What we do
Whether you’re looking to create an amazing new place or turn around somewhere struggling; embarking on a design/development project or operating for the long haul - we help you create places where people want to be.
What We Can Do
Drive commerce and community by delivering spaces where people actually want to be - and stay.
In a competitive market, it takes more than architectural design to succeed. Public, common area, and ground floor spaces that foster visitation, connection, and high-quality experiences set the tone for a project and drive immediate and lasting value.
We work with developers, asset managers, business districts, and public agencies to drive commercial and community activity by integrating user experience, operations, programming, and design into developments and capital projects from day one.
New projects will open with a bang, generate foot traffic, and build demand. For existing projects, these strategies generate value by creating new use and demand for previously underutilized common areas and ground floor spaces. In both cases, you will attract quality tenants and higher rents with stronger renewals.
Turn around a project, district or public space that is failing
You’ve got a big project happening or completed, but it’s in trouble. Your downtown, main street, parks, or transportation hubs are unsafe. In commercial districts, vacancy is on the rise and tax base is collapsing. You know you need to reverse the the trend-line, but past strategies have failed.
I help teams bring public places and districts back to life by rethinking systems and developing activation strategies that address core issues and create demand. My approach builds local capacity, attracts funding sources, and doesn’t depend on grant funding that may never materialize. When you create places people want to stay, they bring the activity that transforms declining places into valuable assets for community and commerce.
A project, district or public space is failing, and you need to reverse course ASAP.
You’ve got a big project happening or completed, but it’s in trouble. Your downtown, main street, parks, or transportation hubs are unsafe. In commercial districts, your tax base is collapsing. You know you need to reverse the the trend-line, but past strategies have failed.
I help teams bring public places back to life by rethinking operational systems and developing activation strategies that address core issues and create demand. My approach builds local capacity, attracts funding sources, and doesn’t depend on grant funding that may never materialize. When you create places people want to stay, they bring the activity that transforms declining places into valuable assets for community and commerce.
Our Approach
We approach every project through the lens of the needs of the internal and external people involved; what experience the place should deliver and the systems needed to make them happen.
1. Constituent Engagement | People Focus, Constituent Focus (External)
Discern what constituents want to experience in the place.
2. Experience Strategy | Place Focus, Constituent Focus (External)
Identify what physical features, operations, communications, events and more are needed to support desired constituent experiences.
3. Conditions of Success | Place Focus, Organizational Focus (Internal)
Continually identify, track and manage to goals and metrics of success.
4. Organizational Incentives & Accountability | People Focus, Organizational Focus (Internal)
Align internal incentives, authority & accountability, hiring & role responsibilities, & evaluation to deliver goals and conditions of success.
Through hundreds of projects, we’ve found that the culture of the organization(s) in charge is the number one determinant of a continually successful place.
We partner with you to define and achieve your goals by focusing on the dynamic relationships between people and places within your organization (internal) and the place itself (external).