[CPEO-BIF] "Developer Mark Wagenbrenner envisions gold in brownfields, " Columbus, Ohio

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Developer Mark Wagenbrenner envisions gold in brownfields

By Kitty McConnell
COLUMBUS CEO MAGAZINE (OH)
May 4, 2014

Back in the 1990s, Mark Wagenbrenner and his partners saw signs of  
the new urbanism movement in cities such as Chicago and Austin,  
Texas. Instead of relocating, the partners founded Wagenbrenner  
Development in their hometown, Columbus, and focused on turning the  
city’s brownfields into mixed-use urban developments.

...

Q: Are longtime residents wary of redevelopment when you first  
approach neighborhoods with a proposal?

A: Oh, yeah. It (takes) a long time to warm things up.

Forming that relationship with the neighborhood, our product (is)  
better. You feel better about your job because you’re not fighting.

The world’s changed a lot when community groups organize as quickly  
as they do. From a development standpoint, you’ve got to learn that  
fighting them is foolish. Before you get city council and the city  
involved, you just start right with the neighborhood group.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2014/05/04/ 
developerenvisions-gold-in-brownfields.html

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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