TEMPORARY SIDEWALK EXTENSIONS

Temporary Sidewalk Extensions

New York City, just like every other city in the country has seen an increase in bicyclists and pedestrians. The city of over 8 Million residents is struggling to keep up with the demand of better, friendlier pedestrian gateways because city planners several decades ago cut back the wide sidewalks in exchange for an extra travel lane. However, the lack of sidewalks and pedestrian pathways could be changing soon thanks to an innovative property owner and developer that has presented some powerful ideas to city administrators in the form of temporary sidewalk extensions. This spring, a few of the city streets will turn into pedestrian only pathways including the famed Broadway from 47th to 42nd street. Broadway will also be temporarily closed between 32nd and 36th near the world famous Macy’s department store.

The people behind this idea is Real Estate giant Vornado Realty Trust who proposed the car-free zones are only a three-month trial to last through the summer when pedestrian activity is at a natural all time high. The Department of Transportation for the city is using this as a trial in hopes to reduce crashes and injuries while allowing vehicles to travel more smoothly along several city thoroughfares. Vornado owns several premiere property holdings including the Hotel Pennsylvania, Penn Plaza and the Manhattan Mall. They will also be closing a near one block portion of 33rd directly linked to Madison Square Garden and One Penn Plaza on a permanent basis. The goal is to create a pedestrian-friendly open plaza which will reduce the number of accidents on one of New Yorks busiest segments. The plaza will feature tables for dining, a stage for musical performances, space for yoga and other outdoor programmed activities. The development company believes it will also improve the overall quality of life and increase property values.

We have already seen projects like the Indianapolis Cultural Trail and in Cincinnati Temporary Sidewalk Extensions in the forms of pop-up parks. It makes us wonder if this idea is successful and the Department of Transportation in New York City embraces the idea post trail, what other cities could pick up this idea. Vornado who is doing the experiment is paying for the planning, construction and monitoring of the extensions without any tax or cash incentives from the city. With a lot of discussion in place making and road diets, what streets would you like to see this tried on?

Top Cities to Start A Business

Top Cities To Start A Business

Hundreds of metropolitan and countless thousands of micropolitans compete daily for business, tourism, residents, investment and the like. Stretching coast to coast, every community is in a fierce battle to have a positive and vibrant economy, and while all wish they were winners, not everyone can cross the finish line. The battle for economic development, entrepreneur retention and expansion is often costly and everlasting.

Just today a new list ranked 150 of Americas top metro areas to start a new business and to continue the path of achievements Fort Wayne has seen in the last year, we can add another gold star. Wallethub has given us another reason to love the Fort Wayne metro at the eleventh best city in the country to be an entrepreneur, quite the achievement beating out cities much larger. The list was ranked based on thirteen strategic metrics that provide a healthy atmosphere for young business leaders.

1. Accessibility of financing (total value of small business loans)
2. Cost of office rental/lease space per square foot
3. Access and availability of employees
4. Labor costs and median annual income
5. Corporate tax structure
6. Cost of living
7. Average length of employee workday
8. Educational level of the workforce
9. Entrepreneurial activity
10. Five-year survival rate
11. Number of small business per capita
12. Industry and business variety
13. Small Business acceptance and friendliness

What is most important to note is while these may be the best metrics for small business, some industries like tech/web are not looking at the same metrics. After reviewing every metro in the country from coast to coast, the findings have shocked several in the economic development community. Even more interesting to realize is the amount of communities not located along a major coast, but instead the heart of the country where several scholars have all but put on life support for future business expansion. It’s nice to prove them wrong.

1. Shreveport Louisiana
2. Tulsa Oklahoma
3. Springfield Missouri
4. Chattanooga Tennessee
5. Jackson Mississippi
6. Sioux Falls South Dakota
7. Memphis Tennessee
8. Augusta Georgia
9. Greensboro North Carolina
10. Columbus Georgia
11. FORT WAYNE INDIANA
12. Amarillo Texas
13. Columbus Ohio
14. New Orleans Louisiana
15. Birmingham Alabama
16. Wichita Kansas
17. Grand Rapids Michigan
18. Laredo Texas
19. Winston-Salem North Carolina
20. Nashville Tennessee

Hoch Associates is proud to call Fort Wayne our home, and it’s exciting to see another accolade for our growing metro. With Fort Wayne being named in the 35 Cities for People Under 35, Best Cities for Cost of Living, Best Quality of Life and now Best Cities for New Business, our future can only be brighter.

