2024 Summer Issue of Urban Land - 42

Regional Planning at Georgia Tech,
which is located in Atlanta.
Selecting a winning team was no
easy task, according to jury chair
Jeff Baxter, partner at Cityvolve in
North Charleston, South Carolina.
" All four finalists presented compelling
ideas for the King County
properties, which set up a tough
choice for the jury, " said Baxter,
who was a member of the team
that won the inaugural ULI Hines
Student Competition in 2003.
In fact, the toughest choice may
have been between the winning
Georgia Tech team and another
finalist team from the same school.
Among the deciding factors were
the thoughtful and creative design
elements included in Meander.
The proposal for a 2.4 million
square foot (222,967 sq m) mixeduse
development revolves around
transit connectivity and walkability,
and it would make the neighborhood
both more sustainable and
more inclusive.
" Ultimately, Meander was
selected due to their unique circulation
concept, mid-rise building
massing, and all-in approach to
mass timber construction, " Baxter
said. " While mass timber is still
in its early stages, the team was
well-versed and researched on the
subject matter, presenting an aspirational,
yet achievable, project. "
To ensure accessibility for the
elderly and disabled, despite the
site's difficult-to-navigate slope,
Meander envisions a zigzag path
for pedestrians and microtransit
throughout the development, as
well as multilevel entry access in all
buildings. It also includes a number
of pocket parks along the Meander
Path to increase greenspace and
to enable water reclamation and
reuse. Meander proposes adaptive
use of several buildings, while
all new construction would be 100
percent mass timber to maximize
the use of sustainable materials.
The proposal includes abundant
housing that is attainable to
residents at a range of income
levels, along with access to such
neighborhood amenities as grocery
stores, transportation, and medical
care. It also seeks to contribute
solutions to the homelessness crisis
through an outreach clinic, transitional
housing, and a transitional
work program.
" To create a vibrant and culturally
rich community, Meander
looks at what a complete neighborhood
needs, " the team wrote.
" Transforming the Yesler Building,
the King County Courthouse, and
the Chinook Building into residential
and retail mixed use spaces
was the first step toward Meander's
vision. Mixed uses are present
throughout all of Meander's
phases. "
The ULI Hines Student Competition
was established by the
late Gerald D. Hines, who in 1957
founded the global real estate
investment, development, and
property management firm that
still bears his name. When Hines
won the ULI Prize for Visionaries
in Urban Development in 2002,
he declined the prize money and
instead matched it to launch the
competition, whose longevity he
ensured with an endowment.
A ULI life trustee and Institute
member for more than 60 years,
Hines passed away in 2020 at age
95. As a result of his generosity,
more than 11,000 students across
2,000-plus teams have competed,
fulfilling his vision of challenging
and inspiring future generations of
real estate professionals.
The annual ULI Hines Student
Competition, a partnership between
ULI and the Hines company, is now
global, having expanded to Europe
in 2020 and to the Asia Pacific
42
URBAN LAND SUMMER 202 4
region in 2023. For participants,
the experience very often is a vital
link between theory and practice
as they prepare to launch their
careers. " The competition is important
because the more training and
experience students get in bridging
theory and policy with practice
and implementation, the better
prepared they are to enter their
futures, " said team faculty advisor
Dobbins.
Although the development proposals
created for the ULI Hines
Student Competition are strictly
hypothetical, they undoubtedly
have the potential to contribute
meaningfully to solving real-world
challenges in the built environment.
After the competition, King
County Executive Dow Constantine
was optimistic about local efforts
to revitalize Downtown Seattle,
with the finalists' ideas in the mix.
" We can create a true center of
civic life-a 24-hour neighborhood
filled with thousands of homes,
along with shops, restaurants, and
gathering spaces that support true
community and exemplify the best
of what a city and a metropolitan
region can offer, " Constantine said.
" We look forward to adding some
of these new ideas to our regional
conversation about the future of
our Courthouse neighborhood. "
Hines senior managing director
Ty Bennion expressed similar hopes
for the area's future.
" Each of the finalists presented
a compelling vision for transforming
downtown Seattle's South End, "
said Bennion, who leads investment
and development activities in the
Pacific Northwest for the company.
" As a longtime resident of
the neighborhood, I eagerly await
seeing these ideas brought to fruition. "
JACK
MORRISSEY is ULI director of executive
communications and is based in Chicago.
2024 Summer Issue of Urban Land

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