After an intensive effort led by Urban Collage over the past year, the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council approved rezoning of 68 acres at the Red Mile harness racetrack on January 14, 2010.  The rezoning to Mixed Use Entertainment was the result of a community-based process instigated by the property owners and the LFUCG Division of Planning that included the creation of a refined mixed use zoning classification for the city.

The Little Rock Housing Authority and the cities of Little Rock and North Little Rock were recently awarded $15M in federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) funds to address inner-city housing foreclosures and other blighting factors related to the economic crisis.  As part of the grant application team, Urban Collage surveyed and analyzed existing housing in eleven census tracts containing over 800 housing units.  The work included identification of priority areas and recommendations on institutional partnerships and public investments to support the stabilization, particularly in the neighborhoods surrounding Little Rock’s civil rights landmarks like Central High School and the Daisy Bates House.

Urban Collage contributed to winning over $4 million in grants for the housing authorities of Little Rock (AR) and Rome (GA) under the Capital Fund Recovery Competition program. Urban Collage also collaborated with the Little Rock Housing Authority, the City of Little Rock, and other affordable housing professionals to complete a comprehensive revitalization program for several inner-city neighborhoods under the ARRA Neighborhood Stabilization Program. Other successes for Urban Collage clients include a total of $25.8 million for the Housing Authorities of Columbia (SC), Wilson (NC), Fayetteville (NC) Metro, and Savannah (GA).

In late 2007, Associate Matt Cherry performed some pro-bono work for the Atlanta Downtown Neighborhood Association, creating design concepts to revitalize Barbara Asher Square (aka Broad Street Plaza). The process engaged both city officials and the Five Points Task force in addressing this problem area in Downtown Atlanta, while making headlines in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The New York Times. It has now been recently announced that Central Atlanta Progress has secured federal stimulus funds to transform the area with various lighting, paver, planter and landscaping upgrades.