THE END OF ONE WAY STREETS

End of One Way Streets

In the early 20th century, communities focused on creating vibrant downtowns with wide sidewalks, decorative landscaping and at most two to three lanes of traffic for travel by the locals. It wasn’t until the 1950’s as cities expanded rapidly from once exploding downtowns into fields and outreaches creating the great American suburbs dotted with shopping malls, highways and several one way streets to push traffic from the downtowns to the new extended footprint. This one-way phenomenon wasn’t just focused on large cities, but even the smaller rural communities as the generation of citizens were focused more on car travel and less on walkability. What city planners at the time didn’t foresee was the sociological impact that one way streets would have on the residents and neighborhoods that they were located in.

In 2010 as the first of the millennial generation began taking over city planning and traffic engineering departments nationwide a renewed emphasis was placed on creating great downtowns and the end of one-way streets. This required that we had to re-think the flow of traffic from focusing on neighborhood travel rather than fast outbound traffic. Not only was it a new found passion for the generation, but new statistics began playing a larger role. In the city of Louisville, officials converted two one way streets back to two way traffic and found that traffic collisions dropped by nearly 36 percent on one street and over 60 percent on the other. This was even after traffic increased on the newly traveled two way road. In addition to fewer accidents, the property values on the street increased and businesses saw new revenue and pedestrian traffic. What was more interesting was the amount of crime dropped, by nearly 25 percent while other areas and neighborhoods saw crime on the rise.

We at Hoch have been discussing the idea and importance behind complete streets in our communities. With the city of Fort Wayne recently returning both Ewing and Fairfield to two way travel streets and Indianapolis ranked among the highest in the country for complete street action plans, it’s exciting to see progress being made. Cities that changed the roads in the post-World War II era when they re-engineered around the car are now seeing the importance to cut crime, improve property values and calm traffic. While there is progress, we want to challenge more cities to make the change on their thoroughfares putting an emphasis on creating vibrant downtowns and stronger, safer and healthier neighborhoods.

FORT WAYNE RANKED ONE OF BEST CITIES FOR MILLENNIALS

Best Cities for Millennials

Hoch Associates loves to be centered in the heart of Fort Wayne and part of its exciting future. Vocativ, an online Internet blog released the 2014 livability index and Fort Wayne is no stranger to exciting lists regarding the livability for its citizens. The list was designed for the Millennial generation, those under 35. While the entire list is comprised of 35 cities, Fort Wayne was the only one to make the list from the Hoosier State. We are proud that Fort Wayne was singled out for being the real Cinderella story. After years of stagnant growth and even in the 1980’s losing several manufacturing jobs, the city created new programs and focused on diversifying the workforce, transforming neighborhoods and buildings, creating several new acres of beautiful green space, researching and developing its long forgotten riverfront and welcomed exciting new groups such as YLNI (Young Leaders of Northeast Indiana) and Millennial 2020 which work together to create a stronger and more vibrant community for the Millennial citizens.

With the city now being named one of the best for Millennials, this is an opportunity to unleash an exciting new future. Ranking in the top percentile in areas such as cost of living, housing (rent and ownership) and low unemployment, Fort Wayne has quickly ose among the ranks of its piers and now vying for the Regional Cities Initiative which will provide several million dollars in seed funding for future developments if granted. Hoch Associates continues to support the city and is excited to share in its future.

EXPLORING NEW DESIGN METHODS

Exploring New Design Methods

The design phase of a project is one of the most exciting parts for both the client and design team, as the reality of ideas and program come together, the first images of what the project might look like are presented.  For the sake of keeping this post short, I’ll skip over how the design phase works (at least for now!) and instead share a relatively new method the architectural world is seeing in recent projects throughout the world.

Using Rhino3D &  and a plugin known as Grasshopper, this parametrically designed facade explores how design can change with a set number of parameters and quickly adapt depending on the scenario. This exercise (over lunch) explores how one of our favorite pizza places downtown Fort Wayne can change with some basic parameters (the 816 address and depth of a wood fin) to create a new visual interest depending on where you are walking along Calhoun Street. Once the basic shape is created, the plugin can equally divide the surface and create the multiple rib effect that could be sent to a local CNC shop for fabrication. The parameters can quickly be changed with the move of a slider, providing a new option on the fly.

Many more parameters could be used including sun /daylight analysis to help provide shading for the upper level, color effects, or other options the client may request.