#BuildHereNow - Highlights from the Week
Our first #BuildHereNow crowdsourcing campaign was a tremendous success. Over the past week, our followers posted dozens of photos from cities across the United States and Canada on Twitter and Instagram. While the images differ in location and type, they have one thing in common—these properties all need a bit of love in order to turn them back into productive places in their communities.
We’ll begin with one of our biggest pet peeves -- almost empty parking lots were a popular target:
Missing tooth on Clematis Str. is one of the most important sites in the city but it's a parking lot #BuildHereNow pic.twitter.com/L2lrMw0ZeO
— WalkableWPB (@WalkableWPB) February 22, 2016
(See our #BlackFridayParking highlights for more examples.)
Under-utilized single zoned spaces were also popular:
@StrongTowns #buildherenow 6190 Delmar 63112. Owners still hoping for a leasee for this turkey pic.twitter.com/Ez0rjiccrC
— St Louis Unite (@stlunite) February 22, 2016
OK @StrongTowns I'll play #BuildHereNow. Community market/grocery to serve & restore once #walkable neighborhood pic.twitter.com/vcIWDskGfQ
— Maurice Carter (@lmauricec) February 22, 2016
… as were boarded up buildings:
Check out this building with great mixed used potential @StrongTowns . someone needs to #buildherenow! pic.twitter.com/7GJpT4MiZK
— GrowingSandusky (@GrowingSandusky) February 23, 2016
@StrongTowns The old Rialto Theater in Grand Rapids, MN, is groaning with potential. #BuildHereNow pic.twitter.com/k4u8ciIiZp
— John E. Schroeder (@artesianmind) February 25, 2016
And of course, there were plenty of plain old empty lots:
Support Christina’s campaign 2 bring a #YouthCenter 2 #BelmontCragin #Chicago #BuildHereNow https://t.co/z0bRRfYSeh pic.twitter.com/FEJyOsvYjW
— Civic ArtWorks (@CivicArtWorks) February 24, 2016
@StrongTowns more #BuildHereNow along the @KCMO north riverbank pic.twitter.com/wipmmtjfqX
— Jason Withington (@jhwkcmo) February 25, 2016
To wrap things up on a high note, there were even a few success stories like this one:
#buildherenow found in Red Bank NJ. Luckily RB recently approved a beautiful brick bldg. https://t.co/8QLjOMQjE1 pic.twitter.com/UGTWyX5st8
— Nagle & Jonat (@naglejonat) February 25, 2016
Your posts also included some creative ideas of what to do with these neglected spaces, including mid-density walkable, transit-oriented, or mixed use developments; movie theaters; youth centers; hotels; community gardens; and bike lanes. You can see all the submissions and suggested uses in the feed below. Thank you to everyone who participated.
Our work to shine a spotlight on the underutilized spaces in our towns isn’t over. Please continue posting pictures of the vacant or underutilized properties in your town to Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #BuildHereNow. And be sure to let us know when you see a once empty or underutilized property in your town getting the love it deserves. We'd love to hear about it!
You can visit our Housing page to learn more about how federal housing policy presents a barrier to the creation of walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods and is distorting our housing market.