Urban Land Institute Honors Heifer International

Recognized for providing leadership in responsible use of land

Heifer International’s world headquarters in Little Rock, Ark., a LEED® platinum-certified facility built atop Arkansas’ largest brownfield reclamation site, has been named one of 10 recipients of the Urban Land Institute’s 2009 Awards for Excellence.

The mission of the Washington, D.C., based Urban Land Institute is to provide leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide. Created in 1979, the awards are given for best practices not only in design and architecture, but also for the entire process of developing a specific project. 

The Awards for Excellence recognize the full development process of a project, not just its architecture or design. The criteria for the awards include leadership, contribution to the community, innovations, public-private partnership, environmental protection, response to societal needs, and financial viability.

The award winners:

§ California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, California (The California Academy of Sciences) The world’s largest LEED-Platinum building, the $488 million California Academy of Sciences houses an aquarium, planetarium, natural history museum, and four-story rain forest.

§ Comcast Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Liberty Property Trust) Comcast Center is a 58-story, 1.25-million-square-foot office tower with an underground connection to Philadelphia’s commuter rail station. The transit-oriented development replaces a long vacant parcel in the center of the downtown business district.

§ The Cork Factory Loft Apartments, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (McCaffery Interests, Inc.) Vacant for more than three decades, the Cork Factory Loft Apartments—a 297-unit structure with over 43,000 square feet of retail space—has led a residential resurgence in Pittsburgh’s Strip District.

§ Devries Place Senior Apartments, Milpitas, California (Mid-Peninsula Housing Coalition) Devries Place provides 103 affordable rental homes to low- and very low-income seniors. Located on an underutilized site in downtown, the transit-oriented development is within walking distance of a new library and medical center.

§ Heifer International World Headquarters, Little Rock, Arkansas. Arkansas’s largest brownfield reclamation, the LEED-Platinum Heifer International World Headquarters is surrounded by reconstructed wetlands and uses 52 percent less energy than a comparable conventional office building.

§ Kansas City Power and Light District, Kansas City, Missouri (The Cordish Company) The Kansas City Power and Light District is the culmination of a forty-year effort to transform an area of urban blight into a vibrant downtown core. The $850 million, 9-city block mixed-use district encompasses over 1.6 million square feet of retail and office space, civic uses, hotels, and sports venues, welcoming over 8 million visitors annually.

§ Kierland Commons, Scottsdale, Arizona (Woodbine Southwest Corporation) This 38-acre mixed-use town center features a mix of shops, residences, and offices configured along narrow landscaped streets, providing a pedestrian-friendly outdoor shopping environment in Scottsdale, Arizona.

§ The RISE, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (Grosvenor Americas) The RISE, a mid-rise building adjacent to a rapid transit station, successfully mixes large-format retail uses, locally-focused stores, and 92 rooftop live/work units that surround a 20,000 square foot green roof.

§ UniverCity, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada (SFU Community Trust) Adjacent to Simon Fraser University, UniverCity is a sustainable, 161-acre master-planned community that features ecologically-sound residences for over 2,500 individuals—including affordable housing options for university faculty and staff.

§ West Chelsea/High Line Rezoning Plan, New York, New York (City of New York, Department of Planning) Using an innovative transfer of development rights (TDR) scheme, this plan has spurred the development of over 1,000 residential units and 2 million square feet of commercial space in West Chelsea. The defining feature of the special district is High Line Park---formerly an abandoned elevated rail line---which will become a 22-block-long linear park running through the district.

In addition, ULI handed out its Heritage Award, which is awarded only periodically “to developments that have demonstrated industry excellence and made substantial contributions to the great community’s well-being for at least 25 years,” according to a ULI news release. The award went to Inner Harbor Management Inc. for its Baltimore Inner Harbor, the redevelopment of an abandoned waterfront, which stimulated millions of dollars in further development in Baltimore’s inner city.

Heifer’s mission is to end hunger and poverty while caring for the earth. Since 1944, Heifer International has provided livestock and environmentally sound agricultural training to improve the lives of those who struggle daily for reliable sources of food and income. Heifer is currently working in more than 50 countries, including the U.S., to help families and communities become more self-reliant.

For more information, visit http://www.heifer.org/ or call 1-800-696-1918.

Media Contact:

Dale Ingram or Ray White: 800-422-1311