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Research Out Side of Grays Harbor
Examples from Outside Grays Harbor
Some interesting adaptations for buildings in other areas can be found here.
Recycling buildings is typically a Herculean undertaking, particularly if the building is large, historical, or environmentally challenged in some fashion. To restore or adapt buildings often takes the joint effort both the private and public sectors. The actual work requires the efforts of artisans and skilled craftsman ranging from architects to wallpaper hangers. Building codes are a formidable challenge in many cases, especially when adapting an industrial building to a residential or community use. Financing the undertaking often requires public financing for large structures, while private funds may manage nicely for some unique smaller buildings.
The term “brownfield” describes buildings that are “abandoned or underutilized commercial or industrial properties that usually have some environmental contamination.” Our cultural heritage often resides in the structures we build, both in their original purpose, and in the identity imbued by their presence and use. Many national heritage sites contain buildings restored for historical preservation and study. Some of the most famous buildings in the world exemplify the best in building restoration; The White House, The Kremlin, Buckingham Palace, and The Parthenon are all structures restored after the ravages of time, fire, and war. Adaptive re-use changes the purpose of the structure of a building. There are many instances of such re-use; in Tacoma, we can look to the Washington State History Museum (formerly Union Station in Tacoma), The University of Washington Tacoma Campus (formerly commercial buildings), and the Tacoma Police Headquarters (formerly Costco) as worthwhile examples of adaptive re-use.
There are many examples of cities in the US and Canada taking steps to revitalize their communities. Cities have taken steps to create full scale twenty year comprehensive plans to more simple projects such as tree plantings and flowers planters. However, all have a common goal they want to create a vibrant and thriving environment that is supportive of both its citizens and business community.
A website entitled Smart Growth seems to embrace the idea of revitalizing cities. One of their principles is to foster distinctive, attractive communities with a strong sense of place. The idea is that the vision for development fits the community and places emphasis on constructions and preservation of buildings that meet the vision and fits the community. This is a very unique website which has many other unique principles as well as information regarding what cities across America are doing to create their development plan based upon where they are but more importantly on their vision for their future and how to ensure that the communities create meet their core values.
The city of Los Angeles has created a Community Beautification Grant program. The program concept was based upon a grant program designed in Seattle, Washington. The program has an $800,000 budget which is overseen by the Board of Public Works. They provide on a competitive basis about 90 grants per year for up to $10,000 per grant. Each grant requires a dollar for dollar match. The funds are used for physical improvements such as tree plantings, murals, benches, flower planters, marquees, gardens, etc. The range of projects is truly amazing and for a small investment which is doubled because of the matching requirement many small but very aesthetic projects are taking place in the City of Los Angeles. A complete list of the 2007-2008 projects can be found here.
The city of Pottsville, Pennsylvania has taken a very strategic view within its comprehensive plan to address its plan for central business district revitalization. In Pottsville they, like many cities, have had a decline in activity and investments in its central business district. They created the Pottsville Area Development Corporation to oversee the central business plans. The Board has 27 members ranging from both public and private representatives and they oversee $1.8 million loan portfolio. In the past the funds have been used to finance 70 façade renovations and other improvements for new and existing businesses.
The city also took a large undertaking of connecting with its citizens to determine what they saw as assets, weaknesses and recommendations for the area. Based upon this information the city will continue to look as its comprehensive plan as well as tax structure and partnerships with private industry, non-profits and government agencies to continue is plan to revitalize its central business district.
Another example of local government and private business partnership was locate in Simi Valley, California. In an effort to invigorate and restore certain areas of their town the City Council has awarded four grants of approximately $80,000 to businesses to renovate older buildings in an effort to entice more businesses and customers to town. The grant funds are only a small fraction of the cost to renovate the buildings however in the case of Simi Valley it appears this small incentive is more than enough to lure business back into the area. The full story can be found at:
A unique program not necessarily targeted at businesses was found in Redding, California. They have created the Residential Incentive Package which is part of a larger revitalization plan for the city. This is also a partnership between private and public partnership. The residential package is focused on providing incentives to current owners to improve their properties as well as help new first-time homebuyers purchase a home in specific neighborhoods. At the time of the article they had helped two first time homebuyers, rehabilitated 17 home units and provided 46 paints vouchers to low and moderate income households.
The city of Vancouver, British Columbia has a program designed specifically for conversation of hits historic buildings. They have two specific financial programs targeted to building owners to help mitigate the costs of renovation. The first program is the Heritage Façade Rehabilitation Program which provides up to 50% of the cost to repairs, restore or enhance the façade of the building. Owners can receive up to a maximum of $50,000 per principal facade. The other program is the Heritage Building Rehabilitation Program which provides property tax exemption for up to ten years for structural and foundation repairs, seismic upgrades and façade rehabilitation.
