MVE & Partners Emerges as Experienced Leader in TOD Design

MVE & Partners, the 10th-largest architecture firm in California, has emerged as an experienced leader in the design of transit-oriented developments (TODs), just as American cities seek to mitigate sprawl and clogged traffic.

"It is important to understand the concepts and theories behind TOD and New Urbanism," said Ernesto Vasquez, AIA, vice president and founding partner of MVE & Partners. "But it is even more relevant to work with the political and infrastructural realities on the ground, and design attractive, yet buildable and functioning, TODs."

Vasquez has helped design some of the most thoughtful and successful TODs in California history, including the Fruitvale Transit Village, MacArthur Transit Village and Avalon Walnut Creek developments, all of which define stops along the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system. With more than a decade of experience in transit developments, MVE & Partners has also designed TODs in San Diego and San Jose, among other areas.

Fruitvale Village has become an archetype within transit and planning circles, recognized widely as a TOD that transformed a dreary BART parking lot into a mixed-use oasis. Fruitvale Village encompasses a children's play area in a paseo lined by 30,000 square feet of retail space, as well as 60,000 square feet of offices, 47 live-work units, a 5,000-square-foot library and a 40,000-square-foot medical clinic. Completed in 2004, Fruitvale Village has become a model for urban and transit planners, who often visit the development and study its successes.

In general, city planners look to TODs to ease commuters and urban travelers into mass-transit systems, thus unburdening city streets and reducing dependency on gasoline. Mass transit is made more convenient for TOD residents, as train stops are in walking distance. As well, if enough employers locate near transit stops, then commutes by mass transit become that much more possible and practical.

The challenge is that many American cities either evolved prior building mass transit, or abandoned and eliminated mass-transit infrastructure years ago, while regional development continued. As a result, today's TODs must be retrofitted into existing urban environments. "There are not only infrastructural, design and master-planning issues, but also the sentiments of neighbors and public office holders that must be accommodated," said Vasquez. "Urban diplomacy must match urban design skills."

In some cases TODs must be scaled to meet community goals and concerns, related Vasquez. Additionally, neighborhood meetings, or charrettes, can be held to determine community amenities, services or retailers that could be included in the TODs-features that might make it easier to win community approval. MVE & Partners has evolved strategies to include productive community participation and consensus building in TODs, said Vasquez.

"It is critical to reach out and educate neighbors on the infrastructural, community and architectural merits of TODs, and to attentively listen to the community's vision," said Vasquez. The community planning process is not only an exercise in diplomacy, but is also an essential part of successful planning and design. A contextually sensitive and sustainable design can help ameliorate community concerns.

Urban TODs are also seen as catalysts to urban regeneration, supporting the creation of 24/7 neighborhoods that benefit all residents in the city core. That is the intent behind the MacArthur BART Transit Village in downtown Oakland, which recently won the 2008 Gold Nugget award for Best On-the-Boards Site Plan. On more than 6.8 acres of land, the MacArthur BART Transit Village will transform BART parking lots into 675 residential units, 44,000 square feet of commercial space, 5,000 square feet of community space and nearly 1,000 garage parking spaces. A new retail mall at the BART entrance is also planned. The project is slated for completion in the later part of 2010.

San Diego is emerging as a TOD center, evidenced by MVE & Partners' Comm 22, a mixed-use TOD that will be located on 22nd Street and Commercial Avenue in the Logan Heights district of San Diego, adjacent to a light-rail line. Comm 22 was recently awarded the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Neighborhood Revitalization Catalyst Smart Growth Award. The project has 252 housing units planned, including affordable rentals, market-rate lofts and for-sale units featuring urban lofts that will be in renovated concrete warehouses on former surplus property owned by the University of San Diego. Among other amenities, there will be postal and bank services, health clinic, daycare and approximately 19,000 square feet of retail space.

The Comm 22 development-expected to break ground in 2010-is carefully crafted with courtyards, pocket parks and landscaped open spaces helping to create festive gathering places, while a hierarchy of sidewalks, lanes and streets connects residents to the commercial development along the fronting streets.

An important design element in many MVE & Partners' TOD designs, including that of Comm 22, is the inclusion of residential façades that address the street, often through balconies and stoops. These design elements enliven the fronting sidewalk, enhance the sense of neighborhood and bring more "eyes to the street"-important elements to reducing the sense of anomie that pertains to some city neighborhoods.

