Competition Recognizes Social, Economic Value of Public Realm in Community Building

For more information, contact: Robert Krueger at 202/624-7086

WASHINGTON (April 30, 2014) –  Five finalists have been announced for this year’s Urban Land Institute (ULI) Urban Open Space Award, an annual competition that recognizes outstanding examples of successful large- and small-scale public spaces that have socially enriched and revitalized the economy of their surrounding communities.

This year’s finalists are the Columbus Commons and Scioto Mile in Columbus, Ohio; Guthrie Green in Tulsa, Okla.; Klyde Warren Park in Dallas, Texas; Railyard Park + Plaza in Santa Fe, N.M.; and  Washington Park in Cincinnati, Ohio.  An international jury – representing several facets of development expertise including finance, architecture, land planning and development, public affairs, design, and professional services – will select one winner later in the year.

The winning project is scheduled to be announced at the ULI Fall Meeting, set for October 21-23, 2014 in New York City. A $10,000 cash prize will be awarded to the individual or organization most responsible for the creation and upkeep of the winning open space project.

The five finalists were selected from an impressive collection of entries, representing urban areas throughout North America. While landscape architecture and urban design were factors in the judging, the jury selected finalists based on a broader set of criteria, including overall project design and how each impacted or revived their surrounding areas.

“This year’s submissions reflect innovative ways that North American cities are financing and developing public destinations that create recreational experiences for residents, spur economic activity on adjacent sites, and often preserve historical and cultural heritage as well,” said jury chair M. Leanne Lachman, president of real estate consulting firm Lachman Associates in New York, N.Y.  “Perhaps more importantly, the design and popularity of these urban open space projects signal the industry’s shift to building successful healthy places and helping encourage physical behavior through design.”

The descriptions of the finalists, with the project’s owner and designer in parentheses:

• Columbus Commons and Scioto Mile, Columbus, Ohio (Project Owner: City of Columbus and Capitol South Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation; Project Designer: MKSK (formerly MSI), EDGE and Moody Nolan) – In 2002, the City of Columbus tapped both the Columbus Downtown Development Corporation (CDDC) and Capitol South to help attract and retain both residents and business to the downtown area. After careful consideration, plans were made to develop two new parks – Columbus Commons, in place of a desolate mall, and Scioto Mile, which involved narrowing a thoroughfare along the Scioto River and renovating an existing park. At seven acres, Columbus Commons features formal gardens, a carousel, native trees, two cafés with ample seating, and a state of-the-art performing arts pavilion. The 11-acre Scioto Mile features a multi-use trail, swings, benches, fountains, and seating pavilions along a promenade that leads to the showpiece of the park – a 15,000-square-foot interactive water feature adjacent to a café and stage.

• Guthrie Green, Tulsa, Okla. (Project Owner: George Kaiser Family Foundation; Project Designer: SWA Group)  – Guthrie Green, a project built and managed by the George Kaiser Family Foundation (GKFF),  transforms a 2.6-acre truck loading facility into a lively and highly programmed urban park.  The space offers an outdoor amphitheater, performance stage, interactive fountains, and an 11,000-square-foot café pavilion. Sustainable components including walking paths over bioswales, an underground  geo-exchange system that powers nearby nonprofits, and a series of water features are intended as catalysts for discovery. The park has become the area’s leading destination since its 2012 opening, drawing 3,000 people every week to daily park activities and sparking $150 million investment in a variety of public, commercial, and residential projects within the emerging 19-block Brady Arts District of downtown Tulsa.

• Klyde Warren Park, Dallas, Texas (Project Owner:  Woodall Rodgers Park Foundation; Project Designer: The Office of James Burnett) – Spurred by a study in 2002 that confirmed the feasibility of a “deck park” over the freeway, leaders of the Dallas business community formed the nonprofit Woodall Rodgers Park Foundation to operate and maintain a new urban park. Built with a combination of public and private funds, the Klyde Warren Park features a flexible, pedestrian-oriented design that arranges a children’s park, reading room, great lawn, restaurant, performance pavilion, fountain plaza, games area, dog park, and botanical garden around a sweeping pedestrian promenade. Klyde Warren Park is Dallas’s new town square that has literally and figuratively bridged the city’s downtown cultural district with the burgeoning mixed-use neighborhoods to the north, reshaping the city and catalyzing economic development.

