In the News: Once-bleak Glenwood becomes New Urbanist community

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution gives some love to Glenwood Park, a new urbanist brownfield redevelopment that won a Charter Award in 2003, offering perspectives from the residents as well as from CNU board member and President of Green Street Properties Katharine Kelley. CNU's annual Congress will be heading to Atlanta in 2010 to learn from projects like this.

Once-bleak Glenwood becomes New Urbanist community
By Jamie Gumbrecht, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
4/22/2009

[...] But can you build a community from nothing, especially when so many had labelled it as a forgotten wasteland?

Absolutely, developers at Green Street Properties say. They designed Glenwood Park with heady goals for maximizing public space, walkability, mixed use, diversity and connectivity. They wanted a New Urbanist community that sacrificed big yards for better communities, familiar chain stores for locally owned business. Green Street president Katharine Kelley said they were mostly successful — she notices little things like out-of-place gas meters, but the big plans remained intact, and have room to develop.

"If you look at a historic neighborhood in the city, it evolves with time. That’s what makes it wonderful," Kelley said. "As long as you hold fast to the [goals] that really define the core of the project, you’ll have a better result if you allow some freedom of expression."