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ARTICLE · 08 JUNE 2009

Historic Preservation Considerations In Infill Development

Farella Braun & Martel
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As public policy, environmental sustainability and economic reality converge to focus development within existing urban and suburban communities, historic preservation issues will increasingly come to the forefront for developers and their design professionals.

United StatesReal Estate and Construction
Steven Vettel
Steven Vettel

Published in the article "Thoughts from the Entitlers" in the Entitlements issue of arcCA.

As public policy, environmental sustainability and economic reality converge to focus development within existing urban and suburban communities, historic preservation issues will increasingly come to the forefront for developers and their design professionals.

Our existing cities and suburbs are filled with structures that may be replaced or altered to accommodate new infill development. At the same time, they are reaching an age when many of their structures are over fifty years old (anything built prior to 1959) and need to be evaluated for their historic significance before demolition or alteration. The reuse of existing structures is in some cases inherently more sustainable than demolition and new construction, given the embedded materials and energy in existing buildings and the energy and resources associated with new construction. How these competing public policy

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