Large suburban developers are increasingly moving into blighted and urban properties.
Faced with a "land scarcity in the 'burbs that threatens to crimp their growth" large suburban developers like KBHome, Lennar, and Toll Brothers Inc., "are suddenly making a reverse commute of their own by gobbling up urban properties at a fevered pace."
While the "downtown market is fraught with challenges for the suburban builders -- including strict zoning requirements and environmental cleanups of some industrial properties, as well as land and construction costs that are far higher than what they're used to in the suburbs... for suburban builders who get it right... the urban market can yield profits every bit as fat as what they make in suburbia."
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Thanks to The Practice of New Urbanism
Read the full story: A New Frontier For Suburban Builders
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
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Eastern Nebraska is running out of electricity
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Move over, LA: St. Louis gears up for Olympics, invests millions in downtown redevelopment
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Mass. votes against statewide minimum lot size for single-family homes
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Maryland’s $15 billion bridge project gains key approval
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‘No clear next steps’ for Chicago's permanent festival grounds
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FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority