Urban Planners Examine Pittsfield's West Street CorridorBy Joe Durwin, Special to iBerkshires
02:42PM / Monday, April 02, 2012 | |
 A panel of real estate and development experts brain-stormed ways to integrate the West Street corridor into the downtown. |
Mayor Daniel Bianchi attended the forum — here reminiscing about soapbox derby races — with other city officials. |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Opportunities to develop market-rate housing and create open spaces to redefine traffic and neighborhood perception were among the key subjects examined Thursday during an all-day panel discussion on development potential in the West Street "corridor" area of downtown.
Following a one-hour site tour of this West Street quadrant, a group of development experts from the Urban Land Institute's Technical Assistance Panel held a daylong closed discussion at the Crowne Plaza hotel, presenting their findings around 5 p.m.
The Urban Land Institute is a membership organization of about 1,100 people from all aspects of the real estate business, constituting what panel co-Chairman Victor Karen called "probably the broadest base of urban developers in the country."
Karen said members pool and contribute their expertise and information to creat "a menu of ideas" for a community, rather than a definitive plan.
The area being considered ranges from the former KB building and Big Y to the Clocktower Condominiums and Berkshire Eagle, including parts of Center Street, Church Street and South Church Street. The city's department of Community Development had asked the panel to examine ways of better connecting this area to North Street and the rest of the downtown area, creating a "sense of place," and what kinds of development would be most feasible there.
The former KB office complex and TD Bank were both suggested as ideal sites for new market-rate housing, in possible combination with retail. The emphasis was on market rate, as opposed to subsidized or rent-controlled affordable housing projects.
"Putting in a market-rate housing project, with a retail on the first floor, on West Street would dramatically change the perception of people who came down this way in a very positive way," said Ted Carman, with Concord Square Planning & Development. "That doesn't mean that the rents should be high at first, but there should be no limits on the rent two years from now or five years from now, it should move up."
The rental rate needed to make such development feasible, however, is about double what renters here are paying now.
David Traggorth, co-chairman of the panel, leads attendees through a presentation. |
"Currently what landlords are getting is a dollar per square foot, in order to build new housing you need $2 per square foot, so there's a dollar gap ... which is a big one," said David Traggorth of Mitchell Properties of Boston.
In order to overcome that gap, creative developers will need to seek "sophisticated funding sources," said Traggorth.
"We think there's a real opportunity around in-town housing," Karen told the crowd of city officials and community partners.
Creating green spaces in unused areas of lots can increase the visual identity of the quadrant, the panel suggested, and increase property values. A portion of the increased tax revenue to the city from increases in property values could be put toward further development.
When asked by Downtown Inc. President Peter Lafayette how we can achieve these green spaces, Carman recommended getting property owners to utilize areas by the backs of buildings, and in planning around new developments.
In response to a question from City Cultural Director Megan Whilden about increasing convention business to the Crowne Plaza, the panel said they had looked at two different options, but favored one recommending the hotel to build out or expand its meeting facilities rather than supporting a new small convention center which "leaned on" the hotel for lodging.
Ward 6 Councilor John Krol described the current configuration of the West Street corridor as "Urban renewal at its worst, but we've got to work with what we've got."
Karen said he was impressed by the level of "civic involvement" here. "I was amazed by how many people showed up to talk to us at 8 o'clock in the morning. It was like we were rock stars."
The final ULI report will be published in six weeks, and will be posted on the Web for download.
 Pittsfield Forum Looks To Link West St. With Downtown
PITTSFIELD - 03-13-2012 - The meeting will be hosted by the Urban Land Institute of Boston, which chose Pittsfield as a recipient of its...
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