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Building Blocks
PEG/Park Forms Urban Design Division
PEG/Park LLC is struttin’ its street stuff. The White Plains,
New York-headquartered design/devel-opment/consulting company has made a firm commitment
to the future of retail real estate by starting up a new division, Street-Works, devoted
specifically to creating and developing great urban places.
The new venture brings together the strategic retail consulting and urban development
expertise of PEG/Park founder and principal Ken Narva and his group in White Plains with
the downtown mixed-use planning and design skills of Richard Heapes and his team in
Alexandria, Virginia. “Together we bring a broad spectrum of skills and experience to
America’s main streets,” says Narva, adding that the goal of the new group is to
create 25 great places in urban America in the next 10 years.
Narva says that the name “Street-Works” arose because the group’s principal
focus will be street-related development. “We must activate our city streets,”
he explains, adding, “People are going back to cities.” He thinks the reason for
America’s reemerging interest in urban spaces has to do with economic forces that are
changing not only how we spend our time, but how we want to spend our time. Because
families typically have two working parents (or a single working parent), American social
dynamics have changed drastically.
“With two people working, there’s no time anymore. They used to predict that by
the 90s people would have much more free time, maybe even four-day work weeks. But it just
isn’t happening – people are busier than ever,” Narva feels. He predicts,
“The most valuable commodity in the next century will be time.” Americans are
looking for ways to avoid things that take up valuable time, like commuting. As such, they
are seeking vitality, culture and living space near their workplaces, creating the need
for mixed-use urban development.
One of the ways the lack of free time has changed American life is the increase of dining
outside of the home. This has fueled visible growth in the restaurant industry, which many
have attributed to the strong economy recently. But Narva feels that restaurants are not
just a current fad. “They are becoming necessary because people don’t have time
to cook anymore,” he points out. He says restaurants also offer the chance to
socialize and that conversation-inviting, comfortable dining venues actually provide an
answer to a societal and psychological need. Narva says, “There is a real purpose in
looking like a living room. No one has dinner parties anymore and people need gathering
places.”
They also need places that offer sensory stimulation, especially in lives that are
increasingly spent in the workplace, often in front of computers. “Now we are in an
experience-based economy,” he claims, describing America’s 20th-century history
as moving from agriculture-based, to industrial-based, to service-based, and now to
experience-driven economies. And although the mixed-use urban streetscape is the hot new
way to provide the desired ‘experience,’ Narva is quick to point out that we are
actually returning to a way that we used to live. “We are not creating new
experiences, but recycled experiences,” he says.
We seem to want the ability to shop where we work and play, just as we did 100 years ago.
For that reason, Narva says that the “malling of America” cycle has reached its
conclusion. As well, because of the human need for vital experiences, Narva says the mall
concept is giving way because malls tend to be “homogenous” entities.
“They’re the same, no matter where you go,” he describes. An experience, on
the other hand, has a very local flavor, is constantly changing, and can even be gritty.
“We like cars, congestion, vitality,” Narva describes.
Narva says that the new urban streetscape must be anchored by retail and entertainment
while providing mixed-use opportunities. “Retail gives life to streets,” he
feels. He defines retail as “the interaction between consumers and products.”
For that reason, he says that entertainment and recreation are actually both forms of
retail. He also says that e-commerce is ‘commodisizing’ needed or desired
products in transactions by making them “price only” items. For traditional
retail to compete with e-commerce, creating an experience or giving life to the street
becomes even more important.
“It takes a different breed to deal in the urban environment where there are more
people than trees,” he says, noting that cities and groups interested in main street
revitalization often don’t know where to begin their efforts. “We help them
understand and organize the process.” He says Street-Works’ goal is to be the
developer in about 40 percent of what it becomes involved in and that the group is looking
at projects all over country, one of which is the possibility of redoing Coney Island in
Brooklyn, New York. “We’re in the vision business,” he says.
Narva’s PEG/Park team has both designed and developed retail and entertainment sites
in a variety of urban locations. Among recent development projects are New Roc City in New
Rochelle, New York; Ridgeway Center in Stamford, Connecticut; and Palisades Court in
Englewood, New Jersey. Among Narva’s consulting projects are 620 Avenue of the
Americas in Manhattan and White Plains Town Center, both for Tishman Speyer Properties;
Clifton Commons in Clifton, New Jersey for Related Retail Properties; the downtown
redevelopment of Port Chester, New York, with G&S Investors; and Stamford Place in
Stamford, Connecticut, with Forest City Ratner Company.
Heapes, formerly director of Cooper Carry Architects’ Main Street Studio, and his
staff have considerable experience in planning and designing mixed-use downtowns. Among
tbeir projects are: Mizner Park in Boca Raton, Florida for Crocker & Company and
TIAA-CREF; Bethesda Row in Bethesda, Maryland and Town & Country in San Jose,
California, both for Federal Realty Investment Trust; Market Place at Fifth & Forbes
for Urban Retail Properties and the Pittsburgh Redevelopment Agency; and Highlands Ranch
Town Center in Denver, Colorado for OPUS, Northwest and Shea Properties.
For more information, contact Ken Narva, Street-Works, 30 Glenn Street, White Plains, New
York 10603, 914-949-6505; or Richard Heapes, Street-Works, 814 King Street, Alexandria,
Virginia 22314, 703-837-1630.
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