Traverse City Record-Eagle

Archive: Saturday

Related Photos

  • Gov. Rick Snyder AP/Carlos Osorio

    CSS52B0.jpg
March 10, 2012

'Placemaking' policy pushed to propel home sales

'Placemaking' could be used to shore up market

By JENNIFER CHEN Capital News Service

LANSING — Appealing plazas, thriving shops and convenient transportation may play a crucial role to increase home sales, the Michigan Association of Realtors contends.

The association cites Gov. Rick Snyder's "placemaking" policy as a way to bolster the housing market.

Mike Nowlin, senior public relations and policy manager at Pace & Partners Inc. in Lansing, noted that Snyder embraced placemaking as part of Michigan's agenda to attract and retain talent, entrepreneurs and businesses.

Nowlin said collaborative efforts are underway to achieve the state's placemaking objectives.

"Stakeholders across Michigan are realizing that placemaking strategies can help rebuild our economy and encourage more people to live in our state," state association President Beth Foley said.

She said the qualities of placemaking such as green spaces or cultural amenities are driving demand in today's marketplace.

Some other strategies haven't succeeded, according to Ethan Kent, vice president of the Project for Public Spaces, a New York City-based authority on revitalizing spaces and placemaking strategies.

"Building convention centers and using tax incentives to attract big corporations or new business isn't working," Kent said.

He said placemaking emphasizes smaller, inexpensive improvements that make people feel at home, such as public squares for festivals, or facilities for start-up retailers with lower overhead costs.

"Diverse housing choices and mixed-use development, alternative transportation, cultural activities and green spaces create high-quality community, which help to better home sales," said Kim Pontius, executive vice president of the Traverse Area Association of Realtors.

According to the state association, home sales in the Traverse City area increased just over 20 percent in January 2012 compared with 2011.

Statewide, home sales rose 8.3 percent during the same period.

But the rate varied greatly around Michigan.

There was a 300 percent increase in the Huron County area but a 57 percent decline in the Shiawassee County region.

Nowlin said Michigan has been one of the hardest-hit states for foreclosures.

The high percentage of foreclosed homes on the market is blamed for real estate prices crashing to levels not seen since the 1990s.

More people are buying repossessed homes, he said, and that "signals the state's real estate market may finally have hit bottom and is ready to stabilize," he said.

Jennifer Chen writes for Capital News Service at Michigan State University.

Text Only