In New York they have the Main Street Program. This is a state funded program to help communities revitalize their downtown areas by helping with building renovations, streetscape enhancements and downtown business or cultural anchors. It is a competitive process which has a maximum of $200,000 per recipient. New York State has completed four grant cycles and during this period they have awarded $33 million in grants to over 130 different communities with in the state. The program appears to have wide spread support because it not only addresses preservation of older buildings its also trying to renovate buildings that have been left to deteriorate back into vibrant and viable commercial and residential properties.
The final program I reviewed was in the City of Bethlehem in Pennsylvania. They have an Office of Economic Development and this office is to help businesses through technical assistance and financial programs. They have a number of programs aimed at helping businesses with their buildings and in an effort to ensure the economic vitality of the city. They have the Fund for Revitalization and Economic Development (FRED) program and one aspect of that program provides for low interest “gap” financing to remove slum and blight. They have a Façade Program to help provide low interest loans to business to restore storefronts and facades. They have a Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance (LERTA) program to help businesses with taxes for new construction and rehabilitation projects. They have Enterprise Zone Incentives which provides tax credits for a number of different things but one being that businesses make qualified investments in rehabilitating, expanding or improving their buildings. They final program is they have the Bethlehem Loan Program which like many of the others has many different allowable uses but again it can be used to help businesses with their properties and renovations.
Based upon the research I found a community plan summary for Grays Harbor. This report was done by Barney and Worth Inc. and it looked at thirty-five plan documents from different communities within the area on past and current economic development effort. It covers a wide range of topics from area transportation, to business development to education. Unfortunately the information didn’t provide the status of each plan but it might be a venue to shape the conversation on how to create a partnership between public and private entities regarding the restoration of buildings and the areas that surround them to not only draw businesses to the area but also the much need customer base. The community plans summary can be found at:
There are many different public and private partnerships being taken up around the U.S. to improve deteriorating buildings and communities. These were only a few examples of projects that I found in my research but I believe they showcase the many unique and innovative approaches there are to the subject. They all had in common one goal which was to restore a sense of community and pride through investments to improve and restore private and public buildings.
Some interesting adaptations for buildings in other areas can be found here.
Recycling buildings is typically a Herculean undertaking, particularly if the building is large, historical, or environmentally challenged in some fashion. To restore or adapt buildings often takes the joint effort both the private and public sectors. The actual work requires the efforts of artisans and skilled craftsman ranging from architects to wallpaper hangers. Building codes are a formidable challenge in many cases, especially when adapting an industrial building to a residential or community use. Financing the undertaking often requires public financing for large structures, while private funds may manage nicely for some unique smaller buildings.
The term “brownfield” describes buildings that are “abandoned or underutilized commercial or industrial properties that usually have some environmental contamination.” Our cultural heritage often resides in the structures we build, both in their original purpose, and in the identity imbued by their presence and use. Many national heritage sites contain buildings restored for historical preservation and study. Some of the most famous buildings in the world exemplify the best in building restoration; The White House, The Kremlin, Buckingham Palace, and The Parthenon are all structures restored after the ravages of time, fire, and war. Adaptive re-use changes the purpose of the structure of a building. There are many instances of such re-use; in Tacoma, we can look to the Washington State History Museum (formerly Union Station in Tacoma), The University of Washington Tacoma Campus (formerly commercial buildings), and the Tacoma Police Headquarters (formerly Costco) as worthwhile examples of adaptive re-use.
There are many examples of cities in the US and Canada taking steps to revitalize their communities. Cities have taken steps to create full scale twenty year comprehensive plans to more simple projects such as tree plantings and flowers planters. However, all have a common goal they want to create a vibrant and thriving environment that is supportive of both its citizens and business community.
A website entitled Smart Growth seems to embrace the idea of revitalizing cities. One of their principles is to foster distinctive, attractive communities with a strong sense of place. The idea is that the vision for development fits the community and places emphasis on constructions and preservation of buildings that meet the vision and fits the community. This is a very unique website which has many other unique principles as well as information regarding what cities across America are doing to create their development plan based upon where they are but more importantly on their vision for their future and how to ensure that the communities create meet their core values.
