development - Yule Heibel on Diigo

01 Mar 08

City, developer race to approve Portrait Gallery project

This is an example of what should have happened in Victoria in regard to the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria's plans to move into a purpose-built gallery (designed by James Cheng), which would have been part of a single-tower residential redevelopment called Crystal Court, planned by Westbank Corp. The project was supposed to get built on Belleville Street in the heart of the Tourist District, in downtown Victoria. But it was essentially nixed from the start by the James Bay Neighbourhood Association (JBNA), which claims that block as part of its precinct. Consequently, city planners declined to support the developer's application for rezoning, and the project was still-born.

In Ottawa, meanwhile, forward-thinking city politicians are supporting a two 26-story residential tower development that will include a free-standing 2-story national portrait gallery.

Too bad the Federal government can't put any pressure to bear on the JBNA -- their idea to auction off the national portrait gallery certainly put the fires under Ottawa's seats, but hey-ho, here in Victoria we can resist all change. Boy oh boy, the city of Victoria really dropped the ball on the Crystal Court Development.

www.canada.com/...story.html - Preview

art_museum arts_funding development ottawa portrait_gallery

Claridge Homes has filed an application with the city for two 26-storey residential towers and a gallery designed by a leading architect to be built in a current parking lot between Lisgar, Nepean and Metcalfe streets in the heart of the downtown core.
The application and rezoning process usually take up to a year, but with the federal government's April 16 deadline for bids to host the gallery looming, the process is being crunched into to a matter of weeks.
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- "We have to be ready by that deadline, so things are moving quickly," said Somerset Councillor Diane Holmes, whose ward the project is in. "I think it's a great location for the portrait gallery, and it would be in its own building, not in the bottom floors of some office building or something like that.
  "I think the towers are a little tall, but I think it's a good plan for the gallery, and it would be a great asset for that area and the city."
  - That's the key: it's in its own building (stand-alone, not attached). The height is slightly more than was proposed for Crystal Court (which came in at 19 or 20), but it's interesting that the comparison holds with already existing neighbouring buildings: in Ottawa the 27-story Pace Bell Canada, and in Victoria the 20-story buildings just a block away on Humboldt. - on 2008-03-01
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- Neil Malhotra, of Claridge, said company officials are excited about the opportunity to host the gallery and contribute to the city and country.
  He said when the government announced a competition between private developers in nine cities to bid for the right to host the gallery, company officials realized they had an opportunity to do something of importance to the city and its citizens.
  "We realized having the gallery in Ottawa is something people in this community care about, that it should happen, and that we had a piece of land that is in a perfect location for it," he said. "It's a rare opportunity to do something like this, and I think we will have a very good chance of winning the competition if we can get everything done on time."
- Council committed to give developers bidding on the gallery a $431,000 break on development charges, have the city help to prepare the bids, lobby for the bids, and look at helping with advertising and drumming up public support.
  - - even the DCCs were waived...! - on 2008-03-01
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- The gallery was originally supposed to go into the former United States embassy building on Wellington Street across from the hill, but the Harper government cancelled that project last year, citing escalating costs, then announced the competition.
  Ottawa is competing with Vancouver, Halifax, Quebec City, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Calgary for the right to have the gallery, which is part of Library and Archives Canada.
  The move to have a bidding war amongst cities and developers to host the gallery sparked outrage from people who feel it should be in Ottawa along with the rest of the Canada's national institutions. Others feel having a national collection housed in a privately owned building is distasteful and makes the country look bad on the international scene.

14 Feb 08

Genuflecting to the high rises by David Brewster (Crosscut - Seattle)

Crosscut's publisher, David Brewster, calls out the Seattle P-I and the Seattle Times for their gushing endorsements of two major downtown Seattle development proposals (Fifth Ave. twin condo towers by Ishmael Leyva Architects and, also on Fifth Ave., the United Methodist Church block by Zimmer Gunsul Frasca). Brewster points to the curious alliance btw developers and eco-density champions, which is wearing a bit thin in Vancouver, acc. to an article by Frances Bula, which Brewster references (see http://tinyurl.com/333ehj ). In Vancouver, there's talk of putting density & height in formerly sacrosanct areas, like Gastown & Chinatown, too. Some interesting comments showing up in the comments board, too.

