{"68522":{"#nid":"68522","#data":{"type":"news","title":"\u201cRed Fields to Green Fields\u201d Plans Revealed for Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Hilton Head Island","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWith thousands of commercial buildings in foreclosure and many others in disrepair, cities around the country are looking for ways to rescue the properties and eliminate community blight. A program called \u0022Red Fields to Green Fields\u0022 proposes acquiring abandoned and underutilized properties, demolishing or repositioning them, and replacing them with conservation land, parks, infrastructure improvements or other green space, which will attract economic development when the economy recovers.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Red field properties have negative value civically, environmentally and economically. Converting this underused commercial real estate to green space now and land that could be built on again when the economy improves would be transformational,\u0022 said Kevin Caravati, a senior research scientist at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI). \u0022The conversion would create demolition and landscaping jobs and stabilize housing and property values around the distressed properties.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWith support from the Speedwell Foundation, the Georgia Institute of Technology has helped 11 U.S. cities assess the supply of distressed commercial real estate in their communities and determine the best approaches for turning some of that property into green space. Last week, representatives from Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Hilton Head Island revealed their cities\u0027 Red Fields to Green Fields study results in Washington, D.C. at the U.S. Capitol. Altogether, the five cities\u0027 plans would create as many as 20,000 acres of new parkland and an estimated 300,000 new jobs.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERepresentatives from the National Park Service, the Trust for Public Land, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Business Civic Leadership Center and U.S. Rep. Robert A. Brady\u0027s office also attended the meeting. The Pennsylvania congressman is introducing legislation on red fields to green fields issues.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn his remarks at the meeting, Mickey Fearn, deputy director of communications and community assistance for the National Park Service, stated that Red Fields to Green Fields could be America\u0027s best idea. Since the financial crisis began in 2008, real estate values have declined approximately $10 trillion. Today, city residents are surrounded by vacant strip malls, blighted commercial corridors, abandoned housing developments and an oversupply of retail and industrial space.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor the Red Fields to Green Fields project, each city asked the same question: What if we invest a few billion dollars in our city to convert red fields to green fields?\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo answer the question, Georgia Tech researchers helped each city utilize financial models used by the U.S. Department of the Interior and data reported by the Federal Reserve to quantify the economic, health, social, policy and engineering impacts of turning red fields into green fields. They also incorporated data from city master plans, green space plans, transportation reports, urban infrastructure redevelopment programs and geographic information system databases. The reports were written in collaboration with the City Parks Alliance and 14 universities, local government agencies and stakeholders.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhile each city had a different story, the answer was always the same. Thousands of acres of underutilized residential and commercial real estate assets could be rescued and restored through public park planning to enhance the city\u0027s economic, environmental and physical health. Cities could replace concrete and glass with trees, green space and cleaner air; remove abandoned buildings that attract crime and vagrancy; and create space for recreation, play and exercise to combat obesity and poor health.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022This type of conversion would spur business activity, create jobs and address the real estate problem at its source -- oversupply,\u0022 said Michael Messner of the Speedwell Foundation. \u0022And its economic effect would be multiplied with increased infrastructure spending, leverage from unlocking banks\u2019 reserves, and real estate owners would spend again knowing their real estate values have stabilized.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe City of Los Angeles report proposed more than 200 projects to revitalize areas surrounding 32 miles of the Los Angeles River. These projects would create walkable and bikeable connections to the river and link users to small businesses and job sites.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENearly 3,000 acres of non-performing real estate could be removed from the Phoenix market through red fields to green fields investments, according to that city\u0027s report, creating almost 50,000 jobs and an economic impact of $5.9 billion.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Red fields to green fields projects can restore liquidity to the real estate markets and put Arizona back to work,\u0022 added Joseph Goodman, a graduate student in the Georgia Tech College of Architecture.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn Detroit, an industrial land inventory indicated that more than 11,000 acres of distressed real estate could be used to create corridors linking job site locations with housing and transportation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAcquiring land adjacent to 10 major bayous in Houston and establishing an interconnected system of parks, trails and economic development corridors could create 55,000 jobs over the next 10 years. Hilton Head Island served as a case study to evaluate the economic and job impacts to coastal communities.