It's All About Adding Value!

"Sustainable, Eco-friendly & Green...all add up to Smarter Real Estate"

This tag line is from the
metroGREEN+BUSINESS webpage, and it repeats the premise of this project and blog that Smart Growth properties, particularly at the community-scale, are good investments. In return these projects are also important to the local economy both during construction and later by adding density to existing neighborhood and commercial districts. 

The Transportation Connection

As a student from the Boston Architectural College www.the-bac.edu , I've spent the past several weeks learning about Smart Growth and how the Brock Ave. project fits under the rubric of Smart Growth urban planning and development. Designing communities that provide a variety of sustainable transportation choices for the people who work and live there is a core principle of Smart Growth. 

The three restored commercial units create opportunities for goods and services to be provided locally, creating a "walkable" neighborhood. The project at 464-468 Brock Ave., although nestled in a predominantly residential area, lies within walking distance of other several other small businesses, shops, a public park, and a senior citizen's community center. The development of walkable neighborhoods provides multiple quality-of-life benefits, including lower transportation costs, greater social interaction, improved personal and environmental health, and a greater range of choices for consumers.

The Brock Ave. site is also favorable in terms of the availablity of mass transit. High quality mass transit services will reduce auto-dependency, alleviating the ever-growing problem of traffic congestion, and will overall improve commuter quality of life. Brock Ave. lies on the SRTA Bus Route 1, a direct route to New Bedford's downtown core. The downtown bus terminal provides the connection to SRTA Bus Route 9 to UMass Dartmouth and Fall River. Also departing from the downtown bus terminal, DATTCO provides daily commuter bus services to Boston, and Peter Pan Bus Lines provides daily commuter services to Providence.

Looking to the future, the Brock Ave. site also lies on the proposed routes for the South Coast Commuter Rail System, currently in the planning phase. The incoming commuter rail system will ultimately connect our small South End project to multiliple urban centers, and holds tremendous promise for the entire community of New Bedford.

We Get Around

This photo is a stretch of Rte 122A in Grafton, Massachusetts that links two ends of a mill village. We just submitted a proposal to work on streetscape, engineering, and planning to bring this village together. This is one of those landscapes where I look out and see opportunity at the community-scale. It is pocket to be developed. See earlier post http://econewbedford.blogspot.com/2009/01/ecology-economy.html
We partnered with Thompson-Farland, www.thompsonfarland.com, a New Bedford engineering firm, and Community Design Partnership (see http://www.town.ipswich.ma.us/plandev/pdf/whole%20green%20ring.pdf ) in Boston. 

This a great Smart Growth Project, and it would be fantastic if we all got to work together on this sustainable site.

First thoughts of a student on the site

My name is Thalia Lewis, and I’m the newest team member working with Carol and Tony of effortlessdesign on the eco New Bedford/ Smart Growth on Brock Ave. project. I’m a Masters student at Boston Architectural College, and this is my first internship position in the field. I became involved in the New Bedford project (which has spanned several years) just three weeks ago, so I am climbing a steep and snowy learning curve in order to understand the ins-and-outs of this project. So far, so good. The project is incredibly exciting and unquestionably has the potential to have a profound impact on the New Bedford community. What I don’t know about Smart Growth and community building could fill volumes, but my effort as co-blogger will be to share my on-the-job learning as a participant in the project, hopefully providing some insight for others like me, who are invested in smart, sustainable community development and want become more involved and better informed.

For my first post, Carol asked me to share a bit about what I’ve learned in my initial weeks working on the project. That too, could fill volumes, but I’ll spare you the part about how I should have worn an extra set of long-johns my first day on the site (oy!).

It takes a village...
In just these few weeks, I’ve learned a fair amount about the New Bedford community: its architectural and cultural fabric, its economic triumphs and struggles. I’ve learned about the principles of Smart Growth, and how projects like Smart Growth on Brock Ave. have the potential to radically and rapidly revitalize a community like New Bedford, architecturally and economically. New Bedford already has in place the foundations of what a community needs to flourish economically in an environmentally sustainable way: limited sprawl, walkable neighborhoods, a core of thriving small businesses, a mass-transit connection to the major urban centers.

Most importantly, however, I’ve learned that in much the same way as “it takes a village to raise a child,” it takes a community to re-build a community. Large corporations may provide a certain kind of stimulus to a nation’s economy, but there is tremendous potential at the local level for a community like New Bedford to revitalize its own economy through small business and local investment. This understanding, alongside the notion that community development can be done in a way that is ecologically as well as economically sustainable, is at the heart of the eco New Bedford project.

