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The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has released images of its just-completed first phase of the Tosin Oshinowo-designed Ngarannam village reconstruction project in Northeast Nigeria. The project to resettle villagers displaced by Boko Haram was begun last year as part of the UNDP’s... View full entry
A long-closed Los Angeles County courthouse in Sawtelle that was once a popular draw for skateboarders may soon be redeveloped for affordable housing. The County Board of Supervisors voted to buy the former West Los Angeles Courthouse at 1633 Purdue Avenue for a mixed-use, affordable housing development, City News Service reported via KFI AM 640. — The Real Deal
As detailed by The Real Deal, a motion to buy the courthouse, which has been vacant since June 2013, was proposed, asking Los Angeles County to source funds to acquire the space from the Judicial Council. The County has reportedly, so far, paid more than $3.5 million to the Council to incentivize... View full entry
It’s the first time in the 20 years the AIA has collected this data that renovations have breached 50%. In 2005, toward the end of a pre-recession building boom, renovations made up approximately one-third of billings. That share has been increasing steadily since 2017, when it was 44.4%, up to 52% this year. Kermit Baker, the AIA’s chief economist, says that the last time the market for design services was so heavily weighted toward renovations was likely during the Great Depression. — Bloomberg
According to Baker, about 25% of renovation projects constitute interior remodels, while adaptive reuse schemes make up another quarter of those registered with the AIA. Just 3.8% are done in the interest of improved building energy performance, with a scant 1.6% being resiliency projects. The... View full entry
Provencher_Roy has released photos of their recently completed pedestrian redevelopment along a six-block stretch of Montreal’s heavily-trafficked Sainte-Catherine St. West commercial district just north of Ville-Marie. The project entailed the reimagining of a busy former four-lane street into... View full entry
NBBJ has been selected by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to lead the redevelopment of Paul Rudolph’s iconic Charles F. Hurley Building at the Boston Government Service Center. The move was announced last week after years of speculation as to the fate of Rudolph’s endangered Brutalist... View full entry
Toronto residents are expressing their concerns over the Diamond Schmitt-designed plan for a massive new aquatic theme park at Ontario Place they say is “tone-deaf” and exclusionary of their basic needs. Spurred on by the recent release of updated renderings and other details of Therme... View full entry
Formally branded as MetroCenter, the 28-acre district includes the seat of government for Miami-Dade County. When a developer is chosen, they could be given the right to build up to 23.7 million square feet of mixed-use space on 17 acres. The developer could be chosen in 2024, according to the Miami Herald.
The master builder would also get “unlimited height and development intensity” on the land that would be leased long-term to the developers, according to the county.
— Commerical Observer
Reports indicate that the scheme would include up to 8,500 total units, with 2,000 being designated as affordable or workforce housing, according to the RFP. Of the plan’s 11 sites, 9 are earmarked for “vertical development” while the remaining 2 are reserved for parklands. AECOM will serve... View full entry
Storm King Art Center has announced a $45 million capital project that will see the creation of a new welcome area, the construction of a conservation, fabrication, and maintenance building, and the advancement of the Center’s endeavors in landscape stewardship and environmental... View full entry
A key state oversight body approved the financing plan to redevelop Penn Station and its surrounding neighborhood Wednesday, greenlighting one of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s loftiest projects, which is estimated to cost a total of $22 billion. — Gothamist
Yesterday the Public Authorities Control Board (PACB), a state entity behind granting financial approval for proposals from statewide public authorities, approved how the multibillion-dollar Penn Station Redevelopment Plan will be funded. A day before the vote, a document was released detailing... View full entry
New York State officials on Thursday approved a sweeping redevelopment of Midtown Manhattan that would transform Pennsylvania Station, the busiest transportation hub in North America, from a run-down transit center into a city centerpiece. The eight-member board of Empire State Development, the state’s economic development agency and the group steering the project, unanimously voted in favor. — The New York Times
The Penn Station Redevelopment Plan is set to be one of the largest real estate projects in U.S. history. The project, spanning approximately 18 million square feet, includes the construction of 10 skyscrapers surrounding the station that will host office and retail space, 1,800 housing units, and... View full entry
A Gehry Partners proposal to redevelop Miami’s historic Deauville Beach Resort into a luxury hotel and condominium dubbed Equinox Towers is gaining traction after officials there agreed to move the plan to public vote on Wednesday. The firm’s initial concept model of the project revealed to... View full entry
Google is negotiating to buy the spaceship-like James R. Thompson Center in Chicago in a deal that could provide a much-needed boost to the city’s Loop business district.
The Mountain View, California-based tech giant is seeking to buy the Helmut Jahn-designed building at 100 W. Randolph St., where it plans to expand its Chicago offices into a large portion of the 17-story building’s soon-to-be-renovated office space, according to people familiar with the deal.
— CoStar
The future for Chicago's James R. Thompson Center, designed by the late Helmut Jahn, may be looking a bit brighter after the National Trust for Historic Preservation added the postmodern gem to its annual “America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places” list in 2019. Last year, the Chicago... View full entry
A transformed brownfield site in Ghent’s historic central core has been revealed, showcasing BOGDAN & VAN BROECK’s vision for a “world in itself” set amongst industrial ruins and characterized by what it calls “lockdown-compatible” living. The factory building had sat unoccupied since... View full entry
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has announced the completion of the first phase of a five-acre redevelopment project called The Peninsula. The project will bring hundreds of affordable homes and community amenities to the former site of the Spofford Juvenile Detention... View full entry
Malls represent heavy investments in infrastructure, construction materials and place making that should not be discarded. The popularity of dead malls as sites for Covid testing and eventually vaccinations underlines these essential qualities: Easy road access, unencumbered indoor space, instant name recognition. Contemplating the mall’s roots in the garden is an opportunity not for picturesque nostalgia but for new solutions. — The New York Times
The author of the forthcoming title Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall, out next week from Bloomsbury, Lange crafts a nice rundown of dead mall spaces’ possible reuses as public gardens, apartment complexes, and even health care centers in a country where... View full entry
