(Chicago, IL) The American Planning Association (APA) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has awarded the 2013 Opportunity and Empowerment Award to the Laney Walker/Bethlehem Revitalization Project in Augusta, Georgia. This national model of urban revitalization highlights the public-private partnering efforts of the City of Augusta in concert with project manager APD Urban Planning & Management, and Melaver & Associates, which for three years has led the overall positioning strategy for the project.
LWB had previously been highlighted by Harvard University’s Student Journal of Real Estate as potentially a “game-changing model” for public-private partnerships redeveloping America’s urban cores. Similar accolades have come from Southern Living Magazine, the Georgia Planning Association, and Georgia Trend Magazine. The project entails leveraging the redevelopment of two historically-significant African-American neighborhoods in Augusta, Georgia in order to seed the renaissance of the city’s larger urban core. Fifty-year bond financing has helped underwrite the early success of the project.
Melaver & Associates was founded in 2010 with the sole purpose of leveraging sustainability to create extraordinary value for businesses and communities. Its business strategy, and educational outreach.