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<br />Figure 1. Financial Characteristics of Downtowns with Critical Mass (Blue) <br />versus Suburban Development (Red) <br /> <br />+ <br /> <br />~ <br />-- <br />~ <br />~ <br />.:: <br />'" <br />tll <br />&:2 <br />5 <br />~ <br />ClI <br />Q,I <br />.. <br />u <br />~ <br />::;; <br />,iI' <br /> <br /> <br />1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 <br />TIme (years) <br /> <br />SOIUtle: Christophn B. Leinbergm; ArcDdia Lmu1 Co. and Robm Charles Lesser &- Co. <br /> <br />The term "suburban development" (the red line) does not refer to the "where" but to the "how," <br />in terms of the type of development. These projects are typically isolated and accessible only <br />by driving to them, such as strip-commercial centers or single-use office complexes. <br /> <br />In this Team's experience with town planning, we are finding that communities that both (i) <br />leverage the infrastructure and transportation systems through value capture and (ii) use <br />adjacency predictability through a de facto "master developer" environment are realizing value <br />curves such as those depicted for downtowns (the blue line) in the chart above. <br /> <br />"Empty-nesters" and young professionals can become key market targets for this strategy. <br />They tend to have more disposable income and put less pressure on the costs of serving <br />communities in terms of kids, social services, etc.. Attracting and maintaining empty-nesters is <br />like attracting tourists. Empty nesters like to spend money; and their children only visit, <br />lessening burdens on the local schools. Moreover, both empty-nesters and young <br />professionals like to live in smaller lot homes, town homes and lofts. More dense in design, <br />those residences tend to be much more efficient in terms of community services such as <br />police, fire and the maintenance of utility systems. Accordingly, empty-nesters and young <br />professionals are an important target market for any meaningful economic development <br />strategy. <br /> <br />Communities that attract empty-nesters and young professionals are also attractive locations <br />for corporate investment. People like "cool" communities. So if a suburban community can use <br />good design and value capture to create great places to live and work, those communities will <br />have a competitive advantage in attracting a class of "knowledge workers," such as artists, <br /> <br /> <br />Forward La Porte Economic Development Strategic Plan I 2009-2013 <br />