Exercises and Homework

Exercise #1: Introduction to UrbanPlan - Warm-up

Name:Date:

UrbanPlan is about a neighborhood called the Elmwood District in the city of Yorktown. Urban communities all over the country share the Elmwood District’s problems: what was once a thriving part of town is now run-down and deteriorated. Like many cities, Yorktown is seeking a private real estate development team (you and your teammates) to propose and build a project that will revitalize its once proud neighborhood. Before considering the specific issues involved in this complex project, we will first consider some general questions and concerns.

Where You Live

  1. What does your city or town look like right now? If you had to describe your city or town to your teammate, what would you say?
  1. What do you think is the worst building or place in your city or town?
  1. What building or place do you like the best?
  1. How did your city or town get this way? How much do you know about the history of town? Do you know about any major changes or developments that have taken place here?

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  1. Based on what you know of how your city or town has changed, would you say your city or town is becoming more or less of a good place to live? Why?
Where You Want to Live
  1. What kind of place would you like to live in? Why?
  1. If you could make a wish list of good living conditions, what would it include? Identify at least five characteristics of a good place to live.
  1. Do you know of any place that has more of those characteristics than your city or town? What town or city is it?

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Exercise #2: Personal Priorities Investigation

Name:Date:

What Makes a Good Place to Live?

Tradeoffs

Every decision comes with a cost. Each decision to use a resource requires a tradeoff with another possible use for that resource (the money you have in your wallet, for example). In designing your development, you will confront some difficult decisions and have to make tradeoffs.

There is no “correct” answer for the best mix of land uses. Often you will need to decide whether the cost—social, political, financial, or aesthetic—of a decision will be worth the benefit it will bring to the project.

If you had to decide today, which would you say is more important for a development to emphasize?

•Jobs (commercial development) or housing (residential development)? Why?

•Parks or parking? Why?

•A strong tax base so that the city can provide services to its residents or “affordable” housing so middle- and/or low-income people can afford to live there? Why?

Priorities

On a scale of one (least important) to ten (most important), how important do you think each of the following should be in a plan to revitalize a neighborhood?

_____The redevelopment must include uses that consumers will demand and support financially.

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____The redevelopment must be able to provide a reasonable profit to the developer so that the developer can attract investors willing to risk their money in the project.

_____The redevelopment should beautify its surroundings and be well designed architecturally and spatially.

_____The redevelopment should not cause the city government to lose money.

_____The redevelopment should respond to the concerns of the neighborhood where it is to be located.

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Exercise #3: Guided Reading

Name:Date:

The UrbanPlan Handbook provides all the information you will need to develop your proposal. Detailed knowledge and understanding of the information in the package are essential to creating a winning proposal.

1.Begin by reading all of About UrbanPlan. This section will give you an overview of the entire project plus vital background information.

2.Return to Understanding the City’s Development Request. The questions below address the issues discussed in that section.

3.Next read RFP, Design Guidelines, Site Plan, and the five Neighborhood Letters to answer the following questions:

Request For Proposal (RFP)

Readthe Introduction.

1.What is the purpose of an RFP?

2.Look at Goals. What are “blighting influences”?

3.What are the city’s goals and objectives for the redevelopment area?

4.Does one goal seem more important to you. If so, why?

5.The American Heritage Dictionary defines the noun demand as the need or desire for something. How does this definition differ from the concept of market demand?

6.Why does the city want the proposal to be “based on market demand”?

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7.When is this proposal due?

Read Neighborhood History.

8.When and why did the Elmwood District decline?

9.Briefly describe Elmwood today.

10. Is the city willing to subsidize any land uses? If so, which ones and why?

  1. What is a market analysis? Briefly, what did you learn from the market

analysis?

12.Must developers build every land use for which a demand has been identified in the market analysis? Why?

13. Based on the information you have read, why do you think the city chose the Elmwood District for redevelopment?

Read Price of Land to the Developer.

14.How does the city expect to get its money back if it paid ten million dollars for the land and will sell it to the selected developer for six million dollars?

15. Who selects the winning development team?

Design Guidelines

  1. Does the city have design requirements that affect what you can build on a site?

If so, how do they affect what can be built? Be specific.

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Site Plan

17. What is the busiest street?

18. Where is the housing?

19. What resources surround the site?

Neighborhood Letters

20. Do the various neighborhood groups agree about what should happen to the Elmwood District? Which groups appear to have the most political “clout” when they present their wishes?

21. Do the requests of any of the neighborhood groups constitute economic (market) demand as defined by your textbook? Explain your reasoning.

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The Development Team: Roles and Resources: Answers – When there are primary and secondary answers, they are
prioritized with numbers.
In the chart below, indicate WHERE in the UP handbook (tab(s) and page numbers) you will find the information to answer the questions.

City Liaison

/

Marketing Director

/

Financial Analyst

/

Neighborhood Liaison

/

Site Planner

What are the City's goals and objectives for the Elmwood District? / Where can I find information about the market demand for various land uses? / What % return on investment is required to attract investors? / Where can I find out the desires and opinions of neighborhood groups? / What is the history of the Elmwood District, its buildings and its neighborhood life?
What uses does the City's redevelopment plan permit? / Which land uses have unlimited demand? / What funding is available from the City? / Which groups appear to have the greatest potential political influence? / What are the about the City's design guidelines for development?
Does the City expect to make a profit from the redevelopment of the Elmwood District? / What are the characteristics of the people who would move into new housing in the Elmwood District? / Do investors require a higher return on real estate projects than on savings account? If so why? / Why do the opinions of the neighborhood matter to a developer? / What is the shape and "footprint" of each new and existing building?
How does the City want the developer to deal with the neighborhood in developing a proposal? / What types of businesses would be interested in moving to the Elmwood District? / What land uses provide the most profit potential to the developer? / What impact can unhappy neighborhood residents have on a development proposal? / What kind of parking is required for each type of building?

