Affordable Housing Institute : US

A crisp Boston Globe story touting the possible revitalization of Revere Beach illustrates many of the key principles to making urban neighborhoods revive:

 

After almost 20 years of little or no growth, Revere Beach is undergoing a real estate revival of sorts.

 

Over the last hundred years, Revere Beach has enjoyed decades of prosperity as a day-trip resort, then decades of decline, bypassed by the auto-whizzing American commuter. 

 

 

Revere Beach runs from Oak Island to Crescent Beach

Note proximity to Boston (and inaccessibility by car!)

 

Today Revere Beach has a long way to go … but economic activity is stirring.

 

For background, I just posted a brief pictorial history of Reveah heah.  Read it!)

 

1.         Start with good bones

 

Revitalization is much more promising when an area has embedded locational advantages.  And though location does not physically change, it can change economically, as a combination of rising values (in Boston) and better accessibility (via public transport) makes Revere, at least the oceanfront sections near the subway stop, an appealing place to live if you work in downtown Boston.

 

The new apartment and condominium buildings mark a success for the City of Revere, which has spent the past few years seeking developers along Revere Beach, America’s first public beach.

 

Indeed, the beach itself was made public property only by an early use of eminent domain:

 

In 1895 the Massachusetts legislature ordered the taking of nearly three miles of private seacoast land on what is now Revere Beach Reservation. The Metropolitan Park Commission was entrusted with the land in 1896.  Charles Eliot, a little known landscape designer, was chosen by the Park Commission to design Revere Beach Reservation for the best use by the public.  Charles Eliot was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  He graduated from Harvard University and trained under the supervision of Frederick Law Olmsted, whose works include New York’s Central Park and the grounds of the United States Capitol in Washington DC.  Wrote Eliot November, 1896, “We must not conceal from visitors the long sweep of the open beach which is the finest thing about the reservation.”

 

 

Charles W. Eliot, partner of Frederick Law Olmsted

 

Eliot was the founding father of the conservation land trust movement, which led directly to the founding of Britain’s National Trust, and in more recent eras is the inspiration behind the community land trust.

 

2.         Get the metropolitan transit right

 

For North Shore commuters, Revere Beach is an ugly stretch of Route 1-A that ends at a subway station most of them hurry through — and when people thought of Wonderland, they thought dog racing …

 

 

For forty years, Revere Beach has been going to the dogs ….

 

or a foul subway station.  Wonderland is not only the terminus for the MBTA’s Blue Line (and hence, where thousands of daily commuters pahk their cahs) but also a jumping-off connection point for North Shore bus lines.  About five years ago, the MBTA substantially upgraded the stop, and plans to do more:

 

 

Wonderland subway stops, with beachfront condos in the background

 

A key to that revitalization project is the development of the Wonderland station area.   

 

[Revere Mayor Thomas] Ambrosino said officials in Governor Mitt Romney’s office are also helping to move the project along and are using Wonderland as a model for the governor’s statewide ”transit-oriented development” initiative. Romney disclosed the initiative, which calls for dense mixes of residential and commercial space near mass transit options, at Wonderland Station in December 2003.

 

Coordinating zoning with transport is fundamental urban planning (better transport raises real estate values), whose best example (in the US, anyhow) is unquestionably Washington DC, where the magnificent (and magnificently expensive! Your tax dollars at work) Metro system is beautifully complemented by dense-around-Metro zoning that makes taking public transport an absolute pleasure.   Indeed, improved urban transport also drives demand growth, and where transport goes, developers follow.  Indeed, 110 years ago, the railroad fueled Revere Beach’s growth:

 

The Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad was the largest single factor in the development and growth of Revere, states George Clarke in The Story of Revere Beach. Popularly known as The Narrow Gauge, it operated from Lynn to East Boston.  

 

The train operated along Railroad Avenue, which today is named Revere Beach Boulevard, then it was removed and relocated four hundred yards to the west. The MBTA currently runs its Blueline along the same roadbed.

 

3.         Assemble a neighborhood-class parcel

 

Although Revere officials have recognized the opportunity for development near Wonderland for some time, they ran into trouble wresting rights to use large parcels from their owners, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and the Department of Conservation and Recreation.

 

“No, I want to keep it a parking lot!”

 

City officials finished negotiations with the Department of Conservation and Recreation in 2001 and with the MBTA in 2002 and have spent the last few years promoting the site for development.

 

Although the article does not explicitly so state, because land value is a residual, we can expect the city will contribute (or lease) the land as in-kind equity. 

 

4.         Add public money

 

Neighborhood-level urban revitalization demands public money, up front, to create equity in the site:

 

The federal government has already earmarked about $4 million for the project, and he expects the state to pitch in once development plans become clearer.

 

5.         Target civic infrastructure

 

The public money often goes for improved municipal infrastructure — streets, lighting, utilities (from the plant to the property site line), because these improvements are predicates for development and do not pay for themselves in development terms:

 

Money for infrastructure for the site will likely come from state and federal sources, said Ambrosino. 

 

6.         Get government to speak with one voice

 

Of course, developers who seek to do business with the government need a single point of contact with government — feuding bureaucracies are the bane of many a project’s existence:

 

”There was no incentive for these state agencies to move on with development,” Ambrosino said. ”Once we had those agreements in place and the possibility to offer those parcels to developers, we could move forward.”

 

A default principle is that the lowest level of government is often the best point of contact, because it is closest to the market.

 

7.         Commit the city to succeeding

 

Government is fickle and amnesiac, and one cannot perfectly bind the sovereign, so wise developers wait until they see that government has committed so much capital, economic and political, that it must further invest:

 

Paul Resten, vice president for residential development of the Tambone Investment Group, said the commitment from the mayor’s office to improve the beach and, as a result, the city as a whole, were crucial to his company’s decision to build The Atlantica, an 82-unit condominium building.

 

8.         Stick with it

 

Urban redevelopment has a long lead time. 

 

The Revere program began in 2001, with parcel assembly accomplished in 2002.  Then in December, 2003, the state signed on with the transit initiative.  Only now, a year and a half later, is the city reaching out to developers:

 

”It’s taken awhile to get people interested in the beach again,” Ambrosino said. ”We’re hopeful that this is the start of a good period of development.”

 

The lag time, and the government’s need to assemble parcels and commit public money early, are part of why eminent domain is an essential tool in urban redevelopment.  (Here Revere was able to assemble the parcels without eminent domain, but only because they were all owned by government agencies.  Imagine if the parking lot were privately owned.)

 

Construction is not expected to start until 2007 — six years from original action to first spade turning earth. 

 

9.         Mix uses

 

Neighborhoods work when people can meet a range of needs within the neighborhood:

 

A successful proposal will most likely include a hotel, high-end residential units, and restaurants and retail, said Stringi and Revere Mayor Thomas Ambrosino.  Now, most of the property, which is within view of the ocean, is used for commuter parking.

 

Developers will complete two condominium buildings, totaling 130 units, and one 60-unit apartment building by next year. Two other condominiums, a 71-unit and 240-unit complex, are in preliminary stages, said Revere city planner Frank Stringi.

 

Unstated in the article, but almost certainly part of the final conception, will be two more principles:

 

10.        Mix incomes

 

For all its efforts, Revere and Revere Beach are still strongly blue-collar communities.

 

11.        Use soft debt and soft equity

 

You can’t make affordable housing without them.

 

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