The building is the first of its kind in Dallas and is one of the largest nonprofit projects in the state of Texas. The vertical housing complex has 200 high-quality affordable residences for low-income workers, 50 of which are reserved for the formerly homeless. The building is modeled after such projects in Seattle, New York, and Houston, all of which have experienced a high level of success in their respected communities.
511 North Akard is headquarters to both Central Dallas Community Development Corporation and Central Dallas Ministries. The ground-floor will house retail, the second-floor has multiple office spaces for lease, and located on the top floor are 6 condos that have already been sold.
Purchased in 2006, the building has undergone a massive transformation from being a former vacated 15-story office tower into becoming multiple residences, shops, and offices. Refurbished back to it’s 1950’s original luster, it boasts many unique features such as marble-walled lobbies, original intact flooring, the third-floor Hexagonal Community Room and exterior patio deck, stainless steel fixtures, as well as, community rooms located on each floor for tenant use.
Our First speaker was Mary K. Suhm, Dallas City Manager.
Mrs. Suhm is serving her fifth year as city manager for the City of Dallas. As city manager, Suhm is responsible for the daily operations of the municipal organization. She manages a staff of approximately 14,000 employees and a budget of nearly 3 billion. She was appointed city manager in June 2005, by the Dallas City Council. Prior to her appointment as city manager, Suhm served as interim city manager, first assistant city manager, assistant city manager, executive assistant director of Dallas Police, director of courts, assistant to the Mayor, and branch library manager for the City of Dallas.
During her three decades in municipal government, Mary Suhm has earned a national reputation among public administrators for creativity and innovation. Suhm, who earned master of business administration and master of library science degrees from the University of North Texas, has introduced performance measurement, customer service, benchmarking, strategic planning and other common business practices into municipal management operations to assure that Dallas city government runs efficiently, economically, and effectively. She received praise from all levels of government and the community for her leadership during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita after managing a large scale evacuation effort by establishing and operating two major shelters and a Disaster Recovery Center in Dallas.
Staring out the widow at the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, currently under construction, Mrs. Suhm sought to impress on our group the notion of patience in leadership. Having been one of her greatest passions, the bridge was originally approved by voters in 1999, but has faced an enormous amount of subsequent obstacles to this point. “Find your passion and you’ll make it work…it may take 25 years, but it will happen.”
When asked if she and other city staff looked to other cities as models for achievement, Mrs. Suhm responded “Dallas is a city that is very sure of itself. It doesn’t aspire to be a Chicago or New York.” She went on to discuss the role of the city and it’s interaction with people outside of it. “Often the perception within the city is that the public thinks we are too stupid, crooked or lazy to work in the private sector, and that can lead to a defensive posture.” When the city becomes involved in projects “you need to engage with the city. You would be surprised how many people who work for the city do so because they want to help with their community.” It is an interesting perspective, especially contrasted against the ususal persepective many in our profession have after less than ideal dealing with staff in any municipality. “The city can figure out how to do almost anything, you just have to engage them properly.”
We then asked Mrs. Suhm to elaborate on working with groups who sought to help change communities, both from inside and out. To her, the key is working with individuals, “you are not going to get to the global good without solving the interests of individuals.” Making note of several projects that had been intended for the betterment of a community but experienced a great deal of local opposition, she explained that far too many architects and developers think in a big picture that individuals, to whom this will affect, are not concerned with.
Speaking on some of her greatest challenges as city manager, Mrs. Suhm relayed a story of when several thousand Katrina evacuees where scheduled to be sent to Dallas and that she had 24 hours to organize a room, board and medical facilities for the individuals. “There are a lot of people and resources at the City. With enough of them, you can accomplish anything.” Though most of the people she contacted to help organize the effort where themselves overwhelmed with the reality of it initially, they found ways to make it work, and the effort succeeded. Now those who faced an almost impossible task and succeeded “have higher expectations and more confidence” as a result.
Our second speaker was Brent A. Brown, AIA, LEED AP.
Brent Brown is an architect working to bring design thinking to all communities. He is the Founding Director of the Dallas based community design center, buildingcommunity WORKSHOP, where his work has been recognized locally and nationally. Recently, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, in conjunction with the American Institute for Architects, awarded his Congo Street Green Initiative the 2010 National AIA/HUD Secretary Award for “Community-Informed Design.”
In October 2009, Brent was named the Director of the newly established Dallas CityDesign Studio. The Studio is an office of the City of Dallas, in partnership with the Trinity Trust Foundation, and works daily to connect all of Dallas through thoughtful urban design. This past November, Brent represented the southwest region as part of the President’s Forum on Clean Energy and Public Health at the White House. Joining Administrator Lisa Jackson of the Environmental Protection Agency and Secretary Kathleen Sebelius of the Department Health & Human Services the forum discussed linkages between clean energy to immediate and lasting public health benefits and the role of community design toward the promotion of healthier lifestyles.
Brent has had a long history of utilizing his professional expertise for the betterment of communities “as an architect, I have an ethic simply because of my profession.” Brent sees the profession of architecture, itself, as a natural role for leadership in communities. He spoke at length about how architects have a unique capacity for creating change “we synthesize information into a collection of opportunities.” With this skill set, and the moral imperative of the profession, he strongly believes that “we cannot just work in the abstract realm, but have to make something real.”
In his dual role, both as a private practitioner and a consultant to the city, Brent sees a role to help cities create a framework to facilitate successful development that transcends the bean counter in a office with a checklist. Because nearly 80% of the realm the city is in control of is public streets, Brent notes “The city should be an advocate for the street edge because the R.O.W. is one of the few places the city can impact development.” This then is the realm in which he works, helping the city and “liberating” the bean counters from their lists by offering new ways to think about projects from within the city itself. “Most people are not critical thinkers,” he notes, continuing to elaborate on the many assets and architect brings to the table, as well as out visualizations skills “Visualization is a tool of negotiation.”
In addition to our objective skills, Brent went on to speak of abstract leadership skills an architect has, offering the experience that many of us have had “how many times at a party have you been introduced to some one and they say ‘I thought about being an architect’? Admiration for architects is huge, and that can become an asset.”
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