America's Best New Development Projects

"The Sierra Club is well-known for trying to stop big real-estate-development projects. But in a move that could help it gain new allies, the nation's best-known environmental group is starting to go to bat for some builders.

...Among the endorsements: a project to build as many as 5,000 homes on the site of a former steel mill in Atlanta; the conversion of a high school into apartments and condominiums in Albuquerque, N.M.; and redeveloping a factory and warehouse district in Portland, Ore., into more than 2,000 townhomes and apartments.

...Mixed-use developments in big cities are becoming a hot trend in real estate. Sierra Club leaders say they support these kinds of developments because building more homes and businesses on existing urban land will help combat the problem of sprawl."

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From the Sierra Club Report:

"Much of the development in the United States today is sprawling, low density, car-dependent "bigbox" or "strip-mall" construction, which produces more and more traffic and harms our land, air, and water. The Sierra Club believes there is a better way to build, and in doing so, to produce healthy neighborhoods, and livable communities.

While the Sierra Club opposes poorly planned, sprawling development, built on natural areas and farmland, we support quality investment in areas that already have a history of development to enhance communities and the environment. By reinvesting in existing neighborhoods and creating more walkable, transit accessible places to live and work, a select subset of the nation’s development leaders are raising the bar for neighborhood design. By embracing conservation, green building techniques, and affordable housing, and by building on the assets we already have, these developments offer a path to a more sustainable future.

In selecting America's best new development, the Sierra Club considered a wide range of projects, from cities large and small, to suburbs, to small towns in each corner of the nation. Our winners cover economically challenged areas like Fruitvale in Oakland and Highland Park in Milwaukee, as well as well-off areas like Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts.

We also included massive projects like Atlantic Station in Atlanta, which encompasses 138 acres and includes 12 million square feet of retail, office, residential and hotel, and by contrast, smaller scale projects like 66 residential homes and an industrial building in Hopkins, Minnesota."

Thanks to Jack Skelley