BergerWorld: 3rd Quarter 2006

Sarasota, Florida
Shortly after the turn of the 20th century, Sarasota, Florida, began to flourish. Touting Sarasota Bay to be as beautiful as the bay of Naples, Bertha Palmer, the largest landholder, rancher and developer in the area, established the city as a fashionable location for winter retreats and tourists. One hundred years later, Sarasota is home to 54,349 people.

The city of Sarasota retained the Berger Group to evaluate the causes of the city's recent diminishing competitiveness, assess the potential impact of this trend and develop strategies to improve the city's long-term attractiveness.

Berger reviewed baseline data, current quality of life in the city and the relationship between the city and the county; analyzed the city's future based on varying scenarios; and formulated policy recommendations to help ensure the city's vibrancy and continued health. Berger's survey of current conditions included an analysis of spatial patterns and trends for key socioeconomic indicators, including demographic characteristics; migration patterns; the economic base, labor force and skills sets; income and poverty levels; housing quality; education; and crime. GIS mapping was conducted to identify needs utilizing statistics from the U.S. Census, police and fire calls, building code violations and other sources. Based on this analysis, Berger constructed a model for Sarasota, incorporating four sub-models for demographic, economic, migration and fiscal budgeting projections; assisted the government to model alternate policy and investment scenarios; and identified opportunities to encourage greater coordination between residents and local government officials to foster Sarasota's rebirth.

Kansas City, Kansas

Planned destination communities are becoming an increasingly important element of U.S. life. Berger Devine Yaeger (BDY) is providing master planning and design for the $412 million Schlitterbahn Vacation Village in Kansas City, Kansas. Spanning 300 acres, the development will consist of a water park, river walk and retail facilities. The Village will be heavily landscaped and bound by a stretch of imaginative trails, walks and roads. There will be a variety of lodgings, including cabins, tree houses, mid-rise marine-themed hotels and a large high-rise signature hotel. The lodgings will be connected to the retail center, river walk and water park by both trails and waterways. The rustic style cabins and tree houses will subtly blend in with the architectural style of the water park. Preliminary zoning approvals have been secured, and the state has approved the project as a "Star Bond" district, a financing mechanism allowing future dedicated retail sales taxes to retire bonds, which will fund the infrastructure for the project.

Natchez, Mississippi

The city of Natchez, on the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, was settled in 1798. A mere 19 years later, it became the first capital of the new state of Mississippi. Because of the area's rich resources, especially cotton, the city's economy thrived during the first half of the 19th century, and Natchez has long been recognized for its antebellum grandeur, when fortunes were earned and spent on the construction of dazzling mansions filled with the finest furnishings. But Natchez is currently a modest community of 18,464, after recently experiencing the closure of a local International Paper plant that resulted in the loss of hundreds of jobs.

Following the closure of the plant, Berger was selected by the Natchez-Adams County Development Authority to prepare an economic development strategy and master plan to preserve Natchez' architectural heritage and reputation as a tourist destination while identifying attractive new firms that show long-term growth potential.

The Team's tasks include analyzing the current labor pool and skill sets; reviewing strategies to optimize the proposed site's value and marketability; identifying and analyzing partnering opportunities with educational institutions, stakeholders and organizations that support the development program; and identifying industries that would value Natchez' strategic advantages, such as the attractive sea, rail and road networks as well as the competitive labor costs. The Berger team began field work with an assessment of the former International Paper site, evaluating the Natchez-Adams County economic base, including key industries, employment, wages, recent economic growth and assets, such as transportation facilities that would serve to attract industry. Market research and interviews have been conducted with prominent local and state government officials, as well as private industry and non-profit stakeholders to assist in establishing a prioritized list of target industries that complement the county's competitive attributes.

Berger's involvement in Natchez is expected to result in an attractive and practical development strategy, while reinvigorating the city's promising economic development and protecting its irreplaceable historic character.

Sparks, Nevada

According to the 2000 census, the city of Sparks, Nevada, served as residence to a population of 66,346. That number has since ballooned to 90,000, and in order to accommodate the rapidly growing community, BDY is currently providing master planning services for the 1,650-acre Sparks Destination Development, located parallel to the Sparks Marina Lake.