Exercise #5: Research Problems for Development Team Members

Name:Date:

This exercise will help you settle into your role before your rejoin your development team.

For your set of questions, review your role description and suggested sources of information.

You will use the information you gather in two important ways:

  • To make your role and function clear to the rest of the team when you meet with them to plan development strategy.
  • To create the basis for talking points you will use when you prepare and eventually deliver your formal redevelopment presentation to the judges.

Role: City Liaison

Using the RFP, information behind Existing Buildings, and the Land Use Comparison Chart behind Project Checklist, answer the following questions:

1.Does the city mandate the exact uses the developer must provide?

2.Which land uses have perceived public benefit, making the city willing to invest funds?

3.What is the city’s position on the homeless shelter?

4.Which land uses are most likely to provide jobs to the community? Which provide skilled jobs? Which provide entry-level/unskilled jobs?

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5. How will new retail businesses on the Elmwood site benefit the city?

6.Which land uses will provide a strong tax base for the city?

7.Which uses are most likely to attract residents to the Elmwood District?

8.Which, if any, of these uses conflict?

9. What is the city’s point of view regarding the needs and desires of Elmwood residents and neighborhood groups?

10. Does the project need to make money for the city? If so, how, how much, and over what period of time?

  1. Why does the city advise developers that their proposals must be based on market demand?

Role: Director of Marketing

Using the RFP, information behind Existing Buildings and New Buildings, and the Land Use Comparison Chart behind Project Checklist, answer the following questions:

1.How many years do you have to sell or lease your project?

2.Does demand tell the development team what they must build or what they can build?

3.If the annual demand for mid-rise office space is 76,000 SF, what is the demand over the life of your project?

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4.If demand for housing is so high, why are there so few affordable units being built at present?

5.Identify land uses that are most compatible or most complementary to each other.

6.Identify those land uses that, in spite of market demand, might conflict with each other.

7.Who is most likely to move into new townhouses?

8.Where will customers for a QMart come from?

  1. Under what conditions can the Elmwood District support new neighborhood retail?

10. What do retail tenants value/seek in a location? What about office tenants?

Role: Financial Analyst

Using the RFP, information behind Existing Buildings and New Buildings, and the Land Use Comparison Chart behind Project Checklist, answer the following questions:

1.Which land uses will provide the greatest return on investment?

2.Which returns greater profits to the developer, an existing building rehabbed into office space or a new office building?

3.Which land uses have perceived public benefit, making the city willing to invest funds?

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4.Who gains the greatest financial return from QMart?

5.Identify a potential economic risk developing QMart.

At this point, your main goal is to completely familiarize yourself with the Financial Planning Program. Review the instructions (and, if you have your computer available, begin inputting some numbers to see how the program works and how different land uses impact profitability to investors and tax revenues to the city).

6.On what worksheet can you input the size and type of buildings your team wants to construct on each block of the Elmwood site?

7.On what worksheet can you input the amount of affordable housing your team wants to provide?

8.On what worksheet can you analyze the rate at which the market will absorb the land uses you have selected?

9.On what worksheet can you analyze the cost of the project to the developer and to the city?

  1. On what worksheet can you analyze the value of the project to the

developer and the investors?

11. Where can you analyze the monetary value of the project to the city?

Role: Neighborhood Liaison

Using the RFP, the Neighborhood Letters, information in Existing Buildings and New Buildings, the Land Use Comparison Chart and Project Checklist, answer the following questions:

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1.Which neighborhood groups appear to have the most political clout?

2.Which neighborhood groups appear to have the least political clout?

3. Identify the land uses most likely to satisfy the greatest number of neighborhood residents.

4. Identify the land uses most likely to dissatisfy the greatest number of neighborhood residents.

5. Are any groups in general agreement with the city’s priorities as outlined in the RFP?

6.Which groups would support a QMart? Why?

7.Are there groups that oppose affordable housing?

8. Based on your preliminary review of the neighborhood’s wishes, which types of development should prevail in this project?

9. Can you make land use tradeoffs to satisfy some of the neighborhood’s wishes while satisfying the city’s goals as outlined in the RFP? Explain.

10.. What can happen to a project if the developer cannot gain neighborhood

support?

Role: Site Planner

Using the RFP, Site Plan, Design Guidelines, and the information behind Existing Buildings and New Buildings, answer the following questions:

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  1. When Elmwood was a vibrant community, what role did 9th Avenue

play in the life of the residents?

  1. Identify existing traffic patterns. How will they affect placement of retail

and residential structures?

  1. Is there an existing structure or parcel of land that could serve as a

unifying focal point for this development? If so, identify it. If not, what

could your team create as a focal point?

  1. How many levels of parking are provided in the low-rise office parking

structure?

5.Which uses will create the most new traffic?

6. What is the footprint (in square feet) of a neighborhood retail building

and how many stores will it accommodate?

7.What uses create the fewest shadows on other buildings?

  1. What uses create the most “sidewalk appeal” to people walking down

the street?

  1. What uses create the most activity in the daytime? What about nighttime

and weekends?

10..What do historic and architecturally significant buildings add to a

project?

11..Does a project need both private and public open space?

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