American Cities Have a Conversion Problem, and It’s Not Just Offices, New York Times, Emily Badger, July 1, 2023

But 175 Water Street has a hitch: Offices in the financial district are spared some zoning rules that make conversion hard — so long as they were built before 1977. And this one was built six years too late, in 1983.

“There’s nothing about that building — its construction, its mechanicals, its structural engineering — that prevents it from being converted,” said Richard Coles, the managing partner of Vanbarton Group, which has developed both conversions across the street. Vanbarton owned and thought hard about converting 175 Water, too. It looked for a time as if New York might change the 1977 cutoff, a simple no-cost reform to spur more conversions that had the support of Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul. A mere stroke of a pen would do it, Mr. Coles said.

This is how senseless—or maybe mindless—a lot of our housing shortages are.

Here’s the core of the piece:

Healthy cities must build new things and rehabilitate old ones. But they also perform regular tricks of transmogrification, turning existing building blocks into something new. Factories become loft apartments. Industrial waterfronts become public parks. Warehouses become start-up offices and restaurant scenes.

The pandemic forced American cities to make such transformations, temporarily. They turned sidewalks into restaurants, parks into hospitals, streets into open spaces. Now on a lasting and larger scale, they will need to convert offices into apartments, hotels into affordable housing, curb parking into bike lanes, roadways into transit routes, office parks into real neighborhoods.

“If these last few years have taught us anything,” said Ingrid Gould Ellen, a professor of urban policy and planning at N.Y.U., “it’s the need for flexibility, the need to be open to surprise in the way we’re going to use space.”

But over decades, that flexibility has eroded.

American cities have developed a conversion problem.

This is a really deep problem that cuts across political lines and philosophies. I feel like all framings of this are just ways of describing something that is obviously true. There’s a lot of detail in the piece too. Read the whole thing.

Stated positions vs. shared interests, Urbanism Speakeasy, Andy Boenau, January 28, 2023

A stated position is a specific demand or opinion. It’s the position a person is advocating for and expecting to defend in the negotiation….Shared interests are the underlying interests or goals that both parties have in common. Helping two opposing people find shared interests out of stated positions feels like parenting. One kid hates soccer, the other loves soccer. But they both like playing outside, so you find the outdoor activity that engages them both.

Very nice and insightful piece, written from experience.

Cherry Blossoms, Pride Rainbows, Fireworks, And More: Here’s Why Metro Is Decorating Its Trains, DCist, Jordan Pascale, July 3, 2023

Metro says it will continue to do wraps in the future. What else could we see? A pardoned Thanksgiving turkey train? A Veterans Day train to thank those who served? A Black History Month train? We don’t know for sure, but we’ll keep an eye out and update this story as we spot more special trains.

Maybe you don’t like Pride rainbows. Or rah-rah patriotism. Heck, maybe you don’t like cherry blossoms. I love this—it’s a way of giving some culture and color to blank spaces. It makes the city feel alive, lived in, full of real people.

I rode the cherry blossom train myself, when I took my first Metro ride down the new Silver Line extension into Loudoun County. Maybe that was the highlight of my trip.

“Beyond Beer” and Layoffs in the Industry, DC Beer, Michael Stein April 28, 2023

Quoting a brewing association economist, Stein explains:

For beer growth, Watson differentiates between distributing breweries–those selling beer via distribution to supermarkets, who are shrinking–and brewpubs and taprooms–places selling beer directly over the bar to you, the consumer–who are growing.

That’s heartening.

And then this:

Consider the case of Devils Backbone, a brewery owned by the world’s largest brewer, ABI, who is opening a restaurant and taproom in Charlottesville next month. This is a smart move, and you can expect the Devils Backbone Backyard to clean up on West Main Street, with the potential to serve hundreds, if not thousands, of people daily. The brewery, which experienced financial success prior to the ABI takeover, is a part of ABI’s The High End division. But smaller brewers like Devils Backbone face layoffs as a result of ABI pumping money into the “beyond beer” category: drinks like hard seltzer; NÜTRL; or canned cocktails that can contain tequila, “natural lime, orange & triple sec flavors” like Cutwater Lime Margarita.

Not so heartening.

Read the whole thing if any of this interests you. Craft beer is a very interesting business segment, where culture and creativity come up against commercial imperatives. And where “craft” is increasingly a component of a mega-brewery’s portfolio.

Related Reading:

New and Old #81

New and Old #82

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