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AIA headlines this week include:

• Taking Revitalization to Scale in Augusta, Georgia

• AIA Joins with Architecture for Humanity To Launch Disaster Plan Grant Program

• AIA Calls on House to Pass Senate Transportation Legislation

• EPA Challenges Architects to Achieve Energy Star Certification

• Report Finds Huge Potential in Energy Efficiency

• R/UDAT Launched ‘Snowball Effect’ in San Angelo, Texas

This week, the Center for Communities by Design kicked off its Sustainable Design Assessment Team (SDAT) project in Augusta, Georgia. Mike Davis, FAIA, is serving as team leader for the project. The SDAT project will focus on the historic Laney-Walker/Bethlehem neighborhoods. This area of the city has experienced decades of disinvestment, with population decline reaching three percent annually between 1990 and 2005. It is now the subject of an intensive, groundbreaking revitalization initiative in which the City has become master developer, leveraging a host of public investments to catalyze private investment in remaking the neighborhood fabric.

The major funding for the initiative came through the establishment of long-term bonds. The City secured $38.5 million in public investment through a 50-year hotel fee. The bonds provide $750,000 annually for planning, land acquisition, and gap-financing. The City’s investment is supplemented with funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that are meant to leverage public funds and incentives to attract significant private investment back to the area. The effort is led by the City’s Housing and Community Development Department, which acts as the master developer for the initiative. As the project leaders state, “We want our community to be reborn, to become the great place it used to be. That is the vision.”

The overall objective for Laney Walker/Bethlehem initiative, which was the product of a 16-month public process, is “mixed-income, mixed-use, green development that enhances quality of life for all.” Thus far, the City has identified six priority development areas, based on feasible land acquisition. It has built over 50 percent of Heritage Pine development (pictured below), the recipient of the 2011 Outstanding Implementation Plan Award from the Georgia Planning Association.

Last year, the initiative added over $3 million to the city’s tax base with an investment of $5.2 million, and it generated 44 new jobs. The City has succeeded in getting the initiative off the ground, and now the big challenge is to leverage some model projects to build momentum for area-wide revitalization.

The question for the upcoming SDAT is how can Augusta take neighborhood revitalization to scale? An interdisciplinary team will return later in the year to hold an intensive charrette process with the community and design a strategy to accomplish this central goal. For more information about the project, see the Laney-Walker/Bethlehem website, or consult the project application.

The AIA and Architecture for Humanity are accepting applications for the Disaster Plan Grant Program, which aims to support the development and implementation of an architect driven disaster plan. The grant program is part of the organizations’ larger strategic partnership which coordinates advocacy, education, and training to help architects make effective contributions to communities preparing for, responding to, and rebuilding after disaster.

The AIA and Architecture for Humanity are focused on providing the necessary resources to improve existing disaster plans for architects that can better utilize their skills in disaster response environments and allow architects to serve as leaders in their community.

The goal of the program is to enhance the capacity of architects to respond to disasters at the state and local level. Grant funds may be used to engage disaster management professionals, train architects, document past disaster response activity, or design advocacy campaigns that will advance the role of architects in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery.

Any state or local component or chapter of Architecture for Humanity or the AIA is eligible to apply; successful applicants will receive grants between $1,000 and $2,000 to help execute their proposal. Additionally, staff from AIA National and Architecture for Humanity will be available to help document, promote, and celebrate projects as they unfold.

To apply for a grant, click here. To get more information about the AIA’s efforts to assist communities with disaster recovery and preparedness, visit the Disaster Resilience website.

In a press release on Wednesday, the American Institute of Architects urged the U.S. House of Representatives to quickly pass transportation legislation approved by the U.S. Senate in a 74-22 vote. For more information, click here.

