The Mississippi Renewal Forum was perhaps the largest charrette in history and included urbanists from across the country and around the world. Among them were PlaceMakers Susan Henderson, who led the Architectural Team, Howard Blackson and Geoff Dyer, urban designers, and Scott Doyon and Ben Brown, who ran the charrette’s web operation and kept both displaced residents and national media up to the minute on exactly what was happening.
Stories from the Fields > Hedgewood Homes | Atlanta, Georgia
Hedgewood Homes | Atlanta, Georgia
Hedgewood may have started as a small, independent homebuilder competing on the basis of quality and architectural distinction, but such modest days were short-lived. Over the course of twenty years, the principles that drove their early success fueled an evolution into one of the Southeast’s most admired builders of environmentally-friendly, architecturally inspiring, traditional neighborhoods.
Long story short, the company became more than just a homebuilder. Instead, they achieved a sort of marketing gold — the wholly unique and desirable prospect of “total community,” something unmatched in the region. What they lacked, however, was a strong sense of how to take such a story to market. They turned to PlaceMakers to overhaul the company’s brand.
Stories from the Fields > Hill Street Lofts | Atlanta, Georgia
Hill Street Lofts | Atlanta, Georgia
As any real estate professional will tell you, location matters. And sometimes, despite whatever desirable features you may be offering, it can be a deal-breaker.
Such was the case with the Hill Street Lofts, a 146-unit, entry-level residential project in the existing, intown Atlanta neighborhood of Chosewood Park — high atop the area’s highest point and featuring what is perhaps the city’s most dramatic and expansive skyline view. Characterized as an “area in transition,” Chosewood Park had long struggled with a variety of urban dysfunctions (such as ongoing property crimes) associated with concentrated poverty but, at the same time, maintained a deep and committed network of community organizations unwilling to give up. Progress had and continued to be made but it was slow-going. A truly diverse and healthy neighborhood was going to take some time.
Stories from the Fields > Leytham | Omaha, Nebraska
Leytham | Omaha, Nebraska
Developer Herb Freeman’s home, a Georgian mansion that sits in the geographic center of his 160 acres, inspired the design for Leytham, a traditional neighborhood development just outside Omaha, Nebraska. Directing all facets, PlaceMakers delivered master planning, regulatory codes, charrette communications, implementation advisory and, after the charrette itself, brand marketing support.
Stories from the Fields > The Reynolds | Atlanta, Georgia
The Reynolds | Atlanta, Georgia
The Reynolds is a vertical mixed-use condominium development, offering 130 homes over street-level shops and restaurants along Atlanta’s famed Peachtree Street. The first neotraditional project amidst the glass and steel towers of Atlanta’s Midtown renaissance, it evokes the timeless and grand lifestyle that made Peachtree Street a household name.
In many ways, it was the architecture itself — designed by Surber Barber Choate and Hertlein — that presented the most immediate marketing challenge. That is, on a strip where development bends over backwards to appeal to the chic and trendy sensibilities of young professionals, how does a traditionally-inspired building, with the conservative image it embodies, get in the game?
They turned to PlaceMakers to find out the answer: You don’t.
Stories from the Fields > The Town of Whitehall, Delaware
The Town of Whitehall, Delaware
Whitehall is a traditional neighborhood development on 1,555 acres of undulating landscape overlooking the C&D Canal, with fingers of wetlands providing a unique environment set in traditionally agricultural land. The villages and towns of Whitehall are enabled by right under the New Castle County Hamlet and Village Design, an earlier PlaceMakers project.
Stories from the Fields > The Waters | Pike Road, Alabama
The Waters | Pike Road, Alabama
Planned as a billion dollar, 2,400 unit endeavor, The Waters is a traditional neighborhood development (TND) just outside Montgomery, Alabama, and the second PlaceMakers client from that state to benefit from a full palette of PlaceMakers service offerings: Planning and Urban Design; Coding; Implementation Advisory; and Sales and Marketing.