www.crosscut.com/...Genuflecting+to+the+high+rises - Preview

architecture crosscut development downtown eco_density seattle urban_design

We get a shower of superlatives: $900 million, according to the New York financiers, 550 feet tall, 200 hotel rooms, and 400-500 condos.
But not to worry: These massive buildings will be "designed for neighborhood," meaning shops along the streetfront. The developers, with the engaging name of Hummingbird Advisors, are going to take a pretty dead block and "make it into a vital, vibrant pedestrian area." Of course, much of the lower level will be a blank wall concealing hotel ballrooms, but that's OK because the Monorail already blocks those views. (The architects' drawing artfully turns the Monorail into gossamer.)
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- The developer deserves credit for coming up with a scheme to save the old sanctuary (no uses have yet been found), but one wonders at the tradeoffs. A few years hence, if not already, we are going to wonder why downtown Seattle has become such a lightless, windswept, glassy canyonlands. But more vibrant? The office tower will be mighty quiet evenings and weekends. And the amenities of the new condo-hotel towers (open-air arboretum, lots of recreation space) may turn these abodes of "urban aspirationals" into self-contained zones.
  - I think Brewster is on to something in asking after the amenities. They have to be first-class and work well, especially if these aren't residential towers (and therefore dead after hours, as he points out). - on 2008-02-14
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- The reason for all this genuflecting is the alliance of environmentalists, enchanted by the density created; developers eager to cash in on Seattle's "underpriced" real estate market; low-income housing advocates, who get millions in mitigation payments from these luxury towers; and City Hall, salivating over the tax receipts.
  - ...interesting... - on 2008-02-14
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- But now there is some sign that the ecodensity coalition is beginning to feel some internal splits. A good illustration is Vancouver, B.C., where residents are grumbling that the amenities supposed to make all this density tolerable (libraries, transit, affordable apartments) are just not showing up.
- We're tired of our city being raped, razed and regurgitated as just one more homogenized, condo-canyoned McCity stripped of our unique character, style and gritty working class charm.
  - Oh brother... this sounds familiar. Define "charm," please... - on 2008-02-14
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21 Jan 08

How to make housing affordable (The Toronto Star)

"By relying on donations from suppliers, a Brampton developer has managed to build high-quality abodes for low-income families.
(...)
When the 16-storey "Chapelview" project, on John St. in downtown Brampton, is finished next year, it will provide 200 apartments for seniors and low-income singles as well as people with disabilities, and if all goes according to plan, it will earn LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification.

If he's successful, D'Angelo believes the Chapelview project, which includes a six-storey garage for municipal and tenant parking, will be the first high-rise social-housing project in North America to receive the LEED platinum rating, the highest benchmark for green building and design."

And then you wonder why this can't be done in more cities across Canada...?

www.thestar.com/...295631 - Preview

affordability canada cities development socialjustice toronto

When the 16-storey "Chapelview" project, on John St. in downtown Brampton, is finished next year, it will provide 200 apartments for seniors and low-income singles as well as people with disabilities, and if all goes according to plan, it will earn LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification.
If he's successful, D'Angelo believes the Chapelview project, which includes a six-storey garage for municipal and tenant parking, will be the first high-rise social-housing project in North America to receive the LEED platinum rating, the highest benchmark for green building and design.
"He's really shooting for the moon here," says Stephen Kemp of Enermodal Engineering, a sustainable-building consulting firm. "For affordable housing, it's amazing."
Just as he has done on previous housing projects, Woodbridge resident D'Angelo, 53, will ensure the cupboards are stocked with donated food when the tenants move in, and each will be given a quart of paint and a brush for future touch-ups.
D'Angelo's overall mission is to create non-profit housing of quality and comfort, with better-than-basic finishings and appliances. To achieve that end, he persuades corporate sponsors and construction trades to donate upgrades or cash. So far D'Angelo's been promised $800,000 in upgrades and donations for Chapelview and is shooting for his goal of $3.2 million.
- - amazing! Simple, but brilliant and amazing. - on 2008-01-21
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Future tenants will also have better air quality, since each apartment will be fitted with its own ventilation system, and doorways will be weatherstripped so smoke and other odours don't penetrate the hallways. Carpeting and wood flooring that out-gas minimally will be used throughout, and the appliances will be energy-efficient, as will the plumbing.
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- Meanwhile, the building's design and materials were chosen with sustainability in mind. The steel used in construction is recycled, and the concrete and drywall have recycled content. The accessible green roof and landscaping will be drought resistant, says Kemp, so they won't need to be fertilized and irrigated.
  D'Angelo is also aiming for universal accessibility in the design, which will allow people with disabilities to live in any apartment.
- Chapelview is expected to cost about $37 million, with $11 million from the feds and the province, $8.5 from the city of Brampton and about $18 million from Peel Region.
  - - interesting -- how does one leverage that kind of funding ...here, in CANADA, land of perpetual senior-level-of-government meanness? - on 2008-01-21
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- Peel Living, the region's non-profit housing company, estimates total building costs will be $2 million less than expected market costs for a comparable structure – because of D'Angelo's fundraising efforts and the efficiencies that come from his past experience.
  This isn't the first time that D'Angelo, a partner in Martinway Contracting Ltd., has broken new ground in affordable housing. He won an award from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. in 2004 for Millbrook Place, a 163-unit building in Mississauga that houses seniors in one- and two-bedroom apartments in one section of the building and singles, including the formerly homeless and people with mental illness, in furnished bachelors in another section.
- "That kicked off our getting back into the social-housing game," says Keith Ward, general manager of Peel Living and commissioner of human services. "We kept waiting for the government to announce more funding. It didn't happen. Now we hope there are more builders motivated by that sense of altruism."
- "Most contractors would use mid-range paint, but he wanted to use top-of-the-line," says Doug Funston of Benjamin Moore. "That's his strategy – he delivers a platinum-level product for a bronze level price."
  - - brilliant - on 2008-01-21
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- The value to the corporate donors is a higher public profile, better public relations, new connections in the community, and letters and plaques of appreciation for being good corporate citizens. "It's wonderful to get those accolades," says Funston.
- "Years ago you heard 'social housing, why put money in when people are just going to destroy it?' – I've heard that from contractors on various sites," says Brett Barnes, a corporate representative for CMHC. "John has been able to turn that around. The more they contribute to bricks and mortar, the more they also contribute to improving the lives of lower-income households."

