The Revitalist

The NYTimes reports on cultures clashing on the rural North Fork of Long Island. It's suburbanites v. the realities of rural life. Developments are springing up on formerly rural land that cater to the desire to get out of the city and into the country and live a quieter life, closer to nature. Unfortunately, nature, especially as a part of the modern farming system, isn't always peaceful, beautiful and sweet smelling. So, Long Island faces a choice between preserving its rural identity or adapting to its new residents. One of whom says, "A lot of people moved here because it has a rural feel without really being rural." But the State Farm Bureau says that the 700 farms in Suffolk County make it the most agriculturally productive county in the state. So, what is "really" rural? Seems like the North Fork qualifies, and the new residents ought just to realize that there are plenty of neighborhoods that aren't situated between a vineyard and a corn field and that you can't have your cake and eat it too.

Nicolas Retsinas from Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies was on NPR's Morning Edition this morning wondering how the fallout from the housing market downturn will effect downtown revitalizations across the country. As he points out, many of the condo buyers in emerging neighborhoods are young couples, perhaps first time home buyers, who will no longer have as many mortgage options as they did a few years ago. Also, the empty nester wave that we all talk about so much is likely to be slowed down by the fact that it is harder for them to sell their suburban split level right now. Just another reminder that there is never a dull moment in the development business.

Long lines of first time riders.NC's largest city, Charlotte, has embarked upon a new light rail system that many mid-size cities around the country will no doubt be watching. Cutting from whole cloth, Charlotte has created a system, complete with TOD condo developments and neighborhood groups up in arms. The opening day saw huge crowds of curious life-long suburbanites and fans on their way to the Carolina Panthers football game. The crowds the second day were much more in keeping with the transit system estimates. It will be interesting to see how people use the system once the novelty has worn off.

I hope everyone had a very happy Thanksgiving.

I'm here in North Carolina and getting back to the blogging routine. I look forward to your comments.

The Revitalist is going to take a short break (just a few days), while I move to North Carolina – to return home and be closer to my family. I will be leaving AHF, about which I am very sad, but I plan to keep writing The Revitalist. AHF is working on some very exciting projects right now and is made up of wonderful people with whom it has been a pleasure working. I will miss being a part of this team, but I am looking forward to exciting new things on the horizon.

So stay tuned, I'll be back next week. 

WBUR has been running a week-long series on immigration in Massachusetts and how immigrants have helped to build and shape our economy over the years. While the state may be losing population in certain demographic segments, it's immigrant population is growing – now at a 50 year high. For developers, the immigrant population is more than workforce, they are consumers of our product: tenants in our buildings, buyers of our condos, business owners looking for commercial space. In Lawrence, we have gotten to know the Central and South American immigrant groups that make the city so colorful, and in Lowell, we have learned about and worked with the Cambodian community there.

The Boston Globe reports on the increasing availability of the "green mortgage." The mortgage is offered to buyers of homes with green components that will reduce the home's operating costs. The mortgage operates in a traditional way, except that the bank takes into account the lower monthly expenses for utilities and leverages that extra cash into more buying power (lower expenses = more $ available for monthly mortgage payments = greater loan value = more house). So far, the mortgages have been mostly available to buyers of units in large-scale green developments where the energy savings have been extensively modeled and demonstrated to the bank, like Olmstead Green, a very green development by our friends at the New Boston Fund. Although, I saw an ad on the T the other day for Wainwright Bank's Green Loan program which gives home owners a discount on their mortgage interest rate for making energy efficiency improvements.

The Oxford American Dictionary has pronounced that locavore is the word of the year for 2007. If you're not in the know, a locavore is someone who eats only locally grown food, originally within a 100 mile radius. The term was coined by a group of four women in San Francisco who were determined to meet the 100 mile qualification.

While grocery shopping isn't really a development related topic, urban amenities like farmer's markets and co-ops are. The push for a locavore lifestyle is just one of the many "act locally" movements that are gaining momentum. There is a growing demographic (many well educated and with disposable income) who are choosing to live, work and raise families in communities that have a particular (peculiar) sense of place. People want a more active connection to their surroundings and their neighbors, and every city and town has some resources that they can parley into local flavor. So give the people what they want.

Now this is the kind of editorial statement that, sadly, we just don't see very often in the US:

"The station's rebirth is a slap in the face for the old-is-useless mob and all their claptrap about outdated structures."

The restored iron and glass train shed is a striking contrast to the station's neo-Gothic brickwork.

The Guardian has a loving opinion piece about London's screamingly Victorian St. Pancras Station, on the occasion of the Eurostar's first arrival at its new hub. The BBC recounts the struggle to save the station from the wrecking ball of urban renewal in the 1960's and has a photo gallery (via Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space).