Milhaus - vertical mixed-use and urban infill residential environments

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Can Adaptive Reuse and Mixed Use Save a City?

Posted on January 22, 2012 by Jake Dietrich

Adaptive reuse and mixed-use are two of the most popular catch phrases in urban development and planning circles today. A growing share of the industry is being shaped by these two sectors in larger cities where the real estate markets have stabilized. Imagine what could happen by combining these two together in less fortunate cities. Take Detroit for example. This once booming industrial city has become the poster child for low density, blight and vacancy in America. However, through the Detroit Works Project the city is looking for ways to go about revitalizing this dying city. With over a third of the city’s land lying vacant, something must be done to restructure the city to increase density and decrease blight. Detroit is filled with Art-Deco and Neo-Gothic buildings that exude the heritage and history of the city. However, many of these beautiful buildings lie abandoned and without use. Finding new innovative uses for them is a much better investment in the long-term view of the city. Detroiters love the heritage of their city, and further destroying it by removing its historical structures could potentially cripple it even more. By rehabilitating these buildings and implementing new mixed-uses could serve to promote the density that this city so desperately needs. Let us not forget that the ‘greenest’ building is one that has already been built.

~~ Jacob Dietrich is a student at Ball State University completing his major in Urban Planning and Development this Spring.

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Just like the old days...Ball State and Muncie working together for new urban district

Posted on August 24, 2011 by Jake Dietrich

That's just a headline I would like to see someday. Is it possible? I think so. Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana is one of the last remaining pillars supporting the city’s economy after 40 years of increased deindustrialization. Yet, the City of Muncie and Ball State have remained entities that work in collaboration in only the most select cases. The Village is a district located just south of Ball State’s campus. The 8 block area is home to a few bars, some restaurants, and other small businesses favored by students and faculty. However, in the past twenty years the Village has seen decline and greater need for redevelopment. The University Square block, which Milhaus recently acquired, is in desperate need of revitalization and the company is continuing to renew leases and work on plans for improving the appearance of the building. Once the site of Buffalo Wild Wings, BoRics, and La Bamba, the block now has the potential to be successful again.

The success of this property and the Village overall is important to both the city and the campus. Earlier this year Michael Hicks from Ball State’s Center for Business and Economic Research told Ball State’s Daily News that "universities shouldn't run bars and restaurants" and "should stay doing what we do best - creating knowledge." While it's true the university shouldn't focus on bars and restaurants, it should take a leadership role in the economic viability of its home city. The university commands some 20,000 people that have the potential to influence Muncie's economy. It's not just "bars and restaurants" where students spend money while at school. In Muncie, both Downtown and the McGalliard Corridor have businesses that cater to students. What if there was a student district in close proximity to the campus that provided a new urban experience? Would it attract new students to campus? New faculty? Better yet, could a collaboration between the city and the university bring new corporate businesses to Muncie by strategically locating it and planning it? There are more questions than answers in the Village today. As I begin my final year of school, I am hopeful that one day such a headline makes it here for real.

~~ Jacob Dietrich is a Senior at Ball State University majoring in Urban Planning and Development. He recently completed his internship with Milhaus Development and returned to Muncie with new ideas for a better world.

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Reflections on a summer at Milhaus

Posted on August 18, 2011 by Jake Dietrich

Callous. Irresponsible. Scum. Careless. Insensitive. Enemy.

These are all words that I have heard used in reference to real estate developers. Opinions to the point of even “the scum of the earth.” While it is true, there are developers out there that have absolutely one thing on their mind: no matter what the cost, do whatever takes to make money. While making money is the foundation to any successful project, it is not the only factor that plays a part in its success.

As I finish up the last days of my internship, it is easily apparent to me that Milhaus does not fit the stereotypical developer. Don’t get me wrong, the principals of Milhaus are true “go-getters.” Any potential deal that comes across the table is looked at with an attitude of “how can we make this work?” But financials are not the only thing that comes into play.

My experiences with several of their projects made it very clear to me that Milhaus not only thinks, “what can this development do for us,” but “how will this development impact those around it.” Conscientious of those affected by the development, each project seemed to have an underlying goal of strengthening or revitalizing its surrounding neighborhood. This is something that I truly admire.

In my opinion, the most successful development is not the one that makes the most money, but the one that has the greatest positive impact on a community. A community easily forgets a development’s profit, but the effect it had on those around it will be long remembered.

Milhaus’ commitment to providing quality multi-family environments will not be forgotten, certainly not by me. The tools and experience that I have gained this summer are truly invaluable. I can only hope to someday reach the same aptitude for success that I see this company achieving.

