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Understanding the Importance of Placemaking in Masterplanned Developments with Brian Sutherland – Ep. 49
About the Guest
I am extremely excited to share this next conversation with all of you. Brian Sutherland, Vice President of Development at Argo Development Corporation, and the development lead for the Lakeview Village project on the shores of Lake Ontario. Brian Sutherland has over 15 years of experience in the land use planning and land development industry. With experience working for a municipal government, planning consulting firm, and land developer, Brian has a wide range and vast level of experience and perspective towards community building and land use planning. Brian has managed large landowner groups, obtained approvals for dozens of subdivision, zoning, and site plan applications, and overseen successful construction of large-scale residential subdivisions. Brian has experience working on projects across the GTA collaborating with residents, community groups, builders, elected officials, municipal departments, and agencies to create exciting, vibrant, and successful places for people to live work, and play.
ARGO is a leading-edge land development company with more than 25 years of experience. They are a dedicated team of driven industry experts that rivals the largest developers in the Nation with a streamlined and nimble operation which enables us to provide a competitive advantage. Inspired by their successful past, today they proactively strive to create thriving communities.
In this episode, we are going to discuss the impact that finding the right team can have on a large development masterplan, a behind-the-scenes look into several innovations their development team is exploring on their projects, and how to build excitement in the surrounding community for your upcoming project. There is loads of great information in this episode and I greatly appreciated Brian for taking the time out of his extremely busy schedule to discuss this topic of understanding the importance of placemaking in masterplanned developments with me.
As always, if you have enjoyed the show, please subscribe to the show and share it with your friends in the industry. There will be more exciting conversations on the shows to come.
Main Take-Away’s From This Show
This was another fun episode to record. I thoroughly enjoyed the story Brian shared on the history behind the Lakeview Village project. The consortium that is working on this project is truly creating something special there on the shores of Lake Ontario. By handpicking the various members of the project team, they were able to bring on groups that could fortify their strengths and shore up their weaknesses on the project. There were so many great talking points that Brian made throughout the discussion, so it is hard to just pick three for my main take-away’s this week. The following main topics of the show come from an understanding of placemaking from the standpoint of masterplanned communities that Brian possesses.
- Picking the Right Team is Absolutely Crucial
- Utilizing Effective Placemaking to Create Ideal Developments
- Creativity and Flexibility are Paramount When Designing Truly Unique Developments
As always, I will dig into each of these “take-aways” every week on the blog. So, without further a due, here we go!
Picking the Right Team is Absolutely Crucial
This is the first point for a reason. When forming this consortium of team members, they realized it was absolutely critical that the right group was brought together to tackle the unique challenges inherent in this colossal undertaking. The team as a whole represents various skills and expertise that form a true knowledge bank for the group to call upon when tackling the various challenges that come along with a large mixed-use, multi-year, development such as the Lakeview Village project.
Brian mentioned that the team was really strong but understood that they were lacking expertise in the understanding of how the built environment would interact with the waterfront that was such a unique aspect of this development. They decided to start looking for another member to fill this gap. The team opened up its search to bring in talent from all over the globe. They landed on Sasaki, based out of Boston, to help fill the void. Due to their understanding of the built environment and the way people react to it, especially along waterfronts, Sasaki was brought in as part of the unit.
Understanding your weaknesses is extremely vital for success in real estate development. By bringing in new members of the team to help fill your gaps, you shore up your knowledge base and reduce the chance for failure to occur. It doesn’t guarantee your success but greatly improves your odds.
Utilizing Effective Placemaking to Create Ideal Developments
Effective placemaking was intentional in the design efforts of the consortium of members that make up the Lakeview Village Community Partners Limited. The term “placemaking” has several connotations and definitions. It’s honestly a lot of fun to hear various people’s thoughts on what Placemaking truly means to them. Essentially most definitions circle around the notion of designing public places around the needs of the community.
Brian and the team of professionals leading the charge on this transformative project are using key themes such as innovation, art, recreation, and nature to help to focus their design for this master plan. They have partnered with Artscape to provide public art within the community. This gives local artist opportunities to express themselves and supports the surrounding art scene.
They are also working diligently on the Innovation District portion of the project to bring the sciences to the area and provide a location for various employers in the science and tech industry to relocate. This Innovation District will have its eye on the future of technology while providing a nod to the past. In addition to the arts and sciences, there will be a big focus on nature. Due to its location on the waterfront of Lake Ontario, there is a great opportunity for this project to be a model in green and sustainable urban living for developments all over the world.
Creativity and Flexibility are Paramount When Designing Truly Unique Developments
This last main point is one that is almost too simple, but often overlooked by those in the real estate industry and potentially even harder to actually adopt. The team at Lakeview Community Partners Limited harnessed creativity and flexibility in their approach to this master planned development. Flexibility allowed them to understand the impact such as the current pandemic and utilize it to even better design the public spaces and park areas. The flexibility has allowed them to understand current trends and be willing to adapt as necessary for future trends to come.
The stories of creativity with this development are truly endless. As discussed, they were able to partner up with the City to provide tons of concrete from their excavation and demolition and repurpose it for the use of expanding a large public park near the property. They also had the great idea of spreading sunflower seeds across the site to create an amazing display of beauty and nature on a site that had been dominated by industrial plants in the past to spread the message about the exciting development that is “growing” there. It didn’t end there either, they are actively pursuing unique infrastructure improvements that are hardly found in North America to greater set this development apart from others with a goal of transforming this area.
As you can see from the takeaways above, this podcast episode was absolutely full of great information on making it in real estate development and the benefits of utilizing placemaking techniques in a master-planned development. If you have enjoyed the content and the show, please subscribe to the show below and share it with your friends in the industry! We’ll have many more great discussions on the shows to come.
To Learn More About Brian Sutherland, Argo Development Corp, and the Lakeview Village Project, Check out the Following Websites:
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