VERTICAL VILLAGES-THE MAGIC OF MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENTS Newsletter Edition 4

“As an architect, you design for the present, with an awareness of the past for a future which is essentially unknown.” - Norman Foster, Iconic Global Architect

Last week, we addressed the crucial need to ask yourself "Why?", when considering the underlying rationale to your project. Now, as the developer, you need to ask "What?"

At this point, you've researched the market, found a suitable site and you're about to master plan your development. Your research will have either confirmed your original ideas about what it is to contain, or contradicted them. It's important to avoid allowing your preconceived notions to determine its final form. A valued retailer friend often reminds me of the importance of this principle with his often repeated saying: "Nothing spoils a theory like a fact!"-Ken Chilvers-past CEO of Wet Seal. He reminds us that our ego has to give way to the facts that we learn when we thoroughly research who are our proposed consumers and what are their wants and needs. It is "all about them"!

David Allison, founder of Valuegraphics (www.valuegraphics.com), in his revolutionary book "We Are All The Same Age Now", shows us how important sophisticated research is, based on applying up to date neuroscientific principles, to the quality of our project decision making. By focusing on the values held by our consumers, he argues that your decision making must be much more than just the demographic characteristics of your audience.

So now you know the different-sized groups, and their values, within your catchment area and that are available to which you can cater. You've learned not only:

• what retail choices they prefer

but also whether they would:

• live in a multi-family apartment,
• seek excitement in entertainment and leisure complexes
• patronize a hotel and F&B outlets,
• guard their excess treasured goods in an onsite self-storage unit,
• work in an office building, revised of course for today's hybrid preferences,

And, just as importantly, in what combination.

Now you can choose the assortment of elements you believe will earn the long term support of the greatest number of customers, especially in the combination that will suit them best.

Let's consider the main choices and their key characteristics today. Most of them have changed from what they were only a few years ago and so it is key to understand the latest formats from which to select.

Retail

Gone from your palette are the mighty department stores once dominant in regional malls and lower down your list are the formerly plentiful fashion outlets. At the top of your list today are supermarkets, pharmacies and food and beverage outlets. And still available are personal care outlets, select fashion shops and unique boutiques that cater to the tastes of those who must see and touch their choices in person. And there are many more whose suitability will be deduced from your research. Please read the detailed analysis of myself, Phil Richardson, in Chapter 14 for the future of this still vital element that I've gained from leading projects ranging in size from 50,000 sf to 5,000,000 sf. "We must meet our customers where they want to be met!" is one of my favourite principles.

Multi-Family Residential

The high-rise format of residential in mixed-use developments is much preferred today in keeping with increased land costs and the efficient and synergistic placement of elements on a site. Douglas F. Edgelow in Chapter 10 outlines the intricacies and rewards from developing this format. As he says: “Home Is Where The Heart Is."-- Pliny the Elder, Roman Savant and Author (A.D. 23-79)

The range of choices in this format include:

• Rental Apartments-a great choice catering to a growing number of renters, forced from home ownership by rising prices and the increasingly popular affordable segment fits in with them
• Condominium Apartments-a viable choice especially for middle class purchasers
• Seniors Apartments and Residences-a very fast growing sector, particularly with a continuum of care approach allowing seniors to "age in place" as their needs increase with age. Ian Jones details the many approaches to the exciting opportunities in this sector in Chapter 11. As Ian says “The simple act of caring is heroic.” - Edward Albert

Entertainment & Leisure

This element has tremendous potential to define the personality and character of a project. Neuroscience has taught us that we humans make decisions based on our emotions and if properly done, nothing lends more excitement for our customers than this element. “Entertainment is mankind’s basic necessity. It soothes the soul, brings us together and enriches a culture."-Unknown Author.

And it come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes from small Family Entertainment Centers to huge theme parks such as Ferrari World. Vikram Chopra in his Chapter 13 outlines his vast knowledge on the subject with just one project experience being the development and delivery of the most popular theme park on the planet (voted so in 2019) Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi, UAE for which he served as Senior Project Manager which I led as Development Director. Importantly, it is connected directly to the Super Regional Yas Mall, lending its excitement to the whole projects brand.

Hospitality and Food & Beverage

As you will read in Raman Khanna's chapter 13, there is a wide variety of candidates eligible to occupy your project. “Quality is never an accident. It is always the result of an intelligent effort”–John Ruskin

This sector has evolved quickly in recent years as a response to the challenges of attracting customers during the Pandemic were so harsh. Today, you can choose from a range of options including:

• Full service hotels
• Mid service hotels
• Budget hotels
• Medium and long-term stay hotels

In F&B, many chains strengthened their offerings during the Pandemic focusing on take home foods, which includes the exciting new segment of Ghost Kitchens. However, as customers are now able to return to normalized outlets, their overall popularity has increased even more.

Self Storage

This segment's popularity has grown in recent years by leaps and bounds in lockstep with the move to multi-family apartments which have limited space in which to guard one's treasures and keepsakes. Today, many enterprising self storage developers have taken up vacancies in shopping centers, largely failed department stores and have benefited from their high profile locations. As well, there are opportunities to build new, medium rise facilities with the most modern range of services on unused parking areas of failed shopping centers.

Nicholas Malagisi has outlined these and other great opportunities in this segment in his Chapter 16. As he cited in his chapter: “Stationary Storage will be as big as the Car Business, long term”— Elon Musk, Serial Entrepreneur

Office Buildings

While this segment is still transforming to adjust to the new expectations of office based employers and employees, there are opportunities to include concepts that have grown in popularity during the Pandemic such as Shared Offices that still require a physical presence. While we recommend that it should be approached guardedly, this is a viable candidate. And of course, the existing office facilities are evolving too, with added services to improve service and appeal to employees and in the end, there is a still a strong attraction to the massive built space that already exists. I outline these opportunities in Chapter 15. As most office building owners have said recently, “What Just Happened and What Comes Next?”

The Combination

Of course, it is the efficient combination of the appropriate elements you will select that is key to their individual and group success. The developer must pay attention to ensuring the most modern formats are provided with a well designed access and parking plan and that the elements are placed to respect how they will be used. In addition, he/she must harmonize all of these considerations so that the whole project will be optimized as well as the individual elements.

In Chapter 17, Charles Hadsell of PropTech company ePropertyCare Corp. describes how by using advanced technology, the development and operation of all of the elements can be synergized. As well, in Chapters 1 & 18, I attempt to draw together the whole of the process of producing a very successful mixed-use development.

As Sir Winston Churchill once famously said "“First we shape our buildings, thereafter they shape us.” We are in the midst of great societal change which must guide us in how we design and deliver our buildings.