Town & Neighborhood Center developments that include both commercial and residential uses

Fireweed Lane, reimagined as a busy and walkable corridor with housing and street-level retail, including dining patios.

Fireweed Lane, reimagined as a busy and walkable corridor with housing and street-level retail, including dining patios.

A town center on Debarr with housing and retail spaces, centered on a Carrs grocery center. Features a walkable center with parking around the periphery.

A town center on Debarr with housing and retail spaces, centered on a Carrs grocery center. Features a walkable center with parking around the periphery.

A private developer's rendering of a town center at Harris Ranch in Boise, ID. Click on the image to learn more about that example.

A private developer's rendering of a town center at Harris Ranch in Boise, ID. Click on the image to learn more about that example.

Unlike a town center, a neighborhood center primarily caters to the surrounding area and can be designed to be reached on foot or by bike. It is significantly smaller in scale.

Unlike a town center, a neighborhood center primarily caters to the surrounding area and can be designed to be reached on foot or by bike. It is significantly smaller in scale.

Town & Neighborhood Centers can take many forms, including shopping center retrofits, mixed use corridors, and even small, single block centers located in existing neighborhoods (think New Sagaya City Market in South Addition).

Benefits:

  • Anchorage, unlike many other major cities in the country, has available space for large commercial-based developments. This is usually in the form of underutilized lots that are zoned as B-3 (the broadest of our zoning). Think areas like the Fireweed corridor or Debarr, where large lots sit empty next to existing businesses, or where buildings are boarded up or for sale.

  • Town Center housing developments can be significantly taller than in residential zones, increasing the number of available units. This is a great way to add economies of scale without changing any zoning or altering existing residential character.

  • Placing homes near grocery stores and other services helps avoid food deserts, while enabling walkable living.

  • Town Centers can be located along existing bus routes, making them accessible to everyone.

Drawbacks:

  • Sufficient parking for both retail and housing may require either large adjacent lots or expensive parking garages that hurt project economics.

  • The city doesn’t have funds to directly support development of large projects like Town Centers. But Town Centers in other cities are usually primarily funded with private development anyway. The city’s role is often to facilitate partnerships between transit and road authorities, affordable housing providers, and adjacent developments. They may also play a role in funding land acquisition, creating targeted investment areas, or creating revolving loan funds.

  • Demand: foot traffic for retail matters in determining project viability, and current economic conditions may make multi-use real estate unattractive for now. But we can start the building the developer, land acquisition and transportation partnerships now.

Learn more about Town Centers:

Our take:

More of these please. Yes, they may require a private developer with deep pockets and for Anchorage to get creative with financial incentives. But it is an efficient and effective way to grow housing stock and create centers that people want to go to. If we want to be a walkable city someday in the future, we need to build places worth walking to. Town and neighborhood centers are exactly that.