development into the surrounding areas, it still sticks out to me.
This is a project of the Marietta Redevelopment Corporation who's mission is "to strengthen the economic and residential base of the City by revitalizing neighborhoods, commercial areas and other distressed properties. The role of the MRC is to make strategic real estate investments in blighted areas, assemble properties for redevelopment where needed, and partner with the private sector to invest in our community." If they continue to do projects like these, they might succeed at this mission. You can see different new communities popping up in bad or "blighted" areas around town-so they are working hard to accomplish this. Whether they will succeed is yet to be seen.
The blogger isn't letting me post pictures for some reason right now, so I'll try to post them later.

New Urbanism in Dunwoody- Perimeter Place

According to Robert Steutville, author for New Urban News (http://www.newurbannews.com/AboutNewUrbanism.html), the concept of New Urbanism can be defined as, “A growing movement of architects, planners, and developers, for whom New Urbanism is based on principles of planning and architecture that work together to create human-scale, walk able communities.” New Urbanism, in Steutville’s mind, originated as a reaction to city sprawl and the isolation of most suburbanites who have become automobile dependent for everyday activities.

Perimeter Place, located in the Dunwoody area of metropolitan Atlanta, was created to form a community based on New Urbanism ideals. Perimeter Place hosts a plethora of businesses. Super Target, Lazy Boy Furniture, Ross Dress For Less, Loehmann's, Office Max, Destination Home, Drexel Furniture, etc. Restaurants include Cheeseburgers in Paradise, Taco Mac, Mimi's Cafe, Boneheads, Doc Green's, Tin Drum, Fleming's, Chipotle, Mama Fu's, Caribou Coffee House, Outback Steakhouse, Coldstone’s Creamery, Applebee's, Panera Bread and several others. It is interesting to note that every store is a chain. I wonder if the sole use of chain stores was the planner’s attempt to guarantee the attraction and success of the Perimeter Place package.At Perimeter Place you can shop, bank, get your hair and nails done, drop off your dry cleaning, go to the spa or doctor as well as partake in other services. Public parking available at Perimeter Place, but navigating the parking lot can cause heart palpitations. I wasn’t sure what to do at any intersection and I almost caused two accidents. The residents of Perimeter Place have their own parking garages. I could easily detect the difference in driving patterns between residents and visitors. Residents go much faster and have little patience for those who are out of their element. Beware of the “4-way” stops!

The residential areas of Perimeter Place include apartments and condos. AMLI’s apartment development sits in the middle of Perimeter Place and stretches east towards Super Target. Apartments range from studios to large two-bedroom suites. The AMLI residences boast trendy, gourmet kitchens, washers and dryers, lavish garden tubs, hardwoods floors, and private balconies. The building also provides access to a swimming pool, fitness club, and roof-top tennis courts and lighted grill and eating areas.

The Manhattan (http://www.themanhattancondos.com/about.html) is the first condo high rise in the Perimeter area. It is twenty-seven stories with lavish floor plans and amenities. Condos are now selling from 200,000 to 600,000 and penthouses can cost up to 1.6 million dollars. All of Manhattan’s two-bedroom condos and more than half of the one-bedroom condos are sold out. The Manhattan was named winner of the Obie Award for Best Community of the Year 2007, Best Planning, Best Amenity Package, & Best Marketing from the Homebuilders Association.

The reaction to Perimeter Place has been mixed. On a local blog (http://www.yelp.com/biz/perimeter-place-dunwoody), two Atlanta residents shared these thoughts:

“Perimeter Place (if you live there), is probably a great place to be in, since you can do all your shopping needs without going too far. I thought about moving to one of the apartments in there in fact - I decided, since it is a tad bit too far from my job. As a concept, though, I heartily endorsed it.”

“TARGET LAND!This is it folks...the end of traditional funwoody. If you thought the end came when they opened the Walmart, but weren't sure, it has for sure ended with the Target. High rise condos, a surplus of chain restaurants, wide parking lots and tree lined sidewalks. You have ran into a typical American new age suburb that has now lost any character that it once had.”

Beall's Hill - Macon

The Beall’s Hill Neighborhood in Macon, Georgia went though a charrette and design process for six days in the Fall of 2001 which was lead by the Knight Fellows from Miami University with local support and direction from the City of Macon, Macon-Bibb County Planning Commission, Mercer University and citizen stakeholder groups.
The strategic goals of the program were to revive the existing HOPE IV community through a revitalization grant, create a more viable market based housing component and bring commercial and retail back to the neighborhood. Unlike many of the “new urbanist/mixed-used” neighborhood developments in Atlanta, this particular neighborhood plan paid close attention to attracting and maintaining a population with diversity of income, ethnicity and age. The charette members paid particularly close attention to environmental justice issues in infrastructure development (including roads and detention) as well as affordable and safe transportation options.


