In Memphis, Tenn., as in many other American cities, the urban core and older suburban neighborhoods were crisscrossed by high speed multi-lane road networks, facilitating automobile and truck traffic but completely isolating certain areas of the city. The system was contributing to related problems of neighborhood blight, poverty, obesity, and…...
Greater Nashville Association Partners With Local Government to Breathe New Life to Tired Light-Industrial Area
The 3,000-member Greater Nashville Association of REALTORS® is committed to making its communities healthy and livable. And, that includes putting resources behind their convictions. Most recently, they used a $10,000 Smart Growth Grant from NAR to support NashvilleNext, a three-year process to help the region’s most challenged communities. The Nashville…...
Traverse (MI) REALTORS® Put Three Smart Growth Grants to Work
With just 625 members, the Traverse Area Association of REALTORS® (TAAR) is a small but mighty force in northwest lower Michigan. Decades ago, it helped develop the database system that is now the heart of the electronic Multiple Listing System. Now, with no fewer than three NAR Smart Growth Grants…...
Greater Capital Area Association Takes the Lead in Smart Growth – Twice!
Development in Montgomery County, MD, just north of the nation’s capital, is growing fast. The Greater Capital Area Association of REALTORS® (GCAAR) wants to make sure it grows smart, as well. Two Smart Growth Grants from NAR have been helping it do so. The 8,500-member association used the first one…...
Delaware Association Uses Smart Growth Grant to Launch “Complete Communities” Summit
Delaware, the second-smallest – but sixth most-densely populated – state in the nation, has a vested interest in the concept of smart growth. Leaders of the 3,000-member Delaware Association of REALTORS®, in conjunction with state government leaders began brainstorming about creating a master ‘planning book’ for the state. Then they…...
Orlando Association Gets On Board With Commuter Train Travel
December 2012 While the 9,000-member Orlando Regional REALTORS® Association (ORRA) has been energetically supporting SunRail, central Florida’s first commuter rail project, association leaders felt some first-hand exposure for their members and local decision makers would kick it up a notch. Using a $1,500 Smart Growth Grant from NAR, ORRA was…...
St. Louis Association Makes Great Strides Toward Walk-able Communities
The St. Louis Association of REALTORS® (SLAR) combined U.S. government resources and an NAR Smart Growth Grant to produce a two-part program on walk-able communities -- one that it hopes may serve as a national model. Tapping the expertise of a national “walk-ability expert,” the 7,000-plus member association hosted two…...
Hilton Head (SC) REALTORS® Partner With Mayor for Balanced Land Management
In the lovely resort town of Hilton Head, South Carolina, the natural environment is carefully protected, and the built environment is subject to strict regulations. But its low-key commercial areas were in need of polishing. The 850-member Hilton Head Area Association of REALTORS® worked with the town’s mayor and a…...
Santa Fe REALTORS® Help Bring New Life – and Housing – to “Tired” Commercial Area
Thanks to a Smart Growth Grant from NAR, the Santa Fe Association of REALTORS® (SFAR) is boosting the re-development of a dated and underutilized commercial corridor. Santa Fe REALTORS® could see potential in the mile-and-a-quarter stretch anchored by the Santa Fe University of Art and Design at one end and…...