The City of Gainesville and the planning team led by Urban Collage is gearing up for the third of the four community workshops for the Gainesville 2030 Comprehensive Plan on August 11th, at the Fair Street Neighborhood Center. The main focus of this meeting will be the Downtown/Midtown Core and the intown neighborhoods. For local news coverage on the completed second workshop please click here…

John Skach, the Principal-in-Charge of this project and Senior Associate at Urban Collage, was interviewed by Gainesville local channel TV-18, along with Rusty Ligon, the City’s Community Development Director. “This is our Gainesville” interview was part of the program – Eye on Gainesville led by Catiel Felts. The interview focused on discussing the purpose, process, and early highlights of the comprehensive plan. Please click here to view the complete interview.

As the first step towards creating a community vision for the 2030 Gainesville Comprehensive Plan, Urban Collage and the planning team along with the City of Gainesville conducted a public kick-off open house at the Georgia Mountains Center on May 21.  This three-hour event was well attended by city stakeholders and residents, and the open house format gave plenty of opportunities for input at various planning stations related to economic development, transportation, community facilities, natural and historic resources, and future development.  The suggestions will become a platform for further visioning at three workshops planned for July and August.

To read more about the event click here…

For the last year or so, Associate Matt Cherry has been working collaboratively with the City of Atlanta and the Atlanta Housing Authority to gather input from community stakeholders and conceptualize a new Butler Park in the aftermath of severe damage caused by a 2008 tornado.  Capitalizing on momentum from the ongoing adjacent Auburn Pointe (formerly Grady Homes) Hope VI Redevelopment, the new Butler Park will open in November, adding exciting new recreational and gathering spaces while simultaneously commemorating the legacy of Selena S. Butler and her contributions to educational issues and the civil rights movement.

To read the article in the Parks & Recreation Magazine click here.

Lexington Mayor Jim Gray has appointed an Arena, Arts & Entertainment Task Force to conduct a comprehensive study on the Lexington Center, Rupp Arena, and its immediate context. The task force held its first organizational meeting on April 14, 2011 with the main objective to introduce the four Committees – Planning & Design, Need, Use & Benefit, Finance and Technical Advisory Group; and discuss the process, tasks and products of each Committee. Urban Collage has been engaged to provide staff support and help facilitate this ten-month process. The Committees are now in the process of gathering and analyzing existing studies and information, along with identifying potential case studies for the district.

For more information and presentations visit the Task Force website and for the local news article click here…

The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) recently announced that a team led by Forest City Enterprises, Cousins Properties and The Integral Group had been selected to plan, design and develop one of the largest transit-oriented projects in the country, the Atlanta Multi-Modal Terminal.  Urban Collage is part of a talented design team that includes FXFowle, Cooper Carry, Parsons Brinckerhoff and Kimley-Horn.  Work will include design of the central station for Georgia’s transit and commuter system and associated mixed use development of the “gulch” in Downtown Atlanta.

For more information click here...