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In talking with Kofi Bonner about Lennar Urban’s plans to create a mixed-use urban master-planned community on the site of the old Hunter’s Point Shipyard, The Real Story got a view of the housing side of the equation.

According to Kofi, the subject of housing diversity—in size, in style, in price—has engendered much debate: What is the right mix of market rate to affordable housing? How can new home price levels be created without displacing residents already living in the area? How do you build—or rebuild—housing and keep the existing residents on site during the process?

Big questions, one and all. But from all of the questions have come many great ideas that reflect the many neighborhoods of San Francisco. For example, Lennar is planning housing for working families—people whose earnings are too high to qualify for the affordable homes, but not enough to make the stretch for a market-rate mortgage. There is also a fund to assist people living in the area with their housing purchases. There is a plan for deed restrictions to keep a supply of affordable homes affordable for the long term.

With so much news about The Shipyard this week, The Real Story suggests that you go to the community web site and see the renderings of what is being planned.

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The Real Story has been talking with Kofi Bonner, Executive Vice President of Lennar Urban, about the planning of The Shipyard at Hunters Point. Kofi, himself an architect and planner, has been working with a master architect and a team of architectural firms to see how the master plan might get translated into specific blocks of development—taking the planning from the macro level to the pedestrian level.

In an exercise in real-life modeling, Kofi assembled a team of architects to design two blocks within a representative 12-block section of the plan, and gave them the same general directions and specific design guidelines.  He also gave them a short time frame for their first conceptual approaches.  The result?  A new realization that more information is going to be necessary to create buildings, streetscapes and the scale of the city blocks in better relation to each other. The interconnection of the pieces doesn’t happen on its own: Kofi talks about this as a valuable lesson learned—before the first building breaks ground.

Image courtesy of Lennar Urban.

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Although today’s podcast conversation with Kofi Bonner of Lennar Urban gives details of the role of the arts community, the growth of a transportation network, and the importance of planning and building to LEED standards, The Real Story would like to share some news that supersedes the interview:  last night, the Hunters Point project was approved.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported, “San Francisco supervisors ended more than a decade of hope and controversy Tuesday when they overwhelmingly approved a project to transform the abandoned Hunters Point Naval Shipyard into a new waterfront community of homes, businesses and green technology.

“The vote was also a victory for Mayor Gavin Newsom, who has called The Shipyard project a key to the city’s future.

“This is a proud and historic day for all San Francisco and for all those who have worked for years to achieve this milestone,” he said in a statement. “Together we have secured a critical engine for our city’s economic future and embraced a new vision of jobs, housing and hope for the Bayview-Hunters Point community.”

Image courtesy of Lennar Urban.

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When one considers all that goes into the envisioning of a community like The Shipyard, it is clear that there are very few short-term decisions in the process. This week, Lennar Urban’s Executive Vice President Kofi Bonner is talking with The Real Story about the longer view—the ability to take the time required to plan and develop communities of vast size and layers of complexity.

Given the need for resources—both professional and financial—that large scale urban plans require, it is not surprising that there are only a few names in the national landscape capable of planning these large, mixed-use developments and seeing them through. Kofi explains that Lennar has the expertise and direction to focus on urban areas across the country, and is looking for opportunities to create new environments within existing urban settings, to become an engine for regeneration.

He also touches on the creation of jobs within The Shipyard community: from the immediate and ongoing positions in construction to move the project forward to the creation of an environment welcoming to clean-energy enterprises. The Real Story’s conversation with Kofi Bonner—touching on everything from architecture to transportation to park design to the existing arts community—continues all week. Follow The Real Story on KCBS.com/realestate or on iTunes.

Rendering courtesy of Lennar Urban

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Kofi Bonner, Executive Vice President of Lennar Urban, met with The Real Story last week to talk about the opportunities and responsibilities inherent in planning approximately 800 acres of waterfront property—The Shipyard. Kofi, no stranger to the process of urban redevelopment, is both an architect and planner by education, and earned tenure in the city governments of San Francisco, Oakland and Emeryville, the latter as its redevelopment director.

The plan for The Shipyard includes an integration of homes, shops and businesses—including the potential for green and clean businesses—in the underserved southeast segment of the City. Parks are a big part of the vision—almost 300 acres of parks and open space, ranging from hardscape areas to green spaces to marina access to the waterfront.

In the planning, regional shopping is combined with entertainment and food, to create an amenity on-site and a destination for the surrounding communities.

One of the issues that comes up in every meeting on the project: change. A large community-in-the-planning sounds like a large change, according to Kofi, and that’s not easy for everyone to accept. But he points to the redevelopment of the South of Market area, of Mission Bay, and even the Embarcadero to call to mind some of the changes San Francisco has seen in recent years that have enhanced the appeal of the City. The Real Story interview with Kofi is available as a download on iTunes; be sure to listen in all week.

Raising kids in the City? We heard that cities were great places for growing families to live a few weeks ago from Carol Coletta of CEOs for Cities and have since been on the lookout for more evidence ever since.

A recent article in The New York Times looks at the city vs. suburb question purely from a cost analysis standpoint. Their conclusion was “a suburban lifestyle costs about 18 percent more than living in the city.” And their calculations are based on the Big Apple!

Of course, a decision like this is complex and based on emotional as well as practical (or economic) factors. In many instances, it comes down to personal preferences. Carpools vs. strollers on MUNI.  Private yards vs. urban parks. Commute time vs. potential quality time, provided you don’t stay longer at work.

There’s lots of discussion online these days. Here are some interesting articles on both sides of the issue:

www.glamour.com/sex-love-life/blogs/storked/2010/02/urban-vs-suburban-where.html

parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/19/raising-kids-in-the-city-or-the-suburbs/

www.urbanbaby.com/talk/posts/tags/San+Francisco