While others provide studies, Vita Nuova provides strategies.

Vita Nuova’s Economic and Community Development services provide a holistic approach to community revitalization. While others provide studies, we go beyond traditional studies and reports to help communities move toward sustainable redevelopment. We roll up our sleeves and work with our community partners to help redevelopment happen.   These strategies serve as the foundation for attracting long-term investments that maximize the value of public initiatives and private sector participation to create sustainable communities. Vita Nuova’s expertise in working with brownfields sites, degraded neighborhoods, infrastructure, and other complex site challenges gives us a unique advantage for taking on difficult projects around the country. Vita Nuova specializes in working in tough urban neighborhoods, mid-size communities and small towns. For more information on our Applied Economic and Community Development Services, click here.

Vita Nuova works with communities, especially mid-size and smaller cities and towns, urban neighborhoods and other communities facing difficult economic situations. Vita Nuova is a national expert at helping revitalize challenged neighborhoods and properties. Each project is customized to meet the specific objectives of the community and address the unique concerns of stakeholders working to preserve and revitalize their communities. Working with stakeholders, Vita Nuova seeks to bring together local initiatives with public and private finance. Our primary goal is to establish plans that can be implemented. In fact, the secret in the sauce is that due to limited resources in most of these communities, we begin implementation as part of the planning process.

Reuse Planning and Design

Vita Nuova integrates world-class design with real estate, planning and economic development to create plans that lead to implementation not  to collect dust on the shelf. Focusing on a sustainable approach, Vita Nuova’s process helps communities plan for the next generation. Vita Nuova incorporates a synergistic planning approach that integrates land use, natural resources, transportation, infrastructure, and market characteristics to create a sustainable plan that:

• Heals the breach between ‘man and nature’ incorporating best practices to restore ecosystems and create value by integrating natural features into the redevelopment;
• Incorporates ‘green’ energy and transportation choices to address climate change concerns; and
• Identifies models of rebuilding communities based on sustainable models of development, green affordable models of housing, and access to healthy food and multiple transportation options.
• Addresses complex issues associated with crime, poverty, disinvestment, blight and environmental degradation.

Opportunities and Constraints Analysis

Each redevelopment plan begins with a comprehensive opportunities and constraints analysis that considers existing site conditions and connections with surrounding land uses. A deep understanding of the neighborhood or area of focus allows us to see “reality”, helps us to communicate the challenges, as well as devise unique solutions. Integrating market data, land use planning and environmental risk management criteria, Vita Nuova creates reuse alternatives that acknowledge the unique characteristics of the site or neighborhood. This process leads to realistic alternatives upon which further investment can occur.

Market Analysis

Because we are an integrated services firm, we conduct the market analysis as part of the reuse planning and use it to drive the reuse decision-making process. We go beyond the traditional real estate assessment. Vita Nuova seeks to identify ‘local’ niche opportunities as well as regional, national and international opportunities. Vita Nuova identifies trends and opportunities outside the statistical marketplace. A comprehensive site matrix defines synergies between market, economy and property characteristics to identify opportunities for future use. This approach leads to creative solutions intended to augment the sustainable restoration of sites and rejuvenation of communities.

Implementation

No matter how small or large the project, Vita Nuova seeks to understand and communicate the challenges and opportunities deeply, so that implementable next steps arise from the planning process. Depending on the resources, Vita Nuova will either set up the next steps for the client- whether framing a redevelopment opportunity or identifying and preparing a grant or it will implement the next steps as part of the planning process. Either way, clients are always well down the road toward implementation whenever Vita Nuova is involved in the revitalization of a community.