The AIA and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are once again joining forces to issue the ENERGY STAR Challenge to architects. The ENERGY STAR Challenge is for architects whose projects achieve Designed to Earn the ENERGY STAR certification. The EPA is also challenging architects and AIA components to show how green their regions of the country are by amassing the most certified projects. With the AIA’s 2012 National Convention and Design Exposition in Washington, DC, rapidly approaching, the race is on.

Entering the challenge is easy: architects can use the EPA Target Finder to find out if their design projects achieve a score of 75 or higher. If so, they can Apply for Designed to Earn the ENERGY STAR certification and the project will be counted in the Race to DC. Projects must be submitted by April 4.

The EPA will honor winning firms and projects at the AIA Convention in May. In addition, the region of the country - the Wild West, Big Easy Central and the East Coast – will be honored as well.

The ENERGY STAR Challenge Toolkit for the Race to DC provides materials to help firms and AIA components spread the word.

A report by Deutsche Bank finds that energy efficiency retrofits of U.S. building stock have the potential to save up to $1 trillion and create 3.3 million new jobs. The report cites mandated efficiency targets, benchmarking and disclosure requirements, retrofits of government buildings, and subsidies as the policy tools most able to help the industry reach scale.

The report, United States Building Energy Efficiency Retrofits, estimates that the $1 trillion in savings could be realized in 10 years with a $279 billion investment in energy retrofits spanning residential, commercial, and institutional buildings. Additionally, innovative efficiency financing structures such as Energy Service Agreements, Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE), and On-Bill-Finance will play an important role in developing this nascent but promising sector of the construction industry. PACE, perhaps the most promising clean energy financing model, allows building owners to pay back energy efficiency loans through an assessment on their property tax bill. PACE is permitted by statute in 27 states, but has been frozen since 2010 by FHFA regulations in response to the concerns of the mortgage lenders who object to the senior status of the PACE tax lien in cases of default. Despite this setback, PACE is still a viable financing mechanism in the commercial building retrofits sector and appears to be a vehicle to the development of the energy efficiency industry, one of the most promising market segments in today’s construction industry.

“A lot can change in 20 years.”

That was the conclusion reached recently by the San Angelo Standard-Times in looking back at twenty years of accomplishments that have followed San Angelo, Texas’ R/UDAT (“PROGRESS 2012: Snowball effect began with team's goals in '92”).

The article quotes Lee Pfluger, who served as the chair of the local R/UDAT Steering Committee 20 years ago. "Back in 1991 you could have shot a cannon in downtown San Angelo on a Saturday night and not hit a soul — it was that dead — not a car in sight," Pfluger said, capturing the change that has happened during the past two decades.

"The effort started with Celebration Bridge and the revitalization of the Paseo de Santa Angela as public space, and each success stimulated new interest in downtown. [...] All the vacant buildings that were underutilized in 1991 have all enhanced their utilization to a higher use."

These early successes each built more momentum for larger investments. In fact, in the last seven years, the total amount of public and private dollars that have been invested in the downtown has reportedly grown from less than $1 million a year to more than $55 million through the third quarter of last year.

In 2002, the San Angelo Area Foundation was created. The Foundation exemplifies the partnership and civic engagement that have blossomed across the community. In the past decade, it has received more than $92 million in donations from more than 3,500 different donors, and has distributed over $38 million in grants. One of its recent grants, to the Performing Arts Coalition, is part of a larger effort to raise $13.5 million to convert an old Coca-Cola warehouse into the San Angelo Performing Arts Center.

“Most of the players and investors are really getting in place to continue the downtown movement,” said Matt Lewis, president of the foundation. “Right now we are not seeing it at its impetus, but we are seeing it at year 30. So many people took the risk and had faith starting 30 years ago. It's kind of like a pond that ripples, and all these investors are continuing to make that ripple across downtown."

The R/UDAT remains a reference and barometer for city efforts today. As one resident commented, “To me, this was a historical turning point in our city's planning.” For more information on the San Angelo R/UDAT, consult the R/UDAT report, or the article in the San Angelo Times-Standard.