27 Dec 07

La dolce vita turns sour as Italy faces up to being old and poor - Times Online

- relates to my blog entry Dec.23/07,"High Rents=Mamma's Boys?" Interesting comments thread, with many agreeing w/ article, others saying that it's not so bad. In either case, stagnation seems to be setting in (symptom of what?, political corruption?, more than that?). Sounds like a Donna Leon mystery come to life (as fiction, that's great, but as reality, that's not a compliment...).
One of the comments came from http://www.ilquiquiri.com/ who pointed to (his?) YouTube video of his region festering under the garbage strike (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6gpnIK-WY0) : very graphic.

www.timesonline.co.uk/...article3085338.ece - Preview

corruption development italy socialcritique times_online

Yet, at home, Italians are consumed with a sense of domestic decline. “When an
entire country goes into crisis over the ‘who are we and where are we going’
debate, it means we are reaching new heights of hysteria,” the writer
Umberto Eco said. “This explosion of provincialism is truly painful.
Personally I feel depressed.”

So do many of his fellow countrymen. There is a sense that while the past is
Italy’s glory, it is also its prison, with politics and business dominated
by a gerontocracy and the younger entrepreneurs and politicians held back.
- - you can read/ understand Eco's comment as saying that the self-flagellation is "hysteria," is overblown, and is not based in reality (i.e., that he's contradicting the article's premise) - on 2007-12-27
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“The problem is that the leaders of our governing class are greybeards
whereas, say, Spain’s are practically kids,” says Michele Salvati, a leading
economist. At this year’s Miss Italia beauty contest, the contestants were
all in their teens while the average age of the judges — who made headlines
by arguing over whether a girl’s bottom should be judged part of her charm —
was 70.
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- When Larry Gagosian, the dynamic American art dealer, opened a new modern art
  gallery in Rome last week, some critics accused him of making money instead
  of praising an attempt to put Rome at the cutting edge of contemporary art.
- Vincenzo Cremonini, 44, who has expanded his meat-producing business at Módena
  to include railway and motorway catering — including the new Eurostar
  service from St Pancras — identifies three other factors holding Italy back:
  bureaucracy, the slow judicial system, which is used by protesters to hold
  up modernising initiatives such as the Turin to Lyons high-speed railway,
  and the “selfperpetuating political elite”.
  