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City Livin'? by Brian Suiter

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Guest Author

A confluence of concepts merged in my life recently. Traveling in Boston for the day, I was able to spend some time wandering the Prudential Center complex; an excellent project combining retail (big box and local), office, hospitality, and residential. As I traveled home that evening I listened to a Freakonomics podcast on the reoccurring “city vs. suburb” dilemma (in this instance, city won). Then during that weekend I was sent a white paper on the value of renting vs home ownership (renting won) and also battled the federal treasury with some lingering 2010 mortgage interest deduction items. Being immersed in Boston; arguably, one of the greatest intellectual urban cores in the country; reading about the value of renting; and hearing about and experiencing firsthand the home ownership incentive, my internal dialogue battled about government subsidies of the suburbs. Here I was, obviously taking the advantage of the interest deduction for a house in the burbs, yet all other signs in the past week had pointed towards the benefits of urban living. City living has been found to increase life expectancy, promote a healthy lifestyle, develop intellectual growth and entrepreneurial interest, encourage community, while concurrently consolidating density which is better for the planet (see Triumph of the City). Government programs are designed to entice us to the suburbs. Hub and spoke systems of highway transit push us further out. The American dream of home ownership is flawed if, when executed properly, renting housing is better financially. Why are we not placing national investment into inner-city infrastructure, financially incentivizing the population to rent, and encouraging programs to develop the blighted parts of our cities rather than constructing more cul-de-sacs?

~~ At The Feil Organization, Brian is responsible for all facets of two new retail developments that encompass 35 acres and 350 thousand square feet of leasable area with budgets that exceed $75 million, in addition to leasing oversight for 400 thousand square feet of retail assets in the southeast. Brian's expertise spans financial and site feasibility analysis; entitlement, permitting and zoning; site design and engineering; and land and air-right sales and acquisitions. You may contact Brian here.

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Brian Suiter: Tech companies come back to town

Posted on June 29, 2011 by Guest Author

Google buys 111 8th Ave, a 2.9 million sf building which encompasses an entire block in NYC, for almost $2B, their largest office outside of California. Twitter moves into San Francisco’s mid-market neighborhood. Microsoft expands to 300K sf in Kendall Square in Boston. Google expands into 150K sf mixed use space in Shadyside area of Pittsburgh. Internet based Receivables Exchange sets up shop in New Orleans’ central business district.
These types of headlines have become commonplace in metro area news. Tech companies, once the key players in suburban office parks have started to pull back into urban settings. Long gone are the volley ball fields, seas of surface parking, and manmade lakefront settings. Value has been placed on compact and dense settings for new offices and expansions. Their employees are often young and drawn to urban lifestyles. Why not bring the office to your prospective workforce rather than pulling your workforce to the suburbs from 9am to 5 pm? The aggregations of large offices, at one point in time, were always based in city’s business district. Then there was the mass population and business exodus to the ‘burbs. It seems like things have turned back around again as the population and their accompanying jobs are coming back to the central core of the cities. There will always be the need for the Apples of the world to have their corporate campuses in the suburbs, purely due to size constraints (where are they going to find 100 acres to house 20,000 staffers?!), but this is not mutually exclusive to also having urban hubs. First, the corporate decision makers moved to the ‘burbs. Then their headquarters followed. Now we are seeing a reversal of fortune for the suburbs and their sprawling office parks.

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Let’s Put Cars Back on the Ground - Brian Suiter

Posted on May 04, 2011 by Milhaus Development

Author: Brian Suiter, Director of Leasing and General Manager at The Feil Organization in New Orleans.

Interstate bridge structures invoke the childhood reflections of dark, damp, poorly lit, troll habitats. Unfortunately, in many of our cities, reality is not too far off from our childhood fantasies. In New Orleans many of the main interstate thoroughfares are elevated engineering feats, with multiple lanes on the ground and multiple lanes in the air, which lead to on ramp/ off ramp confusion to tourists and the standard dash-mounted GPS, alike. As ULI examines in one of their recent essays, there has recently been thoughtful discussion in a variety of cities regarding the benefits of removing the elevated byways and putting cars back on the ground. Although no one in the New Orleans government will thoroughly endorse the idea, in the case of the Claiborne/ I-10 interstate which neighbors the periphery of our CDB, our mayor has not written off the idea and has suggested that it actually warrants investigation. The psychographic boundary is palpable. Pedestrian traffic from one side of the manmade “boundary” of the interstate to the other is nonexistent. At night few people will dare to wander under the numerous bridges, with their dark nooks and crannies. Is the fear warranted? Possibly. However, this deterrent is extended to business that don’t want to locate “to the other side” of where the populace is confined. Business that face the elevated structures find themselves looking at potential customers fly by at 65 mph. Residents on the mid floors of buildings look at eyelevel congestion rather than blue sky. The Congress for New Urbanism has found that removing these structures has been shown to improve transit, increase walkability, and improve housing and job growth. Let’s go back to the old days, throw down some sidewalk, plant some trees, and open the doors of street level merchants to the boulevard-speed traffic. Is the 30 mph difference really going to get us past that 1.5 mile stretch any faster?

Photo from www.NOLA.com

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The Conversation Keeps Coming Up. So Does the Price.

