FROM THE LinkedIn GROUP – REAL ESTATE AND MOBILITY
Ace Parking says Uber, Lyft have cut parking business up to 50% in some venues
“At San Diego hotels serviced by Ace Parking, overnight parking has declined 5 percent to 10 percent. At restaurant valet stands, business is down 25 percent.
And, most dramatically, nightclub valets are seeing a 50 percent drop off.
Homegrown Ace Parking — one of the largest parking companies in North America and also a fixture in San Diego’s political and business scene — is feeling the impact from Uber and Lyft, the wildly popular ride-sharing services that allow people to leave their cars at home.”
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/growth-development/sd-fi-ace-parking-uber-lyft-competition-20180222-story.html
Denver’s Tallest Building Doesn’t Need to Be Saddled With 10 Stories of Parking in Perpetuity
““Our research is all suggesting that the demand for parking is going to reduce dramatically over the next 15 years,” he said. “So our premise is, why would you build a parking structure that’s gonna be obsolete?”
Mather pointed to 84.51, a project Gensler did in Cincinnati that has what Mather calls “future flexible” parking. There are local examples too. About 30 of the Denizen’s parking spots can be converted to retail space, the Denver Post reports, and more than 700 parking stalls will be convertible at the planned World Trade Center campus.”
https://denver.streetsblog.org/2018/02/23/denvers-tallest-building-doesnt-need-to-be-saddled-with-eight-stories-of-parking-in-perpetuity/
How Will Current Land Use Patterns Impact the Deployment of Autonomous Vehicles?
“Automation alone will not be enough to derive the full potential benefits of AVs without also undertaking a significant examination of land use – quite the opposite. Changes in land use may create an environment in which the benefits of AVs can be fully realized. If we want more shared use of vehicles, we need to create livable, walkable communities where car trips are relatively short and can be easily shared among individuals who are relatively close to each other and on the same general route.”
https://www.enotrans.org/article/guest-op-ed-will-current-land-use-patterns-impact-deployment-autonomous-vehicles/
A chance to transform urban planning
AVs could also make possible new kinds of suburbs, updating the 20th-century dream of garden cities. “Over the last 100 years our landscape has been drastically altered by the automobile,” says Mr Berger. With AVs, “all the land we’ve given to the automobile can be put back into landscape and ecological functions. By doing away with parking and using one-way, single-lane roads that loop through neighbourhoods, the area of paved surface can be reduced by 50%, he calculates. That means more space for plants, more biodiversity and better water retention, reducing the risk of flooding in the urban core. Suburbs will have enough space to generate their own solar power or grow their own food.”
https://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21737427-how-autonomous-vehicles-will-reshape-cities-chance-transform-urban-planning
The next great urban reset
“2008 should have been the moment, however, it looks like it will come sometime in the next decade or two. How it will play out exactly is uncertain. My bet is that financial pressure from broke Millennials to central bank asset bubbles finally running out of steam will converge with new technologies such as ‘automated everything’ to produce the perfect storm, toppling the current paradigm.”
https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2018/02/26/next-great-urban-reset
Farewell to the Horse: A Cultural History
The Week Magazine – Book of the Week
Farewell to the Horse: A Cultural History
The perfect combination of speed, strength, and camaraderie
by Ulrich Raulff (Liveright, $35)
“We can barely remember all the ways in which horses were once used,” said Verlyn Klinkenborg in The New York Review of Books. Raulff returns us to a time when they were the answer to the human need for speed, enabling the conquest of continents but also quick errand runs. Our dependence on horses in fact surged in the early stages of urbanization and industrialization. In 1900, New York City was home to 130,000 working horses, a labor force that inconveniently produced 1,100 tons of manure a day. Around the same time, it was possible to visit an American farm and see a 40-horse team pulling a combine harvester.
Studies are increasingly clear: Uber, Lyft congest cities
“One study included surveys of 944 ride-hailing users over four weeks in late 2017 in the Boston area. Nearly six in 10 said they would have used public transportation, walked, biked or skipped the trip if the ride-hailing apps weren’t available.
The report also found many riders aren’t using hailed rides to connect to a subway or bus line, but instead as a separate mode of transit, said Alison Felix, one of the report’s authors.”
https://www.apnews.com/e47ebfaa1b184130984e2f3501bd125d/Studies-are-increasingly-clear:-Uber,-Lyft-congest-cities
What drives ride-hailing: Parking, Drinking, Flying, Peaking, Pricing
“Ride-hail demand is driven by drinking (people who want to avoid having drive their own vehicle on Friday and Saturday nights), by the cost of parking (ride-hailing is a more economical alternative to bringing your own car places where parking is expensive).People traveling by air seem to value their time more highly, and may have no access to a personal private vehicle at one end of their flight. Ride-hailing is highly peaked in those times (especially Friday and Saturday nights) and places (downtowns and airports) in which there is demand. Finally, ride hail trips tend to be short (just 2-4 miles), because customers pay for each additional mile and minute.”
