TACTICAL REVITALIZATION PLAN FOR DOWNTOWN ALBANY NY

www.nbbj.com
March 7, 2013
Sarah Reginelli
Director of Economic Development
Capitalize Albany Corporation
21 Lodge Street
Albany, NY 12207
RE:
Downtown Albany Tactical Revitalization Plan Proposal
Dear Ms. Reginelli,
On behalf of our team of qualified and motivated professionals, we are pleased to submit this proposal
for the Tactical Revitalization Plan for Downtown Albany and the Corning Preserve Phase 2 Master Plan.
We appreciate the opportunity to prepare the both the downtown and the riverfront projects in tandem
knowing as we do the prime importance of the Corning Preserve in the future vitality of the downtown.
We have added two new disciplines to our team in order to provide Albany with superior service on this
new scope of work. Stoss Landscape Urbanism and Buro Happold share our philosophy of inspired
design that is carefully considered with sustainability and constructability in mind. Please find their firm,
staff profiles and project examples in the proposal.
In response to the RFP and discussions with you this week, we have also included traffic and parking
expertise to our consultant resources. We have added Nelson Nygaard to our team to apply their
creative parking strategies to the Tactical Plan and to broaden our thinking about transportation and
other connections within the Downtown. While parking is frequently discussed as an issue, it rarely
creates a good basis for urban revitalization. However, a good parking management strategy can save
on costly new construction and enhance the visitor and resident experience. Nelson Nygaard brings
a unique, and pedestrian friendly, perspective to parking studies that aligns with current sensibilities of
smart planning that uses technology to improve efficiency of existing parking resources.
Please find also in our scope of work and cost proposal that we have listed those optional services that
we will provide and have listed those that we can perform at an additional cost. We have also elected
to not provide costs on certain optional tasks that we do not feel are warranted at this time, but would
certainly be potential tasks to be identified and scoped during the planning proposal.
Lastly we have listed and priced separately the tasks that we would consider under the category of
WOW. It would be difficult to completely separate these tasks, as we have adjusted our entire approach
to provide a more participatory and engaging process of design that will create excitement, engagement
and early implementation with your action teams and the general public. We have included those items
in the approach, scope and as a separate cost item in the cost proposal.
We intend to build this consensus by bringing the planning process to life, enabling tangible, shorterterm
interventions that allow Albany’s citizens to re-imagine their city, get behind bold ideas, and allow
the participants to take ownership of this vision. We see tactical urbanism as a tool, a catalyst for
change, which in turn leads towards longer-term, concrete changes in the physical and political fabric of
the city.