Developers Race to Meet Deadline for Civic Center Village

By Jorge Casuso

June 1 -- More than a dozen teams of developers and architects met a deadline last week to submit qualifications to build a new “village” at the Civic Center that will include three new apartment complexes and a neighborhood “green.”

Most of the 16 teams raced to meet the 5:30 p.m. deadline Thursday to show they have the experience and ability to implement a “comprehensive mixed-finance, mixed-income, and mixed-use development plan” on the site of the current RAND headquarters.

“We got a major response,” said Bob Moncrief, the City’s housing director. “We knew this was going to be very competitive and there would be a lot of interest. It’s prime real estate.”

The City knew there was plenty of interest in developing the City-owned site across the street from City Hall when 87 people showed up at a meeting last month to explain the process.

The City also advertised its search for development teams in the New York Times and in national trade magazines, Moncrief said.

“We need a good urban design for the site, so we have a village and not three individual sites,” Moncrief said. “The ideas are out there. We have to tap the best ones. We want a world class design.”

Selected developers who responded to the request for qualifications will be asked to submit detailed proposals for the development, which includes 325 units -- 160 of them low-income -- on the three sites. The development will include a public neighborhood green and mews and sidewalks linking to perimeter streets.

“The developers have to figure out what makes the most sense in terms of financing,” Moncrief said. “We emphasized we need a good urban design for the site so we have a village and not three individual sites.”

Once a team is selected, the City will hold a series of public sessions over three or four-days to receive input from the community, Moncrief said.

“The teams will work with the community,” Moncrief said. “There will be give and take. Hopefully by the end, there should be some consensus on how the buildings will relate to one another.”

The City expects to have fully completed a specific site plan and an Environmental Impact Report by the end of the year.

Construction cannot begin until RAND -- which sold the site as part of a $53 million, 8.3 acre deal with the City -- completes its new headquarters on an adjacent site and the old facilities are torn down.