5. Abandoned and Under-used Land

Many cities have vast tracts of abandoned and under-utilized land including abandoned parking lots and shopping centers. In 1995, for example, more than 3,800 abandoned first-generation shopping centers dotted the nation's inner cities.³¹ While local land reform movements have spurred some reinvestment, only in a few cities has reinvestment been undertaken on a large scale.

       Leading re-developers of older urban and suburban areas were asked (in events sponsored by the Urban Land Institute, the MacArthur Foundation, the Smart Growth Network, and others) where they look for their best opportunities. The almost unanimous opinion (driven by the favorable economics associated with existing infrastructure) was "already-serviced land" (that is, land already connected by infrastructure such as roads, and utility lines for gas, telephone, electricity, water and sewer service), as represented by "excess parking capacity" and "first generation shopping centers."³² When asked what the principal barriers are to using such spaces, the most commonly cited are "transaction costs" associated with "land assembly" and "information access."

       There are several approaches to addressing these challenges to take advantage of abandoned land. One approach is to develop systems that track property ownership and conditions that increase public accountability or responsible performance and market awareness of potential property availability. Three good examples of such systems are The Neighborhood Early Warning System (NEWS) in Chicago, Neighborhood Knowledge Los Angeles (NKLA), and the Pittsburgh Regional Industrial Site Evaluation System (Pittsburgh RISES). Each program has developed the systems that community organizations, real estate investors and public agencies can use to "connect the dots" between physical condition and owner performance.³³

       Another is to identify new market tools for financing reuse, such as through the creation of an intermediary to enable the necessary partnership financing. Several institutional investors (for example, Columbus Real Estate Investment Trust in Dallas, Arcadia Development in New Mexico and Nokomura Bank) are modifying their investment policies to enter this market.³⁴

       A third approach that encompasses both the element of opportunity recognition and of value capture is to develop specialized capacity to address environmental contamination, known as land recycling or brownfields redevelopment. New intermediary organizations developing capital access systems for reinvestment in contaminated industrial properties include the California Center for Land Recycling, Phoenix Land Recycling in Pennsylvania, and the Brownfields Institute in Chicago. ³⁵

Contents

• Part I The Tangible Assets of Cities
• Part II Barriers to Valuing the Assets of Cities
• Part III Intangible Assets: Social Capital and Place
• Part IV A Newer Geography of Hope
• Part V Conclusion: Making Community Count
• Endnotes