Transit Development Focuses on Community

LOS ANGELES—“Traditionally located communities are the new buzz words of transit-oriented development. While transit-focused development is not new, today's transit developments are focused on creating a community or village that his amenitized and walkable. Architects are challenged to bring these terms to life in the new wave of transit-oriented projects springing up in Los Angeles, and will likely discuss the approach today at ULI's transit conference today. To find out about traditionally located communities and why this is becoming the cornerstone or transit-oriented development, we sat down with Jonathan Watts, a partner at  Killefer Flammang Architects and the chair of ULI's Building Healthy Places Initiative, for an exclusive interview.

Globest.com: What does the term “Traditionally Located Communities” or TLC mean in today's context?

Jonathan Watts: TLC is a relatively new term for today's transit-oriented development that emphasizes the quality, or feeling, of community that develops around transportation options. Designing this kind of TOD means creating an environment where people want to be. TLC/TOD encourages walking, and that results in human interactions that enhance life for everyone. When people have improved access to their job locations and don't need to rely on driving, it improves the quality of their own health as well as the health of the environment. These are the values of more traditional communities, villages and towns that generally offer transport, services and amenities at a walkable human scale.

Globest.com: What does a TLC look like?

Watts: A good example is the soon-to-be-built Ivy Station, which will be a landmark, mixed-use, multi-mobile transit hub adjacent to the Los Angeles Metro station in Culver City. This is a recently revitalized urban hub that preserves the character of the city's residential neighborhoods. Ivy Station creates a shift in the Culver City community, stretching it and adding much-needed housing at a location that is served by rail, bus, bike and pedestrian access. Designed with people's daily lives in mind, Ivy Station will be an extraordinary place for the community. In addition to residential, hospitality, retail and creative office space, Ivy Station's Great Lawn and Central Plaza will accommodate daytime and evening special events, such as concerts, movie nights, wine and cheese festivals, holiday craft fairs and seasonal activities.

Globest.com:   How does a place or project become capable of creating a feeling of community?

Watts: The secret is design. We have to find the right way to locate development at stations and bus stops to produce energy and adjacency to services.  High quality projects must bring solutions to challenges in the communities where they are located. For example, the Ivy Station development, described above, offers a humane and sustainable way for Culver City to accommodate its growth. This kind of “place making” is the real value architects bring clients and communities. It's about the right kind of humane design.

Globest.com: What is your own approach to designing for TLC?

Watts: The best way to answer is with an example. When I take on a rare opportunity like Ivy Station, I'm excited and inspired by the limitless possibilities inherent in such a large, multifaceted, TLC project. I view urban infill as essential to smart growth. Ivy Station is named for a long-ago stop on Pacific Electric's Air Line. It is historically part of the “Hayden Tract,” a former, decaying Culver City industrial zone with a reputation as “the other side of the tracks.”

Today, the Tract has become a showcase for innovative architecture and community projects. I wanted the design for Ivy Station to contribute several things:

A vital concern is the careful crafting of the space between the buildings.  Ivy Station will provide a gorgeous open park lined with artisanal retail and inviting, lively paseos (walk streets).

It's not enough to simply place the buildings. Exciting forms are finally being understood as a place-making device.

Stories are formed when people interact with places. A sense of playfulness was important to me for Ivy Station.

Globest.com:  How do today's transit-oriented development projects anticipate a future way of life for the citizens of greater Los Angeles?

Watts: I'm observing today's sweeping generational changes and thinking about their impact. The “sharing economy” is influencing public transit and transit-oriented development.   Millennials are economically conservative and sensitive to environmental concerns. They have become used to alternative styles of living, including transportation. They are not as interested in owning cars as earlier generations of Americans were. These younger singles and couples will be the ones to embrace walkable, urban, transit-oriented developments.

Eric Garcetti, our forward-thinking Los Angeles mayor, promotes his “Great Streets” initiative, which is in line with TLC/TOD. His program describes, “'Great Streets' that activate public spaces, provide economic revitalization, increase public safety, enhance local culture and support great neighborhoods. By reimagining our streets, we can create places for Angelenos to come together, whether they travel by car, transit, bike or on foot.”

Globest.com: How are these developments financed?

Watts: Ivy Station is a development by Lowe Enterprises in partnership with AECOM Capital. Anther development KFA is involved with is in Los Angeles is financed by a public-private venture: “NoHo Station,” an approximately 2.5 million-square-foot development on nearly 16 acres surrounding the North Hollywood station of the Red Line light rail system, is a project of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and private development companies, including leading Shanghai-based developer Greenland Group and Trammell Crow, a unit of CBRE.

Steady gains in the US economy have resulted in net positives for the multifamily sector—will this wave continue for the foreseeable future? What's driving development and capital flows? Join us at RealShare Apartments on October 19 & 20 for impactful information from the leaders in the National multifamily space. Learn more.

