Make No Little Plans: Burnham Place Announced in Washington, DC

(View Looking North)

(View Looking South with Capitol Building in Distance)

(Train Shed Looking Southwest)

(Interior View of Train Shed)

(Train Shed as seen from H Street)

Burnham Place was recently announced in Washington DC as the cornerstone of a Master Plan that includes over $7 billion of investment that will include upgrades to Union Station as well as the development of a new urban neighborhood atop the rail yard leading into the existing transportation center.

(View Looking North on First Street)

Plans call for over 1.5 million sf of office space, over 1,300 residential units, 500 plus hotel rooms as well as 100,000 sf of retail.  In total, the project will include over 3 million square-feet of mixed use development on 14 acres and will join together several adjacent areas of DC that had been severed for years by the 20 rail lines that run to and into the station.

(H Street Plaza)

Akridge is the developer for the project and the design team includes AECOM (rail and transit engineers), Thornton Tomasetti(structural engineer), HOK (lead architect for Amtrak’s Master Plan), and Parsons Binckerhoff (lead engineer for Amtrak’s Master Plan). 

Brickell CitiCentre Breaks Ground

Developer Swire Properties recently celebrated the ground-breaking for Brickell CitiCentre, a massive mixed-use project on 9.1 acres in downtown Miami.  Billed as “the largest private sector venture of its kind in Miami history” in their press release, the project certainly has all the stats to make that statement believable.

The project is a $1.05 billion investment built in two phases; Phase I will be completed in 2015 and include the following elements:

·        520,000 sf of retail on three levels.  Store mix includes mainstream mall stores as well as a department store, luxury goods, as well as restaurant and entertainment venues.

·        A 265 room hotel with 85 serviced apartments for extended stays

·        Two 42 story condominium towers each with 800 units

·        A wellness center

·        Two levels of underground parking for 3,100 vehicles

·        Two 120,000 sf, 8 story office towers

·        Redesign of the Eighth Street Metromover station which will be incorporated into the complex

Phase II will be completed in 2018 and will include a second office tower of approximately 700,000 sf.


The project will be located just west of Brickell Avenue between SW 6th Street and SW 8th Street.

(Image from Biz Journals)

(Project Area for Brickell CitiCentre)

(All Renderings © Arquitectonica)

Designed by Miami based Arquitectonica, the open-air urban mixed-use project is expected to be a catalyst for other development since its announcement last year.  In addition, the project is expected to have a significant long-term economic impact on Miami and Dade county through annual property taxes, permit and impact fees, as well as retail and bed taxes.  For a review of the report authored by the Miami Economic Associates, Inc. in April of 2011, see the Development Impact Study that details the entire estimated $1.0 billion economic impact.

King of Queens: Willets Point Mixed Use Development

(All Images from NYC Economic Development Corporation)

Mayor Bloomberg introduced Willets Point last week – billed as New York City’s next great neighborhood.  Similar to the development around St. Louis’ Busch Stadium dubbed Ballpark Village, Willets Point is an area around Citi Field (Home of the NY Mets) that has been a target for development for several years.  The project is massive and will take nearly 20 years to complete.

(Project Area - Citi Field in Lower Left of Image)

Queens Development Group, a new entity comprised of developers Related Cos. And Sterling Equities will lead the project under and agreement announced with New York CityEconomic Development Corp. 

Ballpark Village Update

(Images from St. Louis Cardinals)

The St. Louis Cardinals have released the final plans for Ballpark Village, the 10 acre site north of Busch Stadium that has been planned since 1999.  

(Busch Stadium with Adjacent Project Area)

The $100 million project is expected to break ground this fall with completion set for spring of 2014.  For more information, images and video regarding Ballpark Village and its original plans see my original post St.Louis’ Ballpark Village Hits a Double. 

For more information about the latest development, see:

Fox Sports Midwest:  Latest Ballpark Village plans target 2014

Greenwich Times:  Cardinals reveal new plan forBallpark Village

Xanadu Becomes the American Dream

(Images above from Triple Five)

(Image showing current state of project via Bing Maps)

Xanadu, the long stalled mega mixed-use development in the Meadowlands has been revived and will start construction in the coming months.  The project was originally envisioned by the now defunct Mills Corp, which ran into financial challenges during the economic collapse.  The property then passed to Colony Capital where they also were challenged with keeping the project afloat.  The project sat dormant for several years until a deal was struck last year with TripleFive, the owner of the Mall of America and the West Edmonton Mall in Canada.

Renamed American Dream as part of Triple Five’s new vision of the property, the complex will be a mix of retail and entertainment with attractions including an indoor ski hill (first in North America) that will also have a professional ski school, extreme snowboarding park and snow 365 days per year.  Other attractions include a glass-domed indoor amusement park, water park with surfing, state-of-the-art movie complex, live music and performing arts theater, 200 foot diameter enclosed capsule observation wheel, indoor skating rink, bowling alley and aquarium, miniature golf course, children’s museum, daycare facilities, and dozens of eating options including international gourmet cuisine.

The project is one of the largest in the country with over 1.7 million sf of retail, 1.1 million sf of attractions and 150,000 sf of restaurants.  Future plans call for the complex to eventually hit 7.5 million sf, which will make it the largest shopping and entertainment complex in the world.  The project, expected to cost over $3.7 billion has projections of 55 million annual visits.

It Takes a Village: Teachers Village

(All Images © Richard Meier and Partners)

We have highlighted mixed-use developments that focus on the Creative Class (Creating a Creative Village for the Creative Class) in Orlando, Florida and a Medical Village (Union Village, $1.5 Billion for Retail Medical Mixed-Use) in Henderson, Nevada.  Not to be outdone – Newark broke ground this month on Teachers Village – a mega mixed-use complex of education facilities, housing, retail, and restaurants.

(Approximate Project Area)

The project will consist of 8 building in all and include three charter schools, a daycare center, 200 plus apartments for teachers, and 70,000 sf of retail and restaurant space.  The $150 million project will encompass 4 blocks of downtown Newark.  Leading the development is RBH Group with design by world renowned architect and New Jersey native RichardMeier and Partners Architects with KSS Architects and Mikeselland Associates.

Mixed-Use Development? How about a Mixed-Use City!

(Images from Bizjournals)

Steinberg Architects, a California based firm with an international office in Shanghai has been awarded an astonishing 75 million sf project in Changsha, China.

Although considered a mixed-use project, that would be a major understatement.  What Steinberg will be creating is nothing short of a city that will transform 7,000 acres into a new home for thousands of homes and businesses along the Xiang River.

As reported by Bizjournals, the project will be known as Changsha Songya Hu, and will consist of:

            ~ 63 million sf of residential

            ~ 5.5 million sf of office space

            ~ 4 million sf of commercial space

            ~ 1 million sf of hotel space

            ~ 1.5 million sf of community space

Other amenities included in the project are a waterfront business district and an entertainment district.