  A book on Italy’s cocooned elite, La Casta (The Caste), a runaway bestseller
  this year, pointed out that Italy had the highest number of official
  chauffeur-driven cars in Europe, and that the presidential palace, the
  Quirinal, cost four times as much to run as Buckingham Palace.
  - - more than Buckingham Palace? That's crazy. - on 2007-12-27
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- The workforce at Alitalia, itself a symbol of the Italian malaise, is
  threatening a Christmas strike over the proposed sale of the troubled
  national airline to Air France-KLM. Even La Scala opera house in Milan is
  disrupted regularly by industral unrest. “Italy needs a Margaret Thatcher,”
  Francesco Caltagirone, one of Italy’s top entrepreneurs, said yesterday. “We
  need rigour and deregulation, a leader who will force Italians to make
  sacrifices.”
- Even the Italian nuclear family, once the bulwark (along with the Catholic
  Church) of Italian society, is in decline, with growing divorce rates, a low
  birthrate and the rise of single parenthood. The family still provides a
  haven for young Italians, many of whom live at home until they are 30 — but
  this, too, holds Italy back, as those who should be carving a niche for
  themselves opt instead for Mamma’s cooking and laundry services. Many do so
  because they cannot afford to make their own way.
  - - they live at home b/c they can't afford to move into their own place(s) - on 2007-12-27
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- The result is that Italians are the least happy people in Europe, according to
  a poll conducted for the University of Cambridge by Luisa Corrado, of the
  University of Rome. Danes turned out to be the happiest. Tellingly, in
  Denmark 64 per cent said that they trusted their parliament. In Italy it was
  only 36 per cent.
- After the Second World War, millions of Italians emigrated in search of a
  better life. The movement is now the other way, with nearly four million
  immigrants in Italy. “The problem is that a country like Spain sees
  immigrants as useful workers, whereas in Italy the headlines tell us they
  are all criminals who go round robbing and stabbing Italians,” Carlo
  Bastasin, an economist, said.

24 Dec 07

Waterfront plan: A magnet and, hopefully, model (Toronto Star)

Dutch landscape architect Adriaan Geuze's vision for T.O.'s waterfront: "The point must be that we won't have to live on the waterfront to feel at home there." In this article by Christopher Hume, some really interesting discussion (by Geuze) about cars, how they've taken over urban spaces, why all-pedestrian zones aren't necessarily a good idea ("scary at night"), and that cities today compete with one another.

www.thestar.com/...288394 - Preview

cars christopher_hume development pedestrians toronto urban_parks urban_renewal waterfront

Relax, Toronto, all is not lost; the wheels of change grind no slower here than in any other city.
So says Dutch landscape architect Adriaan Geuze, whose firm, West 8, is now redesigning the central waterfront in partnership with Toronto's DTAH.
"Bureaucratic resistance is normal," he says, smiling reassuringly. "It's the same everywhere."
Geuze and his team won an international competition last year to redesign the waterfront between Bathurst and Parliament Sts. It is a huge project, including the narrowing of Queens Quay from four lanes to two, the planting of thousands of trees, the construction of a boardwalk along the water's edge and bridges across various slips.
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- "Today it feels like the pedestrian is a guest on the waterfront," Geuze says. "But in the future the car will become the guest. We're going to restrict traffic to one-half of the street, but we're not going to torture it. We'll keep the flow and create a more readable situation. It's not that we don't like cars, but we need more balance."
  As Geuze explains it, Europeans love their cars every bit as much as we North Americans. The difference, he argues, is that we have gone too far.
  "Devotion to the car is the same here as in Europe," he says. "But in Europe there are some guiding cities. And we're not talking about medieval cities, but modern urban communities with large commercial centres – Strasbourg, Grenoble, Bordeaux, Lyon, Nantes, Zurich, Copenhagen. ... There's a competition between cities now."
  - - great point re. pedestrians feeling like guests in some parts of the city
    
    - also, that today cities compete amongst themselves (echoes Florida's mantra about creative economy revolutionizing the global economy) - on 2007-12-24
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- Geuze makes it clear he's not advocating the complete abolition of the car; he feels a certain amount of traffic is healthy. Besides, he adds, large pedestrian zones can "become scary places at night."
  The intention, he insists, is to establish a state of equality between cars and people: "People will be happy, shop owners will be happy, and police will be happy."
- He sees Toronto's waterfront as a perfect example of the vast potential of the city, but also of how much needs to be done. "North America is about the car," he says. "But Queens Quay can mark a revolutionary change. It will be a magnet for anyone who wants to walk, jog, cycle or stroll. It will be a place for merchants to make a living, and that will attract people."
  - - this articulates a vision based on USE, = important, vs. doing things based on "style" or "height restrictions" (Victoria) or other physical characteristics. The physical characteristics should flow from the uses planned - on 2007-12-24
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- In this respect, one can only hope the post-Geuze waterfront will become a model for the rest of the city. Though there has been much debate in recent years about the car, it's clear that Toronto has a long way to go before it catches up with Europe. Indeed, we are falling further and further behind. Worst of all, we have allowed public transit to deteriorate. For many Torontonians it is not an option; they have no choice but to drive.
- "Toronto is ready to have a waterfront with its own identity," Geuze asserts. "It's a marvellous site, a south-facing waterfront. What more you could ask for?"
  The answer, many might say, is greater public access. As well as controlling the car, we must ensure the waterfront is as inviting as possible. That's not to say people won't be living and working on the lake – they definitely will – but as Geuze likes to say, it's a question of balance. The point must be that we won't have to live on the waterfront to feel at home there.