BDY is the coordinating architect for the $200 million mixed retail, resort and entertainment development. An 85-foot signage tower beckons the visitor to the center of the site, creating an aesthetically pleasing focal point. Attractive bridges cross over the waterway that extends the Marina Lake through the development, connecting retail shops, restaurants and entertainment venues, offering a refreshing respite from the outdoor shopping experience. The shops and restaurants are designed in an inviting manner, interacting with the water path amid striking landscape, including fountains, outdoor fireplaces and a themed planting area. While enhanced paving, plantings, appealing storefronts and roofing make for an enjoyable afternoon stroll, lighting at night brings the grounds alive for sunset dining by the water's edge or a leisurely walk or boat ride through the development's center.

New York, New York

The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) was created in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, by Governor George Pataki and then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani to help plan and coordinate the rebuilding and revitalization of Lower Manhattan.

Berger was retained by the LMDC to assist in planning and coordinating the reconstruction effort. Berger experts assisted the LMDC in the preparation of its first and second annual reports, detailing the community and economic impacts that the development would have on Lower Manhattan, as well as updating the Corporation's plans and progress. The Team provided technical support in evaluating pre-9/11 conditions and analyzing the benefits of LMDC-funded initiatives such as the expansion of parks and public spaces in historically underserved residential neighborhoods. In an effort to assist the World Trade Center Memorial design team, a computer model showing real-time pedestrian movement at the Memorial and Visitor Center was developed. Berger also prepared a Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) for the Memorial and Redevelopment Plan. The GEIS includes the analysis of the construction of a Memorial and memorial-related improvements, as well as commercial, retail, museum and cultural facilities, new open space areas, new street configurations and other infrastructure improvements at the 16-acre site.

The centerpiece of LMDC's efforts, and those of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, will result in the creation of Reflecting Absence, a permanent memorial honoring those lost in the terrorist attacks of 1993 and 2001. The memorial will be a place for families and friends to remember loved ones and a place where thousands will come to reflect upon and share personal and collective losses. At the Memorial Plaza, visitors will enter an unexpected forest in the city - a unique space with a canopy of hundreds of oak trees. The plaza will be accompanied by a gathering place for events of remembrance, containing waterfalls that drop nearly thirty feet into reflecting pools below and stone structures featuring the names of those lost. A Visitor Orientation Education Center will serve as an entrance to the Memorial Museum and the Memorial Hall. Additionally, the site will contain up to 10 million square feet of office space with associated parking, up to one million square feet of commercial and retail space, a hotel with up to 800 rooms and new open spaces.

State College, Pennsylvania
Located in the heart of Centre County, Pennsylvania, College Township (population 8,489) is part of the State College Metropolitan Statistical Area and marked by Mount Nittany, a prominent peak in the vicinity. With the recent development of nearby I-99, College Township has attracted significant developer interest and intensified pressure by the county to extend its "growth management" boundaries and revise zoning provisions to encourage the development.

Concerned about the economic impacts of commercial development on the existing downtown, College Township retained Berger to prepare a fiscal, economic and retail market analysis for different land-use scenarios to provide an objective independent assessment of the costs and benefits of various land-use scenarios to support zoning recommendations.

By analyzing and modeling available data, interviewing public officials, and reviewing municipal and public works budgets, Berger experts calculated the additional fiscal costs associated with each development in terms of capital and operating expenses; increased burden on schools, utilities, public works, and fire and police departments; and anticipated added revenues from property and local sales taxes. Berger then projected the primary and secondary impact of increased employment, earnings and sales from each proposed development on the overall Centre County economy.

The Team also determined the potential for sales transferring from existing to new retail establishments under each proposed development and provided the township with a quantitative decision-making tool to decide whether to encourage the proposed developments.

Vancouver, Washington

JD White Company, Inc. (JDW), a well-known Vancouver, Washington-based planning firm, recently joined Berger/ABAM.

JD White was commissioned to undertake a major urban planning project in the Esther Short Park district of downtown Vancouver, focusing on the redevelopment of a 30-block area in the city's core. The planning team analyzed land-use patterns; identified potential development opportunities and constraints; and evaluated the prospects for public/private development partnerships. JDW also assisted a Community Resource Team identify and evaluate community issues and concerns and prepared a redevelopment plan and supporting EIS, addressing critical policy issues, the need to preserve historic and cultural resources, and land-use, air quality, noise and transportation concerns.

The plan encouraged a vibrant revitalization, with over $265 million in investments in the city's core, including five housing developments, a farmers' market, hotel and convention center. Following the successful Esther Short development, JDW was selected by the city of Vancouver to prepare the Vancouver City Center Vision (VCCV) Plan for a 130-block area, spanning over 100 acres of land. The VCCV includes short-term revitalization strategies to rejuvenate Main Street and Broadway, as well as longer-term redevelopment scenarios for the city's waterfront.