The local architect has a major role to play in the re-building of a community. We are not simply designers: we are developers, planners, and master builders (as well as advocates, strategists, negotiators, politicians, publicists...). But for small-scale projects Smart Growth on Brock Ave. to have a big impact on the community, the full resources of the community must be mobilized: local architects, local contractors and suppliers, local politicians, local development agencies like the New Bedford Economic Development Council, home-grown advocacy groups like the Buzzard’s Bay Coalition, and equally, local residents (the entrepreneur, the home owner, as well as the neighbourhood kid who shovels the site when it snows). There are many roles to be played. It’s for each of us to decide what our individual role will be in the “smart” process of re-building New Bedford, and communities like it across the nation. My role, for now, is “a student on the site.”

My first day on the Brock Ave. site. Observing the installation of SIPs on the residential units. A highly educational day, which could only have been improved by wearing long-johns. For more information on SIPs, see the Dec. 27, 2008 post: SIPs - Installing Structural Insulated Panels.

ecology – economy

When I look out over the landscape of South End New Bedford and similar urban village centers, I see plenty of untapped economic potential related to these environments. Often I see underutilized properties with investment potential particularly for the not-too-big owner-investor. Instead of building a dream home with deep impacts on its natural setting, a fascinating building project today involves adding to or rebuilding a nucleus to live. This is what we call smart growth investing. Unique to mixed-use is the ability incorporate income potential with one’s home; a new type of dream house.

Since today’s jobs often include working from home, the choice to live, work, play, and shop all within a few blocks or a very short car ride offers an authentic community lifestyle. Imagine marketing a fantastic neighborhood like the South End of New Bedford to small productive businesses involving the internet, technical solutions, research and management that could chose to locate both home and office all within a walk-able, ocean front, european atmosphere and clearly hip neighborhood. The South Coast has excellent business networks that offer venues for entrepreneurs to discuss strategies unique to the small productive business. Consider the value a bus route adds, and the need for the train connections. The village produces an exceptionally rich lifestyle; one worth serious promotion to long-time residents and newcomers alike.

It seems people seek to build their dreams, and the vision of the green home is gaining a lot of interest. The urban village center is the ideal place to work out this dream. The LEED rating system awards points for locating in established neighborhoods and reusing existing buildings. Points in the game of life are also given for contributing to a community; socially, economically, and ecologically. Construction projects are the experience of a lifetime, and precious investment dollars require a team effort and value driven plans. Be prepared that design services and consultation will reduce costs and increase value. Be inspired to do no less than take back our economy and invigorate free enterprise to restore stability and construct our future way of life.

Project Background

The South New Bedford neighborhood is a unique urban environment with expansive views, ample recreation, a vibrant diverse population, and mild temperatures. As the area waits for the commuter train to activate service (tracks & facilities are in place), it remains unrecognized as a beachfront village with friendly bungalows and well-kept triple deckers.

Our project on Brock Avenue is testing a number of concepts namely the creation of a neighborhood “hot spot” that improves the economic prospects of small business located there, and funding the rehab of a deteriorated commercial building with the development of two efficient yet spirited residences above.

It is our experience that developing older buildings can bolster the local economy providing good jobs to people not drawn to more professional sectors. We believe that developing construction skills and craft keeps an important knowledge base alive. Since 2001 we have consistently invested in our employees training them in range of construction techniques. Renovating buildings creates wealth, and design/planning is critical in achieving that possibility.

Our demonstration project involves current Urban Redevelopment design values known as Smart Growth. The site is located on a bus route to downtown, with an oceanfront park across the street. The new residential component increases density at the neighborhood scale and re-invigorates an existing commercial block. Our interest in this project began when curating the Boston Architectural College’s Shelter & Beyond Exhibit. Infill of underutilized urban areas, particularly in a culturally and enviromentally rich community like New Bedford, is a desirable alternative to sprawl. With the promise of commuter rail to the south coast, we focused on commercial redevelopment with efficient housing.

During the rehabilitation phase all of the construction debris was sorted, and engineered wood products are used consistently throughout. The existing Quik Mart stayed open every single day during construction. Construction of the second phase meets the requirements of LEED certification. Structural Insulated Panels with an Insulated Exterior Finishing System (EIFS) completely stops air infiltration and provides a building envelope 10% more efficient than required by the current Massachusetts energy code. Shear wall design and coastal windows meet the 110 mph wind speed. Domestic hot water will be provided using solar panels, and energy efficient lighting, heating and cooling are planned.

Clearly there is a lot happening on Brock Avenue, and the goal of this blog is to provide more details to the background description given in this first entry.