Looking forward to the decades to come, MVE & Partners strongly urges communities and municipalities to seize the relatively scarce opportunities that arise for TOD development. There are a finite number of subway and rail stops in a city, noted Vasquez. "If development is densified enough at transit stops, the benefits of TOD development are more fully realized," he said. "While 60 housing units per acre in a TOD may sound high today, in just a few years 100 units may sound low." Future development in cities will almost certainly take place in the cores, as commuting is becoming too expensive, in terms of both time and money, asserted Vasquez.

In addition to Fruitvale Transit Village, MacArthur Transit Village and Comm 22, other TODs in California that MVE & Partners planned and designed include:

Windstar-Dublin BART, Dublin, CA. High-density, transit-oriented residential development with 309 housing units on four acres in downtown Dublin near the West Dublin/Pleasanton BART Station. Project will be connected by walkways with commercial and residential uses in the adjacent city of Pleasanton. Expected completion: 2010.

Windstar-Stoneridge, Pleasanton, CA. A seven-acre mixed-use TOD with 350 housing units on BART-owned land next to the West Dublin/Pleasanton BART Station, on the Pleasanton side of the station. Site development plan and orientation integrate the Windstar-Stoneridge project with new BART station, local bus lines and the adjacent Stoneridge shopping mall. Expected completion: 2010.

Avalon Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill, CA. An 18-acre mixed-use development with 550 housing units, 45,000 square feet of retail and 290,000 square feet of commercial space on a former 1,500-car BART parking lot. New parking structure will be largely hidden by multi-story housing addressing the community through stoops that face walkable retail street, town square and 12-story office building. Extensive use of bicycle and pedestrian paths encourages low-impact transportation. Expected completion: 2010.

Uptown Oakland, Oakland, CA. A 14-acre city revitalization master plan for 1,200 mixed-income apartments, 900 condominiums, 400 student housing units and 60,000 square feet of retail/commercial in rehabbed and new space within walking distance of two BART stops and many bus lines in downtown Oakland. The LEED-silver Uptown comprises three mixed-use buildings united by wandering paseos that connect residents to mass transit. The first two phases-The William with 193 apartments and The Telegraph with 216 units-were completed in 2008; the third phase will be finished in 2010.

Ohlone Court, San Jose, CA. An early role model for affordable and transit-oriented development, the six-acre Ohlone Court comprises 135 units of affordable housing along with many family-oriented amenities, such as pools and play areas. A central curvilinear street acts as a pedestrian promenade and connects residents to light rail. High-density buildings were brought to the center of the development or near the rail stop, while low-density buildings front adjacent single-family detached neighborhoods. Completion: 1997.

Bluwater Crossing, Carlsbad, CA. A 4.2-acre TOD designed to fit into a coastal setting with open plazas, shading devices, roof overhangs, benches and other landscape elements. Residential buildings feature generous use of balconies, unfinished block siding and metal roofs, resulting in a relaxed, summery TOD. Fifty-one live/work units in 11 three-story buildings and 18,000 square feet of commercial space are within walking distance of light-rail. First phase expected completion: mid-2009.

The Promenade at Rio Vista, San Diego, CA. A 13.8-acre mixed-use community with proximity to light-rail transit and riverfront trails. Nearly 1,000 housing units in six structures are paired with streetside commercial and retail development. Based on the architecture of famed San Diego architect Irving Gill, the flat and low-pitched roofs celebrate the benign climate and traditions of San Diego. A large central courtyard serves as a commons area in the heart of the new community. Completion: 2004.

With more than a decade of experience in the design of TODs, MVE & Partners is recognized as a national authority on the architectural and community challenges that face new, dense transit-oriented developments. Looking ahead, MVE & Partners expects that TODs will become even more diverse and dense, as city governments wrestle with traffic congestion and increased housing demands in city cores, while officials also try to create functioning multi-zoned communities, rather than sterile single-use districts.

"It is exciting to consider the extent to which new urban design has become orthodoxy within the city- and transit-planning communities," said Vasquez. "The challenge is to elevate city living by creating TODs that are functional, yet evocative and sophisticated. To really succeed, they must gain acceptance from residents and other stakeholders, including the various government agencies and planning staff. Architects can play an active part in providing leadership and highlighting to citizens that mass transit and increased density create attractive urban environments."

MVE & Partners is a national architecture, planning and interiors firm with a portfolio spanning more than 30 years. MVE & Partners' design and delivery services include the creation of residential, educational, commercial, mixed-use, hospitality, retail, transit, interior and planning solutions from offices in Irvine and Oakland, CA, and in Honolulu, HI. While design diversity is the cornerstone of the firm, the defining approach is the creation of environments that enhance community.