True Green Cities/Celebrating Ten+ Years: Transforming Neighborhoods
Celebrating Ten+ Years! It’s been twelve years since I launched Barbara A. Campagna/Architecture + Planning, PLLC and while many things have changed, my goal to work on “greening what’s already here” continues to be met, often in places I never expected.
Transforming Neighbhorhoods
The Entrance to the Hawarden, Washington, DC, near Dupont Circle. Photo taken by Jennifer Johnson.
Historic Preservation is transforming our cities and neighborhoods – from huge neighborhood-changing adaptive use tax credit projects like the Northland Workforce Training Center and the Buffalo Central Terminal in Buffalo, to historic lobbies in neighborhood landmarks like the Hawarden in Washington, DC. All of these National Register-listed projects, from the half billion-dollar neighborhood revitalization to the local landmark interiors, are remaking our cities and making them better places to live. The Northland and Central Terminal projects are focused on increased access for underserved communities, located in the poorest area in Buffalo. The Hawarden project is interesting because the building was one of the first condominium buildings built for middle income Black citizens in DC and the current lobby restoration of the lobby is not being done because of tax credits requirements – but because they think it’s the right thing to do.
The Northlandproject, completed in 2020, cost $120,000,000 and the Central Terminal, which is currently under research and design, is estimated to be at least $500,000,000. The Hawarden’s lobby restoration is privately funded by the residents, and residents voted for the restoration option – excited to be reactivating their lost heritage. From half a billion dollars to a hundred thousand dollars, these projects are all saving our stories and helping us to move forward.
Northland occupies the former Niagara Machine & Tool Works Factory on Buffalo’s East Side. The complex is an intact representative example of a large-scale tool and machine factory designed and built during the first half of the twentieth century. The company played an important role in defense contracting for World War I and World War II, as well as in the development of the East Side of Buffalo along the Belt Line railroad. The Northland Workforce Center has been adapted into a community college to meet the needs of the advanced energy sectors, providing training for local citizens. Its reuse represents a revival in an industrial neighborhood that was once considered forgotten and maintains the industrial significance and aesthetics of the complex. The Central Terminal, one of the largest Art Deco train stations in the country, vacant since 1979, is undergoing a massive rethinking along with its neighborhood, the Broadway-Fillmore District, another historic neighborhood on Buffalo’s East Side. With the Terminal as the catalyst, it is propelling future growth to its surrounding neighborhood, which is one of the most diverse neighborhoods in Buffalo. Northland was $120,000,000 (completed in 2020) and the Central Terminal, which is currently under design, is estimated to be at least half a billion dollars. All financing sources will be essential for these giant complexes. Important incentives include the Federal Historic Tax Credit, New York State Historic Tax Credits, Federal New Market Tax Credits, Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and Brownfield Tax Credits. While the Hawarden’s lobby restoration is privately funded by the residents, this same team of professionals presented two options – a restoration option and a modernization option. The residents voted for the restoration option – excited to be reactivating their lost heritage. From half a billion dollars to a hundred thousand dollars, these projects are all saving our stories and helping us to move forward.
And I’ve been honored to be involved in all three! My colleagues on these projects, Jim Shepherd from Smith Group (Central Terminal) and Jennifer Johnson from Jennifer L. Johnson Interior Design (Hawarden) and I are presenting these projects and this thesis at the Design DC Annual Conference in May.