Financial crisis hits New Urbanism
New Urban News Article with images and sidebars, 12/1/2008
Economic troubles spread from housing to other development sectors, including retail and offices.
From one end of the US to the other, new urbanists are entering tough times, thanks to the combination of a severe credit squeeze and a rapidly deteriorating national economy.
“All of a sudden, the phones stopped ringing — it happened very quickly,” architect John Massengale says about a drastic fall-off in work being offered to architects in greater New York.
In Chico, California, John Anderson of New Urban Builders says of the decline in activity at his development firm: “It’s been pretty frustrating.” The first residential phase of his company’s Meriam Park development had to be shelved early this year despite the fact that it had been fully engineered. New Urban Builders adjusted by concentrating instead on the 250-acre development’s office and mixed-use buildings, expecting to begin site work on those this fall.