Posted on April 26, 2011 by Milhaus Development

Author: Brian Suiter, Director of Leasing and General Manager at The Feil Organization in New Orleans.
As I listened to NPR detail the impressions of Los Angeles natives noting $4 per gallon prices at a neighborhood gas station, I looked aside of me during my 9 mile daily “reverse” commute from Uptown New Orleans to the suburbs and saw my neighbor driving the same route. My 20 minute commute is pretty typical, although I seem to cover less ground than the average (23 min and 16 miles one way is the national average). It made me consider, what happens as gas prices continue to rise? Historically Americans pay some of the lowest prices at the gas pump… England, Ireland, Germany, and Italy all average around $8 a gallon. Folks in Norway pay $9.25 a gallon. The economic impacts of higher gas prices, whether through taxes or as a result of per barrel pricing, are a double edged sword. They could create more revenue for cities to resurrect failing infrastructure and make people consume less, but also impact the livelihood of those people that have no alternative to driving. With prices continuing to rise will we see high speed rail seriously considered, the death of the SUV, interest in suburban to urban mass transportation, commuters biking, or airlines fail (Continental/ United announced a loss of $213M this quarter due in part to increased fuel impacts). One inevitability is that with $8 per gallon gas prices, there will be a resurgence of people realizing the benefits of urban living as the 32+ mile daily commute starts to eat into the kid’s college fund.

Photo from National Geographic

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Boomers drawn back in - Brian Suiter

Posted on April 11, 2011 by Guest Author

Author: Brian Suiter, Director of Leasing and General Manager at The Feil Organization in New Orleans.
~~ US Age Cohorts 2010 I want to mention some statistics that you may inherently realize, but might not understand the implications of. 79M Baby Boomers. 10,000 people turning 65 everyday for the next 19 years. 80 M “Echo” Boomers, ranging from 16 to 30 years old. The bell curve seems not to apply to the country’s population statistics, with these two groups representing the largest populations. Two of the largest components of the population are at either end of our bell. How does this dynamic shift, one which is unprecedented in modern history, mean for our society and for our cities? When I’m posed with the question of “who wants to have the hassle and inconvenience of living above retail in a pseudo-uburban setting”, my common answer is 1) me and 2) my mother. Although not technically in the Echo population, I commiserate with their living requisites and my mom surely aligns with the wants of Boomers. Access to entertainment. Connection and ease of mass transit. High “walkability” score. Cultural and educational opportunities. Food. Retail. Green lifestyle. Smaller home footprint. The empty nesters are looking at similar attributes in their lifestyle that the younger generations are. As both populations grow and strengthen in their support of the concepts above, these population masses are and will continue to be drawn to an urban lifestyle. Urban mixed use development is at the crossroad of the majority of the population… just don’t tell the Echo’s that they are acting like their parents.

Here are a couple more places for further reading:
GlobeSt.com National Real Estate Investor

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Intersection of Big Box and Small Site - Brian Suiter

Posted on March 29, 2011 by Guest Author

Occasionally we invite other development professionals to give us their thoughts on challenges and opportunities related to mixed-use development. Today we are fortunate to have a guest post from Brian Suiter, Director of Leasing and General Manager at The Feil Organization in New Orleans.
~~

Tenleytown There is an interesting dynamic recently taking place in retail development that could have significant benefits for urban infill projects. For years retailers have been in a proverbial arms race to carry more SKU's and build bigger than their competition. As capital markets, consumer spending, and suburban development has slowed, retailers have begun a strategic focus to actually reduce square footage to lessen development costs, marry supply to consumer demand, and expand their potential site options in dense markets. If you can achieve the same sales psf in 20,000 sf less floor area, why carry the extra expense of larger stores? Walmart is employing 40k sf Neighborhood Markets, as well as 40k sf mass merchandise prototypes. Best Buy is employing Magnolia stores and Best Buy Mobile in urban markets. Department stores are subleasing their space to downsize their footprints. This is a new paradigm for “big boxes” and their inclusion in urban infill developments. The prohibitive cost of single use dirt in dense urban settings may open doors for the consideration of air rights sales/ leases or strategic partnerships with retailers to develop above them and around them, potentially reducing their costs and solving 1st story vacancies factors for residential developers. Will Walmart take the place of every neighborhood’s corner coffee shop, pizza joint, or cell phone store, situated below residential or office? Probably not, but the inclusion of “big box” users that are seriously considering urban infill locations may make some of the vertically integrated mixed use projects with dauntingly large footprints, a bit more palpable and financially feasible.

posts in "Guest Post"

Can Adaptive Reuse and Mixed Use Save a City?

Just like the old days...Ball State and Muncie working together for new urban district

Reflections on a summer at Milhaus

City Livin'? by Brian Suiter

Brian Suiter: Tech companies come back to town

Photos

Let’s Put Cars Back on the Ground - Brian Suiter

The Conversation Keeps Coming Up. So Does the Price.

Boomers drawn back in - Brian Suiter

Intersection of Big Box and Small Site - Brian Suiter

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