Study Abroad
Mar 1, 2009 12:00 PM, By Elaine Misonzhnik
Mixing and Matching
Providing a sufficiently diverse mix of uses also plays an important role in the success of a final project, according to Clark. For example, Development Design Group is currently working on Akkoza, a mixed-use development in Istanbul. When completed, the project will include not only four million square feet of residential space and more than 753,000 square feet of retail, but a hospital, several private schools, an amusement center, an open-air festival park, tennis and basketball courts and a fitness center, among other components. The project, which is being developed by the Turkish firm Garanti Koza, began construction in 2006.
Often, such diversity of uses springs from sheer necessity, according to Higgs. In many parts of the world developers don't have a large number of national or international retailers to choose from, so they are forced to work with a handful of established chains and populate the remainder with non-retail uses, including fitness centers, movie theaters, music and comedy clubs, libraries and, in some cases, health clinics. This variety often results in more dynamic centers offering residents and workers true convenience, architects say.
“A few residential units on top of a shopping center don't make a mixed-use center and they don't give you relevance,” says Clark.
Weaving entertainment and sports components into mixed-use properties provides a draw for additional traffic. At another of Development Design Group's upcoming projects in Istanbul, the firm will combine a 15,000-seat basketball arena for the popular Fenerbahce sports club with 269,000 square feet of retail and entertainment space, a 215,300-square-foot office tower and a 240-room hotel. The center is being designed in such a way that it will draw people every day of the week not only on game days, Higgs says. The sports arena can accommodate a variety of cultural events. Meanwhile, the retail component of the development will feature movie theaters and an Olympic-size swimming pool, as well as a family entertainment center.
Fenerbahce Ulker City is being developed by the Turkish Ulker Group and will open in 2010.
Reason to Hope
The good news for U.S. developers is that some of them have already begun adopting the trends outlined above. New York City-based Related Co.'s 2.8-million-square-foot Time Warner Center in Manhattan, for example, takes advantage of its location at a busy intersection in the heart of the city to lure both local residents and visitors from abroad, according to Clark. And Rasheed points to Atlantic Station, a 15-million-square-foot redevelopment project in midtown Atlanta, as a mixed-use complex that takes advantage of vertical integration in a city that is best known for its urban sprawl.
The trick going forward, however, will be trying to make such innovative projects the rule, rather than the exception, according to Zhang. “They've [foreign developers] practiced that for a long, long time. A lot of their development is very compact; it's mixed with hotel, residential and office components and it's very closely connected with the public transportation system.”
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