http://cityobservatory.org/what-drives-ride-hailing-parking-drinking-flying-peaking-pricing/
A Driverless Future Threatens the Laws of Real Estate
“But now, the dawn of the driverless car—promising a utopia of stress-free commutes, urban playgrounds and the end of parking hassles—threatens to complicate the calculus for anyone buying property. They’re just starting to think about what to do with all the space that could be freed up in a world where cars no longer sit idle for an estimated 95 percent of the time, whether unloved areas without mass transit might soon become more attractive, whether out-of-the-way greenfield sites will become valuable locations for warehouses.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-06/a-driverless-future-threatens-the-laws-of-real-estate
MOBILITY
RTD and partners propose new design for 16th Street Mall
Downtown’s 16th Street Mall has been a dynamic center for activity since its opening in 1982. This unique outdoor pedestrian mall offers great restaurants, shops, food and gift carts, special events, outdoor seating for socializing, and is the transit way for RTD’s Free MallRide buses. As the number one tourist destination in the metro area, the 35-year-old mall’s aging infrastructure, rising maintenance, and increasing pedestrian traffic have signaled the need to rethink the future of the mall.
To continue serving the metro area, RTD and the City and County of Denver are proposing a new design for reconstruction of the mall that would expand sidewalks and move the transit lanes to the center or offset center on each block. The updated design would enhance the mall experience for visitors while improving pedestrian safety and mobility.
https://www.denvergov.org/content/denvergov/en/community-planning-and-development/news/2018/16th-st-mall-recommendation-expand-sidewalks-ped-safety.html
16th Street Mall Design
Open house
RTD Administrative Offices
1660 Blake Street, Rooms T&D
March 8th, Noon – 1:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
ATTAINABLE HOUSING
The Colorado Housing and Finance Authority announces its chfareach program during which three national consultants bring workshops on Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC). If you are new to tax credit developments, or looking for high-level education learn more at:
Daylong Intensive – March 14.
Two-Day Workshop or One-day Refresher and optional HCCP Certification – June 12-14
Low Income Housing Tax Credit Compliance (TaCCs) Certification, Denver – September 25-26
https://www.chfainfo.com/arh/chfareach
Rodger Hara of Community Builders Realty Services has been named “Curator” of a new “Affordable Housing Spotlight” section in the Colorado Real Estate Journal’s Multifamily Quarterly edition. The first one came out last month and a link to the introductory article is at:
https://crej.com/news/mpq-feature-new-affordable-housing-spotlight/
Articles in this one include a look at the changed role of housing authorities, affordable housing for teachers, a review of Jonathan Rose’ book “The Well-Tempered City” and a profile of the VOA/DHA Boulevard One project at Lowry. The next Multifamily Quarterly in May will examine cost containment of affordable housing and in August look at affordable housing training and organizations. Contributors to the first issue include Kim Iwanski, Housing Catalyst, Doug Snyder, VOA and Melissa McGinley, Workshop8. Rodger says, “I’ve got articles and authors lined up for May and if you have an interest in doing an article for the August issue let me know. There will be another issue in November and I haven’t decided what the theme of that issue will be yet. Also, please let me know if you would like to advertise in the Colorado Real Estate Journal in the 4 pages that will be focused on affordable housing to reach a new and different audience of the Journal’s readers.”
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rodger-hara-6a06b69/
rodger.hara@comcast.net
Rodger also reports that a new survey of Denver voters reveals that Denver’s high-cost housing market is the most pressing local concern, and that voters are supportive of increasing local funding for solutions to the housing crunch. The survey was sponsored by All In Denver and a number of fellow organizations working on housing and affordability issues across the metro area. The survey results show that voters rank affordable housing as the top local issue that they want to see addressed by Mayor Hancock and Denver City Council. 35% of survey respondents identified affordable housing as their number one issue, a 5% increase from a similar survey conducted last year by All In Denver.
https://www.allindenver.org/copy-of-affordable-housing-1
REAL ESTATE
The Cherry Creek Area Business Alliance has updated its website and made available its
2018 State of Cherry Creek Economic Report
Cherry Creek Greenway Implementation Plan
Cherry Creek Transit “Kit of Parts”
First Avenue Complete Street Concept
https://www.cherrycreekaba.com/services
Denver City Council Member Mary Beth Susman reports that the Denver Slot Home Text Amendment is available for review and comment. The proposed changes for multi-family infill development are intended to engage the public realm, consider neighborhood character, address human scale, and minimize negative effects on pedestrians and neighboring properties while ensuring equity, flexibility, and predictability. The Denver Planning Board will hold a public hearing on the proposal March 21st, to be followed by the City Council process.
https://www.denvergov.org/content/denvergov/en/community-planning-and-development/zoning/text-amendments/Slot-Home-Text-Amendment.html