• Railyard Park + Plaza, Santa Fe, N.M. (Project Owner: City of Santa Fe, N.M.; Project Designer: Ken Smith, ASLA, Landscape Architect, Frederic Schwartz, FAIA, Architect Missy May, Artist) – Built in 1880, the original Railyard was a key component of Santa Fe’s identity. The city of Santa Fe, with the help of the Trust for Public Land, purchased the land, and undertook a long public process of planning, design and implementation. The resulting Railyard Park + Plaza is the culmination of two decades of community activism that enabled citizens to retain control over the largest downtown development to conserve the open space in perpetuity as a community asset emphasizing local cultures, businesses and artists. The site’s public promenade, art galleries, museums, a farmer’s market, brewery, restaurants, retail shops, office space and the commuter rail station create a thriving mixed-use space that contributes to the local economy. The park includes a reflective circular ramada, walkways aligned with former rail tracks, biking and health trails, children’s playground, picnic areas, a performance green, orchards, community and teaching gardens.

• Washington Park, Cincinnati, Ohio (Project Owner: Cincinnati Park Board; Project Designer: Human Nature, Inc.) – Washington Park was a cemetery before the city purchased the land in 1855, reinterred the remains elsewhere and turned it into a park. It has served as a park since, but in recent decades suffered from disinvestment and criminal activity. Recognizing the value of the neighborhood’s historic buildings and the negative impact of the criminal element on the business district, the Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC) and the city of Cincinnati began to turn the neighborhood around, ultimately leading Washington Park through a $48 million renovation that would transform the neighborhood. Today the 8-acre park has been called the most democratic site in the region, attracting all strata of socioeconomics and demographics to its varied features, including a grand civic lawn the size of a football field, a permanent performance stage, a 7,000-square-foot water feature with 130 pop jets, a renovated civil war era bandstand, an enclosed children’s playground, and a fenced-in dog park.

The award was created through the generosity of Amanda M. Burden, former New York City Planning Commissioner and 2009 laureate of the ULI J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development.  In 2011, the Kresge Foundation, MetLife Foundation, and the ULI Foundation joined forces to continue the Urban Open Space Award through 2015.

To be eligible for the competition, an open space project must:  have been opened to the public for at least one year and no more than 15 years; be predominantly outdoors and inviting to the public; provide abundant and varied seating, sun and shade, trees and plantings with attractions; be used intensively on a daily basis by a broad spectrum of users throughout the year; have a positive economic impact on its surroundings; promote physical, social, and economic health of the larger community; and provide lessons, strategies, and techniques that can be used or adapted in other communities.

In addition to jury chairman Lachman, other 2014 awards jury members are:   Glenn Aaronson, managing partner, Aevitas Property Partners; chairman, Forum Turkey Fund, Amsterdam, Netherlands; William Bonstra, partner, Bonstra Haresign Architects, Washington, D.C.; Terrall Budge, principal and owner, Loci, Salt Lake City, Utah; Michael Covarrubias, chairman and chief executive officer, TMG Partners, San Francisco, Calif.; David Dixon, urban design leader, Stantec Consulting, Ltd., Boston, Mass.; Dr. Sujata S. Govada, managing director, UDP International, Hyderabad, India; Jason Hellendrung, principal, Sasaki Associates, Watertown, Mass.; Jeff Kingsbury, managing principal, Greenstreet Ltd., Indianapolis, Ind.; Jacinta McCann, executive vice president, AECOM, San Francisco, Calif.; Steve Navarro, executive vice president, CBRE, and chief executive officer, the Furman Co, Greenville, S.C.; and Trini M. Rodriguez, principal, Parker Rodriguez, Inc., Alexandria, Va.

NOTE TO REPORTERS AND EDITORS:  High resolution photos of the 2014 Urban Open Space Award finalists are now available for downloading. For more details on the award and previous winners, visit the Urban Open Space Award competition page.

About the Urban Land Institute
The Urban Land Institute (uli.org) is a global nonprofit education and research institute supported by its members. Its mission is to provide leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide. Established in 1936, the Institute has over 32,000 members representing all aspects of land use and development disciplines.