You may not have heard of him, but Portland's Homer Williams is busily making big changes in Downtown Los Angeles.
"Though still relatively unknown among the general Los Angeles populace, and certainly with a lower profile than developers such as Rick Caruso or Tom Gilmore, [Homer] Williams, 61, has established himself as a major new player in Downtown. The Portland-based collective he heads, South Group, just opened its first local project, the $65 million Elleven, and plans to develop more than 1,700 condominiums in South Park.
It's a southern expansion for one of the most prominent developers on the West Coast. In the last three decades, Williams has created more than 10,000 housing units, as well as a hotel in the Caribbean. His current projects are worth, by his estimation, about $2.5 billion.
In Portland, Williams sparked the transformation of a neighborhood of low-slung warehouses and abandoned railyards into the Pearl District, now one of the country's models of successful urban revitalization. Another development, South Waterfront, is a decade-long plan to turn a dilapidated brownfield into more than 3,000 condominiums and affordable housing units, and construct an aerial tram connecting the not-yet-there neighborhood with the Oregon Health & Science University. The city and other entities are partners in the $2 billion project."
FULL STORY: The Visionary
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
San Francisco's School District Spent $105M To Build Affordable Housing for Teachers — And That's Just the Beginning
SFUSD joins a growing list of school districts using their land holdings to address housing affordability challenges faced by their own employees.
The Tiny, Adorable $7,000 Car Turning Japan Onto EVs
The single seat Mibot charges from a regular plug as quickly as an iPad, and is about half the price of an average EV.
Engineers Gave America's Roads an Almost Failing Grade — Why Aren't We Fixing Them?
With over a trillion dollars spent on roads that are still falling apart, advocates propose a new “fix it first” philosophy.
The European Cities That Love E-Scooters — And Those That Don’t
Where they're working, where they're banned, and where they're just as annoying the tourists that use them.
Map: Where Senate Republicans Want to Sell Your Public Lands
For public land advocates, the Senate Republicans’ proposal to sell millions of acres of public land in the West is “the biggest fight of their careers.”
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Borough of Carlisle
Smith Gee Studio
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
Municipality of Princeton (NJ)