LOS ANGELES—“Traditionally located communities are the new buzz words of transit-oriented development. While transit-focused development is not new, today's transit developments are focused on creating a community or village that his amenitized and walkable. Architects are challenged to bring these terms to life in the new wave of transit-oriented projects springing up in Los Angeles, and will likely discuss the approach today at ULI's transit conference today. To find out about traditionally located communities and why this is becoming the cornerstone or transit-oriented development, we sat down with Jonathan Watts, a partner at  Killefer Flammang Architects and the chair of ULI's Building Healthy Places Initiative, for an exclusive interview.

Globest.com: What does the term “Traditionally Located Communities” or TLC mean in today's context?

Jonathan Watts: TLC is a relatively new term for today's transit-oriented development that emphasizes the quality, or feeling, of community that develops around transportation options. Designing this kind of TOD means creating an environment where people want to be. TLC/TOD encourages walking, and that results in human interactions that enhance life for everyone. When people have improved access to their job locations and don't need to rely on driving, it improves the quality of their own health as well as the health of the environment. These are the values of more traditional communities, villages and towns that generally offer transport, services and amenities at a walkable human scale.

Globest.com: What does a TLC look like?

Watts: A good example is the soon-to-be-built Ivy Station, which will be a landmark, mixed-use, multi-mobile transit hub adjacent to the Los Angeles Metro station in Culver City. This is a recently revitalized urban hub that preserves the character of the city's residential neighborhoods. Ivy Station creates a shift in the Culver City community, stretching it and adding much-needed housing at a location that is served by rail, bus, bike and pedestrian access. Designed with people's daily lives in mind, Ivy Station will be an extraordinary place for the community. In addition to residential, hospitality, retail and creative office space, Ivy Station's Great Lawn and Central Plaza will accommodate daytime and evening special events, such as concerts, movie nights, wine and cheese festivals, holiday craft fairs and seasonal activities.

Globest.com:   How does a place or project become capable of creating a feeling of community?

Watts: The secret is design. We have to find the right way to locate development at stations and bus stops to produce energy and adjacency to services.  High quality projects must bring solutions to challenges in the communities where they are located. For example, the Ivy Station development, described above, offers a humane and sustainable way for Culver City to accommodate its growth. This kind of “place making” is the real value architects bring clients and communities. It's about the right kind of humane design.

Globest.com: What is your own approach to designing for TLC?

Watts: The best way to answer is with an example. When I take on a rare opportunity like Ivy Station, I'm excited and inspired by the limitless possibilities inherent in such a large, multifaceted, TLC project. I view urban infill as essential to smart growth. Ivy Station is named for a long-ago stop on Pacific Electric's Air Line. It is historically part of the “Hayden Tract,” a former, decaying Culver City industrial zone with a reputation as “the other side of the tracks.”

Today, the Tract has become a showcase for innovative architecture and community projects. I wanted the design for Ivy Station to contribute several things:

A vital concern is the careful crafting of the space between the buildings.  Ivy Station will provide a gorgeous open park lined with artisanal retail and inviting, lively paseos (walk streets).

It's not enough to simply place the buildings. Exciting forms are finally being understood as a place-making device.

Stories are formed when people interact with places. A sense of playfulness was important to me for Ivy Station.

Globest.com:  How do today's transit-oriented development projects anticipate a future way of life for the citizens of greater Los Angeles?

Watts: I'm observing today's sweeping generational changes and thinking about their impact. The “sharing economy” is influencing public transit and transit-oriented development.   Millennials are economically conservative and sensitive to environmental concerns. They have become used to alternative styles of living, including transportation. They are not as interested in owning cars as earlier generations of Americans were. These younger singles and couples will be the ones to embrace walkable, urban, transit-oriented developments.

Eric Garcetti, our forward-thinking Los Angeles mayor, promotes his “Great Streets” initiative, which is in line with TLC/TOD. His program describes, “'Great Streets' that activate public spaces, provide economic revitalization, increase public safety, enhance local culture and support great neighborhoods. By reimagining our streets, we can create places for Angelenos to come together, whether they travel by car, transit, bike or on foot.”

Globest.com: How are these developments financed?

Watts: Ivy Station is a development by Lowe Enterprises in partnership with AECOM Capital. Anther development KFA is involved with is in Los Angeles is financed by a public-private venture: “NoHo Station,” an approximately 2.5 million-square-foot development on nearly 16 acres surrounding the North Hollywood station of the Red Line light rail system, is a project of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and private development companies, including leading Shanghai-based developer Greenland Group and Trammell Crow, a unit of CBRE.

Steady gains in the US economy have resulted in net positives for the multifamily sector—will this wave continue for the foreseeable future? What's driving development and capital flows? Join us at RealShare Apartments on October 19 & 20 for impactful information from the leaders in the National multifamily space. Learn more.