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PHOENIX (May 19, 2011) – Ten outstanding developments from the Americas have been selected as winners of the Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) Awards for Excellence: The Americas competition. The winners of the awards competition, widely recognized as the land use industry’s most prestigious recognition program, were announced today in Phoenix at the 2011 ULI Real Estate Summit at the Spring Council Forum.

The competition is part of the Institute’s Awards for Excellence program, established in 1979, which is based on ULI’s guiding principle of recognizing best practice through the awards to promote better land use and development. ULI’s Awards for Excellence recognize the full development process of a project, not just its architecture or design. The criteria for the awards include leadership, contribution to the community, innovations, public/private partnership, environmental protection and enhancement, response to societal needs, and financial viability.

The ten winners, selected from 148 entries throughout North and South America, have succeeded in raising the bar in demonstrating creativity and best practices in land use and property development, said Jury Chair Marty Jones, president, Corcoran Jennison Companies in Boston. “All of winners prove once again that, consistent with ULI’s mission, building more than just ‘bricks and mortar’ can be financially successful and also enhance and strengthen the surrounding community.”

The 2011 winners are (developers and architects in parentheses):

• 300 North LaSalle, Chicago, Illinois (Developer: Hines; Architect: Pickard Chilton): 300 North LaSalle is a 60-story, 1.3-million-square-foot office tower on the north bank of the Chicago River. The LEED-Gold building maximizes day lighting and minimizes solar gain, uses river water for cooling, and features a half-acre plaza that has helped activate the riverfront.
• The Burnside Rocket, Portland, Oregon (Developer/Architect: Cavenaugh+Cavenaugh LLC): The LEED-Platinum Burnside Rocket features a ground-floor pub, two levels of creative office space, a top floor restaurant, and outdoor terraces on each level. The four-story building is multifunctional: operable window panels double as canvases for local artists, the roof garden provides fresh produce for the restaurant, and water from an underground aquifer both cools the building and provides 17,000 liters of potable water each day.
• The Eastside: Phases I & II, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Developer: The Mosites Company; Master Planner: The Design Alliance): The Eastside: Phases I & II—the first of a five-phase classic “zipper” development—is designed to revitalize East Liberty, a community damaged by the urban renewal of the 1960s. The high density, multi-level commercial scheme comprises 116,000 square feet of retail and office space, restaurants, and a grocery store.
• Ed Roberts Campus, Berkeley, California (Developers: Ed Roberts Campus/Equity Community Builders; Architect: Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects): Conceived by a consortium of partners committed to serving people with disabilities, Ed Roberts Campus is an international center for the Independent Living Movement in Berkeley, California. The 1.6-acre, 65,000 square-foot facility was constructed using universal design principles and provides mutually-supportive office space, a childcare center, and direct access to a Bay Area Rapid Transit station.
• Euclid Avenue Transportation Project, Cleveland, Ohio (Developer: Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority; Urban Designer: Sasaki Associates): The $200 million Euclid Avenue Transportation Project brings bus rapid transit (BRT) and an improved streetscape along 8.3 miles of Cleveland’s historic Euclid Avenue, connecting the central business district with major cultural, medical, and education users—all at one-fourth the cost of light rail. The transit project has helped catalyze $4.7 billion in spin-off investment and 11.4 million square feet of new and planned development, offering a successful example of the economic leverage potential for BRT.
• The Fitzgerald, Baltimore, Maryland (Developer: The Bozzuto Group; Architect: The Design Collective): On the site of a former coal yard, the Fitzgerald comprises 275 apartments and 25,000 square feet of retail in midtown Baltimore. Adjacent to the light rail line and walking distance to Penn Station, the new residential building is a leading investment in a larger neighborhood redevelopment effort led by the University of Baltimore.
• New Hope Housing at Bray’s Crossing, Houston, Texas (Developer: New Hope Housing; Architect: Glassman Shoemake Maldonado Architects): Bray’s Crossing is the conversion of the former HouTex Inn—a 1960s-style derelict motel located along a major freeway—into 149 single room occupancy apartments for low-income citizens. Operated without the use of government rent subsidies, the project integrates a public art display into the building design, turning a former eyesore into a community canvas.
• New World Center, Miami Beach, Florida (Developer: New World Symphony; Architect: Gehry Partners): The New World Center is an innovative facility for classical music education and performance in Miami Beach, Florida that sits at the intersection of architecture, technology, education, and culture. An 80-foot-high glass-and-steel box contains the free-flowing theater space, while the front facade—which doubles as a 7,000-square-foot projection wall—displays concerts and video art to patrons in an adjacent 2.5-acre green space.
• Riverfront Park, Denver, Colorado (Developer: East West Partners; Master Planner: Design Workshop): Integrated into the downtown grid of Denver and built on the site of a former rail yard, Riverfront Park is a new urban neighborhood with more than 1,400 residential units and 62,000 square feet of retail space. Designed and built under a form-based zoning code, Riverfront Park also features four parks and a landmark bridge, reclaiming the riverfront from an abandoned brownfield.
• Westfield San Francisco Centre, San Francisco, California (Developers: Forest City Enterprises and the Westfield Group; Architects: RTKL/Kohn Pedersen Fox/ka): After an eight-year development process, Westfield San Francisco Centre has restored the city’s historic Emporium building, boasting 1.5-million-square-feet of commercial space and attracting an estimated 25 million visitors to this once-distressed area of San Francisco.

Over the years, the Awards for Excellence program has evolved from the recognition of one development in North America to an international competition with multiple winners. The ULI Awards for Excellence: Europe was added in 2004, followed by the ULI Awards for Excellence: Asia Pacific and the Global Awards in 2005. Throughout the program’s history, all types of projects have been recognized for their excellence, including office, residential, recreational, urban/mixed-use, industrial/office park, commercial/retail, new community, rehabilitation, and public projects and programs.

In addition to jury chair Jones, other competition jury members are: Michael S. Balaban, president, Lowe Enterprises Real Estate Group, Eastern Region, Washington, D.C.; Gregory Baldwin, partner, ZGF Architects LLP, Portland, Ore.; Douglas W. Betz, senior vice president of development, Woolpert, Dayton, Ohio; Amanda M. Burden, director, New York City Department of City Planning, New York, N.Y.; William A. Gilchrist, director of placed-based planning, City of New Orleans, La.; Kenneth H. Hughes, president, Hughes Development, LP, Dallas, Texas; Mark Johnson, president, Civitas, Inc., Denver, Colo.; Christopher W. Kurz, president and chief executive officer, Linden Associates, Inc., Baltimore, Md.; David Malmuth, president, David Malmuth Development, San Diego, Calif.; Jeff Mayer, chief executive officer, Jeff Mayer + Partners, LLC, Irvine, Calif.; Randall K. Rowe, chairman, Green Courte Partners, LLC, Lake Forest, Ill.; and John B. Slidell, executive vice president, The Bozzuto Group, Greenbelt, Md.

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 nearly 30,000 members representing all aspects of land use and development disciplines.