South Central Waterfront Talkabout#3 – Dollars & Sense: Smart Strategies to Fund Our Future


Monday, March 24

7-9 pm | Doors at 6:30 pm
St. David’s Episcopal Church | 301 East 8th Street
Light refreshments will be served. On-street parking free after 6 p.m.

Dr. Abe Farkas | Director of Development Services at ECONorthwest | Portland, OR
Abe is an expert in strategic planning and crafting urban development partnerships nationwide. He served on Austin’s 2012 AIA SDAT.

Rebecca Leonard | President of Design Workshop | Austin, TX
Rebecca’s firm, Design Workshop, has won regional and national awards for projects which merge quality place-making design with practical approaches for implementation and funding.

Given market conditions and zoning already in place, over $1 billion dollars of private redevelopment is heading to the South Central Waterfront in the next several years; in fact, it’s rapidly underway.

To complement this tremendous private investment, Austin needs a plan and viable strategy to build and fund a public realm that increases the quality and amount of: public access & connections to the waterfront, and public open space & streetscapes. In addition, it needs to integrate landscaping for beauty and environmental benefits, and to realize community values like affordable housing.

This Talkabout will explore creative approaches to financing and implementing a community vision and will highlight examples of how other cities have worked in tandem with private redevelopment to fund their futures.Learn more about the South Central Waterfront Initiative by clicking here.

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