Guaynabo, PR (2020)
The location of this Master Plan is in Guaynabo. The site is surrounded by Torrimar and Garden Hills, with its vehicular entrance at the intersection with Garden Hills Plaza. It has a variety of retail and services less than half a mile away, at walking distance from its entrance. This property is commonly known as “El Hogar del Niño” facilities. One of its borders is adjacent to the tracks of the Tren Urbano connecting to the Martinez Nadal Station. Another of its borders is located on the line separating the Municipality of Guaynabo from the Municipality of San Juan.
The past decade’s economic recession and accelerated migration have strongly impacted the housing industry. As a result, new home sales have dropped from a peak of nearly 15,000 to less than 1,000 new home sales per year currently.
This design proposal is a Case Study mixed-use environment that supports the requirements of its future residents and the surrounding communities.
This proposal offers a sustainable mixed-use development with residential, commercial, recreational, and entertainment components suitable for a model community. In addition, this mixed-use community will become a destination for visitors near this community and from all the metropolitan areas.
A mid-rise apartment grouping complex will be attractive to the active adult community and up-and-coming professional millennials who are attracted to a vital mixed-use community where their special needs and interests are provided for.
These residential development densities respond to the economic market, environmental conditions, and social settings.
The design provides an open to the public vehicular and pedestrian corridor that will interconnect the Urban Train Station to mixed-use commercial products and outdoor spaces. In addition, the walkable commercial corridor is provided with wide sidewalks that will connect to both indoor and outdoor venues.
Open accessibility to retail commerce without compromising the security and controlled access to the residential components of the development will be key to offering future residents the peace of mind necessary to meet important market demand.
The development’s contemporary architecture will define the character of the community. The mixed-use commercial products are venues that will act as a model for future residential developments in Puerto Rico.
Traditional residential development in Puerto Rico brings a pre-determined design and concept, generally one that has worked in other settings, and applies it without regard to existing special conditions. The result is often a project that fails to respect the melding of markets, environmental sensitivities, or the stakeholders’ economic goals. As a result, while the financial outcome may be positive for the developer, the community often loses environmentally, economically, and socially – the absolute opposite of Sustainable Development.