16 Nov 07

Condos Above Classrooms Strike Some as an Odd Mix - New York Times

www.nytimes.com/...11rama.html - Preview

development nimbyism nyc p3s

Tom Blum, who leads a group called Neighbors Against Ramaz Tower, opposes this plan.
“It bothers us that a religious school is playing real estate games the way Donald Trump does,” Mr. Blum said, “not as they should be doing as a good neighbor.” He emphasized that there was unconditional support for building a new Ramaz school, but he said that the plan for a residential tower above it had come as a shock.
With the combined air rights, the tower would rise more than 100 feet above what the applicable zoning currently allows. Some neighbors, like Mr. Blum, are worried about losing their views, and although a number of local buildings are as tall as the proposed tower, few of them are midblock, as the synagogue and the school are.
Critics also say the synagogue is one of the city’s wealthiest, implying that a few hefty donations would render the residential tower unnecessary. But in the opinion of Rabbi Lookstein, the matter is not that simple. “There’s a limit to what people can give,” he said.

13 Nov 07

Vancouver Economic Development

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business development reference vancouver

21 Oct 07

Reason Magazine - The Secrets of Intangible Wealth by Ronal Bailey

www.reason.com/...122854.html - Preview

development economic_development economics reason_magazine wealth

But what is intangible wealth, and how on earth is it measured? And what does it mean for the world's people—poor and rich? That's where the story gets even more interesting.

Two years ago the World Bank's environmental economics department set out to assess the relative contributions of various kinds of capital to economic development. Its study, "Where is the Wealth of Nations?: Measuring Capital for the 21st Century," began by defining natural capital as the sum of nonrenewable resources (including oil, natural gas, coal and mineral resources), cropland, pasture land, forested areas and protected areas. Produced, or built, capital is what many of us think of when we think of capital: the sum of machinery, equipment, and structures (including infrastructure) and urban land.

But once the value of all these are added up, the economists found something big was still missing: the vast majority of world's wealth! If one simply adds up the current value of a country's natural resources and produced, or built, capital, there's no way that can account for that country's level of income.

The rest is the result of "intangible" factors—such as the trust among people in a society, an efficient judicial system, clear property rights and effective government. All this intangible capital also boosts the productivity of labor and results in higher total wealth. In fact, the World Bank finds, "Human capital and the value of institutions (as measured by rule of law) constitute the largest share of wealth in virtually all countries."

Once one takes into account all of the world's natural resources and produced capital, 80% of the wealth of rich countries and 60% of the wealth of poor countries is of this intangible type. The bottom line: "Rich countries are largely rich because of the skills of their populations and the quality of the institutions supporting economic activity."
the rule of law explains 57 percent of countries' intangible capital. Education accounts for 36 percent.
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- The World Bank study bolsters the deep insights of the late development economist Peter Bauer. In his brilliant 1972 book Dissent on Development, Bauer wrote: "If all conditions for development other than capital are present, capital will soon be generated locally or will be available . . . from abroad. . . . If, however, the conditions for development are not present, then aid . . . will be necessarily unproductive and therefore ineffective. Thus, if the mainsprings of development are present, material progress will occur even without foreign aid. If they are absent, it will not occur even with aid."
  
  The World Bank's pathbreaking "Where is the Wealth of Nations?" convincingly demonstrates that the "mainsprings of development" are the rule of law and a good school system.

Yule Heibel's Library tagged development → View Popular

City, developer race to approve Portrait Gallery project

Genuflecting to the high rises by David Brewster (Crosscut - Seattle)

How to make housing affordable (The Toronto Star)

La dolce vita turns sour as Italy faces up to being old and poor - Times Online

Waterfront plan: A magnet and, hopefully, model (Toronto Star)

Condos Above Classrooms Strike Some as an Odd Mix - New York Times

Vancouver Economic Development

Reason Magazine - The Secrets of Intangible Wealth by Ronal Bailey

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