Mixed-use development
From Wikinvestor
Mixed-use development is the practice of allowing more than one type of use in a building or set of buildings. In planning Zoning terms, this can mean some combination of residential, commercial, industrial, office, institutional, or other land uses.
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Benefits
Throughout the late 20th century, it began to become apparent to many urban planners and other professionals that mixed-use development had many benefits and should be promoted again. As American, British, Canadian and Australian cities deindustrialized, the need to separate residences from hazardous factories became less important. Completely separate zoning created isolated "islands" of each type of development. In most cases, the automobile had become a requirement for transportation between vast fields of residentially zoned housing and the separate commercial and office strips, creating issues of Automobile dependency. In 1961, Jane Jacobs' influential The Death and Life of Great American Cities argued that a mixture of uses is vital and necessary for a healthy urban area.
Zoning laws have been revised accordingly and increasingly attempt to address these problems by using mixed-use zoning. A mixed use district will most commonly be the "downtown" of a local community, ideally associated with public transit nodes in accordance with principles of Transit-oriented development (TOD) and New urbanism. Mixed use guidelines often result in residential buildings with streetfront commercial space. Retailers have the assurance that they will always have customers living right above and around them, while residents have the benefit of being able to walk a short distance to get groceries and household items, or see a movie.
Drawbacks
Mixed use development is seen as too risky by many developers and lending institutions because economic success requires that the many different uses all remain in business. Most development throughout the mid to late 20th century was single-use, so many development and finance professionals see this as the safer and more acceptable means to provide construction and earn a profit. Christopher B. Leinberger notes that there are 19 standard real estate product types that can obtain easy financing through real estate investment trusts. Each type, such as the office park and the strip mall, is designed for low density, single use zoning. Another issue is that short term discounted cash flow has become the standard way to measure the success of income-producing development, resulting in "disposable" suburban designs that make money in the short run but are not as successful in the mid to long term as walkable, mixed use environments.
Mixed use commercial space is often seen as being best suited for retail and small office uses. This precludes its widespread adoption as the trend to ever-larger corporate and government employment accelerates.
Mixed use residential buildings and neighborhoods are best suited to those who prefer public amenities to private space. The lack of private outdoor space for kids and pets is anathema to some, particularly in some North American and Australian cultures.
Construction costs for mixed-use development currently exceed those for similar sized, single-use buildings. Challenges include fire separations, sound attenuation, ventilation, and egress. Leinberger explains,
Additional costs arise from meeting the design needs: In some designs, the large, high-ceilinged, columnless lower floor for commercial uses may not be entirely compatible with the smaller scale of walled residential space above. Often the parking space requirements for businesses exceed those of residential development. Thus, mixed use projects that are not sited close to public transit are likely to require a large number of parking spaces that may be difficult to finance. It should be noted however that in mixed-use developments in some denser areas, owning an automobile might be considered a luxury rather than a necessity. A notable example in the United States is Manhattan, though this is an atypical case.
Others maintain that modern consumers prefer big box retailers, as evidenced by the fact that most grocery shoppers today would prefer the convenience of weekly shopping, as opposed to picking up each day's food items from a number of local shops.
Mixed use of non-habitable structures
Also expansive non-habitable structures as tall towers are often used for multiple purposes, which can be described also as "mixed-use". So it is not uncommon, that a water tower has an observation deck and is used for telecommunication purposes or that an observation tower is also used for telecommunication purposes. Most radio towers are designed to carry antennae for multiple purposes and may sometimes also carry equipment for meteorological measurements. Electricity pylons sometimes also carry antennas for mobile phone services.
Limitations to mix use of non-habitable structure result from their static properties, interference of users and maintaibiity. So in most cases a mast radiator insulated against ground is only used for one transmitter, although it is technically possible to mount antennas for UHF/VHF-services and meteorological instruments on it. However maintenance of them may get difficult, as the transmitter using the mast radiator may be switched off or use a spare antenna, when maintenance is done.
See also
External links
- Urban Markets Strengthen, But Standard Real Estate Products Are Not Suited for Mixed-Use, Leinberger
- The Option of Urbanism - Back to the future for Metro Vancouver, (video of lecture by Christopher B. Leinberger, April 2008)
- Crenex.com, Online Real Estate Portal with extensive Finance, Development and Research data
