For generations, the American dream has been a fairly simple formula: Get a good job, get married, move out of the city, buy a big house with a white picket fence and plenty of space. But younger generations have a different version of the American dream, and when they picture “the good life,” they see something much different for themselves.

The baby boomers were, for the most part, content to follow in their parents’ footsteps when it came to picking a place to live. But many in Generation X and Y seem to be moving back to the city, trading in a house on the outskirts of town with plenty of space for a mixed-use multifamily living space in the heart of the city.

Damin Tarlow, of Gerding Edlen Development Company, which specializes in sustainable mixed-use multifamily buildings, says this shift in desired living spaces can be attributed to several factors, but mainly, he maintains, is a lifestyle choice.

“People have realized the white picket fence isn’t sustainable,” said Tarlow. “We look at the word sustainability as a lifestyle option.”

Gerding Edlen looks at housing from a triple-bottom-line approach, an accounting practice that takes into consideration environmental and social impacts or gains, as well as economic concerns.

For Tarlow, mixed-use is the answer. With green mixed-use buildings, all of the major issues are simultaneously taken care of. Moving into the city cuts down on traffic, since trips to the grocery store or other errands can be done on foot or by riding public transportation. Multifamily units also bring back the neighborhood dynamic, something that’s often lost to those living out of town.

Pearl district: Planner’s dream

There really is no better example of creating a mixed-use multifamily neighborhood than in Portland, OR, Gerding Edlen’s home city.

“Portland is a progressive, national model for this type of growth,” said Tarlow. “Developers from all over the country fly in to Portland to study the Pearl District and the planning that went along with it.”

And planning is one thing anyone involved in Portland development can agree on; multifamily mixed-use developments take a lot of planning.

“Portland, as it is now, is based on building principles that were set in place over 30 years ago,” Tarlow said. “They drew an urban growth boundary around the city. Los Angeles, Atlanta, those cities grew out; we grew in.”

The urban growth boundary was designed to push people into the area of Portland loosely referred to as center city, the central hub for everything in the city. This area is easily accessible by public transportation and major highways. But it wasn’t until 1992 that a group of private business owners in Portland drafted a plan to convert industrial space and 40 acres of rail yards in the heart of the city into a live-work area that would eventually be known as the Pearl District.

The goal was to build 5,500 residential units over 20 years, plus three new parks to make up for open space people would be giving up if they chose to move into the city. The business owners also looked to the city for help in adding a streetcar to bring people into the area.

And the plan worked liked a charm. When it was proposed, there were 1,594 housing units in the area. Before the goal set in the original charter, 7,408 units have been constructed and the Pearl District is now a major hub for restaurants and retail shops.

The Pearl has become more than just an urban infill project that draws in locals and tourists to shop, live and eat; it has become a premier example of smart development in North America. Cities across the nation are not only praising the Pearl District, but also taking notes in the way they model, or remodel, their downtown areas. 

Mixed-use success

According to Bruce Allen of the Portland Development Commission, the key to the Pearl’s success was planning.

“I think there was some incredibly complex planning done up front. The city adopted the street plan. Everything was planned, from the location and design of the parks and buildings to the sidewalks and lights and the plants lining the streets,” Allen said. “They (the committee from the private sector) had the design guidelines and a funding strategy. All of these things were done around 1992, and in 1997 the urban renewal plan was adopted.”

Money from the urban renewal plan made it possible for the city to create some affordable housing options throughout the Pearl.

Formula for success

One of the key parts of the plan was to build the mixed-use buildings in an area of town that had transit lines. This allows people to get into the area to shop or come to work without having to worry about parking.

This gives the area what Randall Jackson, president the Planning Center, based in Costa Mesa, CA, calls the visual saturation needed for the retail components of mixed-use to survive.

“The biggest problem in the U.S. is we have 50 percent too much retail. The retail in these mixed-use spaces tends to be niche, it tends to be smaller and higher-end, so it needs to be in a higher-traffic area. You need visual saturation, pedestrian saturation, public transit saturation and automobile saturation. The old mantra of location, location, location applies to live-work spaces as well.”

Regardless of the Pearl District’s huge success, Jackson is quick to point out that mixed-use or live-work spaces don’t always work.

“I think they are a niche market,” Jackson said. “They serve a variety of functions. In a limited case they can offer commercial and office support for a community, and they can help create the energy needed on the street level to create a social aspect you need in a community. The bad part is they’re being treated like a gimmick. They won’t work everywhere, in any space. You still need appropriate amounts of traffic in the area for the space to work. It can help activate the street level of a neighborhood, but you need to make sure it (the retail portion of the building) would work as a standalone business. These buildings need to be thought of a business first. Would the business succeed if it were a standalone building in a conventional area?”

Ride it off

There is little doubt that having strong public transportation helped attract more people to the Pearl, giving them access to amenities and thereby creating a community, not just a mixed-use project crammed into a nonresidential area. If it were not for the easy access provided by the city’s streetcars and other modes of public transportation, the retail components of the buildings might have sat empty, as is the case in other areas of Portland that have gone with the mixed-use model but are struggling from a lack of accessibility. Once people arrive in the Pearl, it is easy to walk anywhere, since one of the goals in the original planning was to make the area pedestrian friendly. 

Tarlow maintains this is a major draw to living downtown. People want all the amenities and easy access a downtown has to offer.

“One of those amenities is public transportation. It’s not in the building, but it’s still an important amenity and one we sell against.”

“Neighborhood is another amenity of a multifamily building. We’re not just putting up a building, we’re creating a place,” Tarlow said.

Existing places

Neighborhoods take a lot of work and planning, Tarlow insists. One of the decisions that Gerding Edlen spends a lot of time on is who to place in the retail section of their mixed-use buildings.

“If there is already a pizza place in the neighborhood, you don’t give the space to a pizza place,” Tarlow said. “You have to think about what is good for the neighborhood, because the neighborhood is what you’re selling. We like to put like-minded businesses in our retail space, local and organic or sustainable businesses.  We try to figure out who is going to complement the existing neighborhood that’s already there.”

In addition to mixed-use buildings with a retail component, Gerding Edlen also does a number of businesses that double as live-work spaces.

“Putting offices in the building is great for many reasons. The people from the offices are there all day, while the residents are there all night. This also allows you to double dip on parking. When the offices are emptying out at night, the residents are arriving home.”

While multifamily living isn’t for everyone, in years to come it will continue to be an attractive living option not only for younger generations, but also for aging generations who no longer want the hassle of taking care of a yard and commuting into town to buy groceries. Mixed-use is definitely a smart living choice for those who don’t own or want to own a car as well. The audience is there for builders and developers to tap into.