Calle Cerra Redevelopment
Location: Calle Cerra, San Juan PRClient: Associación de Comerciantes Calle CerraStatus: 1996-2001
Architect: Moya + Lluch Associated ArchitectsDesign: Frank X. Moya AIA LEED
Milton R. Lluch AIA
Type: URBAN DESIGN
BACKGROUND
Sponsored by the Association of Property Owners of Calle Cerra, this master plan represents a purely grass roots initiative that sought to shape government action by presenting an alternative master plan for their community. The need for a plan was initiated by the desperation of a group of property owners at the negative valuation of their assets and their ever rising liabilities. This plan, originally envisioned as a modest remedy for a few properties, developed into a comprehensive strategy for a major urban corridor centered on the notion of the street as communal open space and neighborhood identifier.
it attempted to establish a framework of cooperation between property owners. By pooling their properties into cohesive developments in which infrastructure improvements such as parking, new elevator cores and street access could be shared between them. The initial economic investment required for these improvements could also become attainable. It was thought that, through cooperation and pooling of resources in a comprehensive plan would present a compelling case for capital and public assistance. Indeed, the plan for combined improvements and proposed uses with an eye to the emerging needs for housing and social services of an aging population became such an attractive model that public sector agencies, once approached, required that it should become even far more comprehensive in its geographical reach and absorb a previously floundering attempt at redeveloping the musically flavored northern sector of Calle Cerra.
REDEVELOPMENT The plan emphasized the public realm of the street by celebrating its history, adding color to its urban landscape, defining edges and open space interventions to dispell the battered public impression of the neighborhood as an unsafe place, and bring back interest and activities to the area. Here, the rehabilitation of neglected building facades and utility infrastructure combined with community initiatives to clean and decongest traffic helped change perception and value, much to the surprise of perplexed public officials overseeing the plan’s preliminary activities.
First among these activities was a community cleanup of the entire neighborhood in which residents together with municipal employees and the fire department literally swept the streets, disposed of abandoned cars and tidy up neglected lots. Other activities involved a façade improvement program following the clean-up, in which grant money was made available for façade improvements and paint. Once the initial cosmetic improvements were in place, a campaign to challenge public perception of the area was launched and culminated in a street-wide festival. The festival, sponsored by the Street’s record labels, brought widespread public attendance. The public returned again to Calle Cerra once more to seek entertainment and enjoy nights of music and food. It sparked a growing interest in the neighborhood’s assets and inventory of historic structures now prominently displayed. PROGRESSIronically, as the success of the plan attracted government funding and attention, the ability for members of the community to shape the plan into action dissipated. Resources were diluted among other neighborhoods in search of similar success. The plan’s progress stopped.
REDEVELOPMENT The plan emphasized the public realm of the street by celebrating its history, adding color to its urban landscape, defining edges and open space interventions to dispell the battered public impression of the neighborhood as an unsafe place, and bring back interest and activities to the area. Here, the rehabilitation of neglected building facades and utility infrastructure combined with community initiatives to clean and decongest traffic helped change perception and value, much to the surprise of perplexed public officials overseeing the plan’s preliminary activities.
First among these activities was a community cleanup of the entire neighborhood in which residents together with municipal employees and the fire department literally swept the streets, disposed of abandoned cars and tidy up neglected lots. Other activities involved a façade improvement program following the clean-up, in which grant money was made available for façade improvements and paint. Once the initial cosmetic improvements were in place, a campaign to challenge public perception of the area was launched and culminated in a street-wide festival. The festival, sponsored by the Street’s record labels, brought widespread public attendance. The public returned again to Calle Cerra once more to seek entertainment and enjoy nights of music and food. It sparked a growing interest in the neighborhood’s assets and inventory of historic structures now prominently displayed. PROGRESSIronically, as the success of the plan attracted government funding and attention, the ability for members of the community to shape the plan into action dissipated. Resources were diluted among other neighborhoods in search of similar success. The plan’s progress stopped.