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0027Often thought of as resort areas, coastal towns serve as hubs for commercial real estate development, recreation and jobs. We found that red fields to green fields projects in Hilton Head Island and other coastal communities can revitalize these communities and establish conservation lands,\u0022 said GTRI research scientist Matthew Wren.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe five new city reports add to reports published last year for six other cities -- Atlanta, Denver, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Miami and Wilmington.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESince publishing its report, the city of Denver, in collaboration with the Trust for Public Land and private donors, started acquiring red field sites along the South Platte River Corridor. It is estimated that these investments and implementation of a robust red fields to green fields program in Denver could add more than 30,000 new jobs to the region and remove more than 6,000 acres of distressed real estate from the market, creating an almost $4 billion impact.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDuring the past year, Miami also began to execute its Red Fields to Green Fields proposal, which tied into its city master plan, and is working to acquire land through public-private partnerships. Miami\u0027s report stated that the tax base could be increased by an estimated $59 million per year by converting 312 acres of non-performing real estate to transit-oriented development and more than 14,000 jobs per year for five years could be created. In addition, linking Everglades National Park and Biscayne Bay National Park could create 1,625 acres of additional parkland.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOther U.S. cities have already embraced the concept of converting distressed real estate to improve a region\u0027s infrastructure and encourage economic development. Boston\u0027s \u0022Big Dig\u0022 was a multi-billion-dollar infrastructure project that transformed the city. Local, smaller scale examples in Atlanta include Atlantic Station, the Piedmont Park expansion and the Beltline Old Fourth Ward project.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDuring the next year, the Georgia Tech research team will focus its efforts on helping the 11 cities implement the plans in their Red Fields to Green Fields reports.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOther researchers involved in the Red Fields to Green Fields program include Joseph Hughes, chair of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Georgia Tech; Carolyn Knabel, a graduate student in the Georgia Tech College of Architecture; Cade Strippelhoff, a graduate student in the Georgia Tech School of Public Policy; and Erin Keller, an undergraduate student in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResearch News \u0026amp; Publications Office\u003Cbr \/\u003E Georgia Institute of Technology\u003Cbr \/\u003E 75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 314\u003Cbr \/\u003E Atlanta, Georgia 30308 USA\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMedia Relations Contacts:\u003C\/strong\u003E Abby Robinson (abby@innovate.gatech.edu; 404-385-3364) or John Toon (jtoon@gatech.edu; 404-894-6986) or Kirk Englehardt (kirk.englehardt@gtri.gatech.edu; 404-407-7280)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter:\u003C\/strong\u003E Abby Robinson\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Plans Revealed for Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Hilton Head Island"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech researchers involved in the Red Fields to Green Fields program helped Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Hilton Head assess their distressed commercial real estate supplies and determine the best way to turn some into green space.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"\u0022Red Fields to Green Fields\u0022 plans revealed for five cities."}],"uid":"27206","created_gmt":"2011-06-23 00:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:09:37","author":"Abby Vogel Robinson","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2011-06-23T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2011-06-23T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"68523":{"id":"68523","type":"image","title":"Los Angeles Red Fields to Green Fields","body":null,"created":"1449177176","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:12:56","changed":"1475894594","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:43:14"},"68524":{"id":"68524","type":"image","title":"Houston Red Fields to Green Fields","body":null,"created":"1449177176","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:12:56","changed":"1475894594","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:43:14"},"68525":{"id":"68525","type":"image","title":"Red Fields to Green Fields artist rendering","body":null,"created":"1449177176","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:12:56","changed":"1475894594","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:43:14"}},"media_ids":["68523","68524","68525"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.rftgf.org\/","title":"Red Fields to Green Fields"},{"url":"http:\/\/vimeo.com\/25103210","title":"Red Fields to Green Fields Video"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.gtri.gatech.edu\/","title":"Georgia Tech Research Institute"}],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"137","name":"Architecture"},{"id":"139","name":"Business"},{"id":"154","name":"Environment"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"13499","name":"bike paths"},{"id":"13492","name":"Commercial Real Estate"},{"id":"13497","name":"conservation land"},{"id":"13495","name":"Detroit"},{"id":"290","name":"Economy"},{"id":"8465","name":"financial crisis"},{"id":"415","name":"Georgia Tech Research Institute"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbby Robinson\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EResearch News and Publications\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=avogel6\u0022\u003EContact Abby Robinson\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404-385-3364\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["abby@innovate.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}