The city of Los Angeles has created a Community Beautification Grant program. The program concept was based upon a grant program designed in Seattle, Washington. The program has an $800,000 budget which is overseen by the Board of Public Works. They provide on a competitive basis about 90 grants per year for up to $10,000 per grant. Each grant requires a dollar for dollar match. The funds are used for physical improvements such as tree plantings, murals, benches, flower planters, marquees, gardens, etc. The range of projects is truly amazing and for a small investment which is doubled because of the matching requirement many small but very aesthetic projects are taking place in the City of Los Angeles. A complete list of the 2007-2008 projects can be found here.
The city of Pottsville, Pennsylvania has taken a very strategic view within its comprehensive plan to address its plan for central business district revitalization. In Pottsville they, like many cities, have had a decline in activity and investments in its central business district. They created the Pottsville Area Development Corporation to oversee the central business plans. The Board has 27 members ranging from both public and private representatives and they oversee $1.8 million loan portfolio. In the past the funds have been used to finance 70 façade renovations and other improvements for new and existing businesses.
The city also took a large undertaking of connecting with its citizens to determine what they saw as assets, weaknesses and recommendations for the area. Based upon this information the city will continue to look as its comprehensive plan as well as tax structure and partnerships with private industry, non-profits and government agencies to continue is plan to revitalize its central business district.
Another example of local government and private business partnership was locate in Simi Valley, California. In an effort to invigorate and restore certain areas of their town the City Council has awarded four grants of approximately $80,000 to businesses to renovate older buildings in an effort to entice more businesses and customers to town. The grant funds are only a small fraction of the cost to renovate the buildings however in the case of Simi Valley it appears this small incentive is more than enough to lure business back into the area. The full story can be found at:
A unique program not necessarily targeted at businesses was found in Redding, California. They have created the Residential Incentive Package which is part of a larger revitalization plan for the city. This is also a partnership between private and public partnership. The residential package is focused on providing incentives to current owners to improve their properties as well as help new first-time homebuyers purchase a home in specific neighborhoods. At the time of the article they had helped two first time homebuyers, rehabilitated 17 home units and provided 46 paints vouchers to low and moderate income households.
The city of Vancouver, British Columbia has a program designed specifically for conversation of hits historic buildings. They have two specific financial programs targeted to building owners to help mitigate the costs of renovation. The first program is the Heritage Façade Rehabilitation Program which provides up to 50% of the cost to repairs, restore or enhance the façade of the building. Owners can receive up to a maximum of $50,000 per principal facade. The other program is the Heritage Building Rehabilitation Program which provides property tax exemption for up to ten years for structural and foundation repairs, seismic upgrades and façade rehabilitation.
In New York they have the Main Street Program. This is a state funded program to help communities revitalize their downtown areas by helping with building renovations, streetscape enhancements and downtown business or cultural anchors. It is a competitive process which has a maximum of $200,000 per recipient. New York State has completed four grant cycles and during this period they have awarded $33 million in grants to over 130 different communities with in the state. The program appears to have wide spread support because it not only addresses preservation of older buildings its also trying to renovate buildings that have been left to deteriorate back into vibrant and viable commercial and residential properties.
The final program I reviewed was in the City of Bethlehem in Pennsylvania. They have an Office of Economic Development and this office is to help businesses through technical assistance and financial programs. They have a number of programs aimed at helping businesses with their buildings and in an effort to ensure the economic vitality of the city. They have the Fund for Revitalization and Economic Development (FRED) program and one aspect of that program provides for low interest “gap” financing to remove slum and blight. They have a Façade Program to help provide low interest loans to business to restore storefronts and facades. They have a Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance (LERTA) program to help businesses with taxes for new construction and rehabilitation projects. They have Enterprise Zone Incentives which provides tax credits for a number of different things but one being that businesses make qualified investments in rehabilitating, expanding or improving their buildings. They final program is they have the Bethlehem Loan Program which like many of the others has many different allowable uses but again it can be used to help businesses with their properties and renovations.
Based upon the research I found a community plan summary for Grays Harbor. This report was done by Barney and Worth Inc. and it looked at thirty-five plan documents from different communities within the area on past and current economic development effort. It covers a wide range of topics from area transportation, to business development to education. Unfortunately the information didn’t provide the status of each plan but it might be a venue to shape the conversation on how to create a partnership between public and private entities regarding the restoration of buildings and the areas that surround them to not only draw businesses to the area but also the much need customer base. The community plans summary can be found at:
There are many different public and private partnerships being taken up around the U.S. to improve deteriorating buildings and communities. These were only a few examples of projects that I found in my research but I believe they showcase the many unique and innovative approaches there are to the subject. They all had in common one goal which was to restore a sense of community and pride through investments to improve and restore private and public buildings.
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