Good quality existing 19th and 20th century buildings with traditional building materials, the grid pattern development (little to no cul-de-sacs) and the topography rolling slopes provided an aesthetically interesting framework with which to being the revitalization process. Charette participants were conscious of the existing low-income and aging status of the residents in the neighborhood and the resultant plan paid close attention to infill development and pedestrian scaping that catered to the needs of the community. Some proposed developments for the neighborhoods included a cohousing program, a senior community and/or deeper lots with secondary dwellings for aging family members.

Atlantic Station

"Life Happens Here" is Atlantic Station's motto. And everything about it, at least the way it's marketed, exemplifies the model of the new urbanism in which all elements of life, if you don't include church or school, are included. (In fact, the website claims [citing the Atlanta Business Chronicle] that Atlantic Station is "the" model for live-work-play communities nationwide.) Its primary pitch seems to tap into a problem that Atlantans seem to feel is unique to them (at least the degree of it anyway): long commutes. And in response, Atlantic Station promises not just the end of headaches people get from sitting in traffic for hours each day, but, by combining living with working and shopping, a better life as well. "What could you do with an extra hour a day?...an extra day a month?...an extra week a year?...Anything you want. The average Atlantan spends more time commuting to work than most anywhere in the world. Wouldn't you rather work two blocks from home and shop around the corner? In Atlantic Station you will. Atlantic Station is the national model for smart growth and sustainable development. Picture a community with unsurpassed architectural quality, a fusion of functionality and finesse that combines an attractive mix of affordable, middle-income, and up-scale housing with world-class restaurants, theaters, and retailers. Providing homes for 10,000 people, employment opportunities for 30,000, with shopping and entertainment for millions more, this 24-hour community will buzz with pedestrian traffic on its wide boulevards and the crowd of people in the sidewalk cafes and expansive parks. The result? A quality of life unmatched in the Southeast."

Smyrna Market VIllage

As I mentioned last week in my presentation on New Urbanism, I believe that the strict New Urbanist concept may ultimately fall by the wayside as developers will tend to pick and choose from New Urbanist principles that best fit their goals (and budgets). However, I think that the movement has, and will continue, to shift the market in a significant way, especially in terms of popularizing the mixed use development. An example of one such development that I am quite familiar with is the Smyrna Market Village. While it was not built with the aim of creating a true New Urbanist development, it has succeeded in introducing diverse and walkable commercial uses into an existing neighborhood.


The entrance to the village faces Atlanta road and features welcoming storefronts, eatery patios and nice landscaping.
The central roadway is divided down the center with large park-like medians.
Several civic buildings have been incorporated into the village including city hall, a recreational center, and the public library. These buildings serve as focal points as they are located at the axises of the development.

Residential units were included in the village. There are large condominiums over the retail stores and patio homes adjacent to city hall immediately behind the village.

Inman Park Village: Places that are comfortable, people that are relaxed

Inman Park Village is a new mixed-use development in the historic neighborhood of Inman Park. On the website (www.inmanvillage.com), the developers claim to have tried to achieve the "balance" originally sought by Joel Hurt when he created Atlanta's first suburb. Inman Village is clearly no longer suburban--one lamp-post sign boasts that it is "A city within the city." 

The development features detached single-family homes, townhomes, a variety of lofts and luxury apartments, as well as restaurants, a business center, cosmetic dentist, cleaners, and office facility. At one end of the area, a landscaped park with benches and walking paths surrounds a pond. This park seems to act as a buffer between the new development and the older part of the neighborhood. 

The website emphasizes convenience--to both retail/restaurant options and outdoor/recreational activities. Multiple parks with walking and biking paths are nearby, as are shops and restaurants in the immediate neighborhood and a slight distance away in Little 5 Points. Though the marketing highlights the diversity and funkiness of the area, these residences are clearly not intended for lower income brackets. The townhomes "start in the high 500s." The 16 detached homes, called "the Bungalows," range from 3000-3800 square feet with garages and fenced backyards. The website touts both the historic design of the bungalows as well as the inclusion of Viking appliances and other high-end features.

Inman Park Village is obviously intended to be the best of all worlds.