"The Greenest Building Is The One Already Built"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/national-trust-for-historic-preservation/partnership-for-building_b_4079983.html

Hello Everyone:

I just wanted to give a quick update on the campaign to save the Tower Records building on the Sunset Strip.  A hearing before the West Hollywood City Council has been set for Monday November 18, 2013 at 6:30p.m at West Hollywood Library's first floor City Council Chambers located at 625 North San Vincente Boulevard West Hollywood, Ca 90069.  If you live in the Los Angeles area and would like to speak, please email Stephanie Reich  at sreich@weho.org and to city council at ccouncil@weho.org.  If you prefer snail mail, send your letter to Stephanie Reich, 8300 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, Ca 90069.  Of course don't forget to please go to http://www.change.org and sign the online petition.

Bradbury Building exterior
en.wikipedia.org

Is it possible to learn from Los Angeles?  Yes, it is, when it comes to adaptive reuse.  If you're looking for innovative ways to encourage reuse of vacant buildings, then look no further than the City of Angeles.  No, I'm not tooting L.A's horn because I live there.  Through creative public policy and private development (no irony here), Los Angeles is showing how older buildings can be repurposed to serve the new creative economy and help reduce the number of carbon emissions.

Downtown Los Angeles is a virtual textbook for early twentieth century architecture.  Most of these architectural gems sat for decades unused or under used until the Adaptive Reuse Ordinance was passed in 1999.  This carefully targeted ordinance removed regulatory barriers, provided incentives, and helped make it possible to recycle more than sixty historic buildings over the last fourteen years into hotels, new apartments and lofts.  If you'd like to read about the Adaptive Reuse Program please go to http://www.scag.ca.gov.  However, many more buildings in the surrounding communities remain empty or under utilized.

Bradbury Building interior
cityprofile.com

A recent report release by the National Trust's Preservation Green Lab (http://www.preservationnation.org) and the Urban Land Institute (http://www.uli.org) records how over 10 million square feet of space in Los Angeles' urban core is currently vacant.  The report, an reference to Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown's seminal work Learning From Las Vegas, "Learning From Los Angeles," was given to Mayor Eric Garcetti at an event organized by ULI Los Angeles District Council. The report outlines strategies that build on the foundation of the ARO which could help unlock the economic and community development potential of underused buildings.  It also documents the demolition, building and vacancy trends throughout Los Angeles and recommends ways for removing regulatory barriers, streamlining the approval process, and providing incentives for making building reuse an easier goal to accomplish.

The Roosevelt Apartments
ladowntownnews.com

"Learning From Los Angeles" is the first in a series of new research and policy reports being developed by the Preservation Green in conjunction with the Partnership for Building Reuse, a joint effort launched in 2012 by the National Trust and ULI Los Angeles.  The Partnership for Building Reuse is intended to foster market-driven building reuse in major cities throughout the United States.  Something like Adaptive Reuse Program could have positive impact in a city like Detroit where there are pockets of vacant buildings waiting to be brought back to life.  The project brings togethers two national organizations and local preservation groups to begin a dialogue with community stake holders about the challenges and opportunities that building reuse presents.  With a network of of fifty-two District Councils across the country, ULI is the nation's premier real estate development organization.  ULI staff and members bring together leadership in critical areas of real estate and public policy.

Gas Company Lofts
rent.com

For the L.A. pilot project, the Preservation Green Lab researched building demolition and construction trends across the City of Angels.  Maps generated from this research informed a series of discussions organized by ULI Los Angeles in order to identify the key roadblock to building reused and recommend solutions to overcoming them.  The Los Angeles Conservancy (big shout out to them) was a key partner and served on the project Advisory Committee along with professionals in real estate development, planning, design, construction, community revitalization, and local government.  Several lessons emerged from the L.A. pilot program which could prove useful to civic leaders, property owners, and developers dealing with building rehabilitation:




For policy leaders:

1) Modernize outdated zoning and building codes to align them with comprehensive plans for re-urbanization, including the reuse of existing building alongside strategic infill construction
2) Remove the regulatory barriers to make building reuse easier, rather than adding more layers of review and process (good luck with that one in L.A.)
3) Create more flexible zoning code definitions of building reuse to make it easier, faster, and less cost prohibitive to adapt to changing market needs (Ibid)
4) Integrate reuse as a goal in other policy initiatives, such as zoning code updates, building code reforms, parking policy changes, transit-oriented development guidelines, and climate adaptation plans (Ibid)
5) Use downtown as a policy innovator to experiment with new ways to encourage building reuse

For property owners and developers:

1) Conserve the authentic character of existing buildings, including the architectural features and building materials that tell the tale to prospective buyers and tenants
2) Plan for diverse uses and frequent use changes when investing in new building infrastructure and service, including elevators, heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems, soundproofing, and access
3) Design flexible interior spaces that appeal to the growing market for open live/work plans
4) Promote the speed to market advantages of building reuse projects to prospective tenants and buyers when compared to new construction (building rehabilitation is faster)
5) Support efforts to create divers, mixed-use urban neighborhoods that attract and support reuse projects.

By using the Los Angeles program as a model, the National Trust and ULI will work with local ULI district council, preservation organization, and other partners to address building vacancy and reuse issues in additional cities in 2013 and 2014.  A national summit and publication of key "Principles for Building Reuse" is planned for 2015.  Just remember, "the greenest building is the one already built."

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