Development

Strategies

 Hart Howertons business is about helping clients

optimize returns and minimize risk, while ensuring that the
development strategy is appropriate to the land, the community and the environment.
Jim Mozley, Crescent Resources
Hart Howerton understands the capacity of land and what it
takes for a project to compete in the global marketplace.
Tom Harrison, Colony Capital
A dynamic, focused and knowledgeable firm that goes well
beyond design and understands the business of their clients.
Mark Harmon, Auberge Resorts

Optimizing asset value

through four decades
of market cycles
CONTENTS

Overview

Selected Case Studies

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Walt Disney World, Florida

MetroCenter, Nashville,Tennessee
Vail Valley, Colorado
New City Center, Arizona
Costa Smeralda and Porto Cervo, Sardinia, Italy
Niseko Higashiyama and Minakami Kogen, Japan
Palmetto Bluff, South Carolina
Hotel Del Coronado, California
Santa Catalina Island and Town of Avalon, California
Cattle Creek Roaring Fork Valley, Colorado
The Santa Lucia Preserve, California
Kukio, Hawaii
Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
Bridges of St. Paul Waterfront Development, Minnesota

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Selected Biographies

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Where We Are Working

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Our Clients

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Global connections
Expert teams
Market positioning
Optimizing assets
Through four decades of real estate cycles we have helped developers, lenders,
equity investors, and landowners in over 35 countries to optimize the value
of their real estate assets through innovative development strategies and
superior market-driven design.
Our portfolio of success stories through
four decades of market cycles enables us to
leverage our long-standing global networks
to connect our clients with premier, turnkey teams, including strategic partners for
capital, branding, marketing, development,
operations and holding land.
What We Do: Accelerated Strategic Planning
The core of our practice lies in accelerated
strategic planning and team building
for promising and/or troubled real estate
requiring an objective, practical and
rigorous approach. We provide strategic
recommendations, due-diligence, evaluations,
design and re-development solutions for
clients faced with:
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Distressed Assets
Restrictive Entitlements
Sensitive Environments
Changing Markets

Through our experience with large-scale

mixed-use communities like Palmetto Bluff,
Development Strategies

urban town centers such as Mesa, Arizona,

resorts and hospitality including Kukio in
Hawaii, conservation communities like Santa
Lucia Preserve, and family land holdings
including the Rockefellers and Callaways,
we have developed value-add strategies for
real estate assets that have continued to hold
a competitive edge in changing markets.
Who We Are: A Global Network
Hart Howerton is a creative and disciplined
team of development strategists, land
planners, urban designers, architects and
landscape architects, founded in 1967,
with offices in New York, San Francisco,
and London, and field offices in Boston,
Minneapolis and Park City.
We have the global background, technical
expertise and research capabilities of a large,
international practice, but we are organized
to provide personal attention to detail and
fast response of local specialized firms. We
make this possible by thoughtful selection of
our projects and clients.


 Hart Howerton is a fast, strategic, and very creative partner.

Ed Divita, Partner, Discovery Land Company

Our Approach: Comprehensive

We select and organize a team around the
specific requirements and objectives of
the client.
Team Organization: We draw from our inhouse real estate, land planning, architecture,
environmental design and engineering
professionals and tap our global networks,
which include many of the most innovative
and experienced minds in the real estate
business.
Assessment: As a team, we conduct an indepth, objective, confidential assessment of a
real estate assets potential, including, but not
limited to:
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Strategic Vision
Market Position
Business Operations
Sustainable Opportunities

Cost Factors
Risk Factors
Environmental Constraints
Legal Restrictions

- Entitlement Planning
- Innovative Alternatives
- Phasing Strategies
- Potential Financial Results
Overview

Strategy: Based on the assessment, we

develop a vision and strategy that packages
and positions, or repositions, the real estate
asset to optimize its value in the market while
minimizing risk.
Execution: We manage the execution of
the strategy through design, construction,
marketing and operations in collaboration
with our clients and their partners.
The Results: Real Estate Successes
We have proven success bringing workable
strategies to market. We combine our
real estate thinking with award-winning
master planning, architecture, landscape,
environmental and infrastructure design. We
measure our results, year by year, through our
completed projects and our clients real estate
success. We deliver landmark places that are
successful real estate ventures.

The Origins of a Great American Landmark

Project: Walt Disney World, Florida
Client: The Disney Organization

Situation: The 10,500 hectare Walt Disney World property

Solutions: We were members of the Disney team for environmental studies
and town planning.
Design concepts and site planning for the first Disney 1,400
hectare residential resort community Lake Buena Vista
Architecture for its first residential buildings and landscapes
The Results: Today, our work is part of the most successful destination
resort ever built and we have continued to collaborate with Disney on new
projects.

Development Strategies

Expansion of the Central Business District

Project: MetroCenter, Nashville, Tennessee
Client: The Matthews Company and Aladdin Industries

Situation: A 285 hectare abandoned riverfront brownfield site adjacent to

Nashvilles Central Business District and the State Capitol.
Solutions:
A cost effective, phased, real estate strategy, detailed development plans and
design guidelines
Transformed environmental constraints into amenities
Master Plans for a prestigious new in-town business address
Architects for the catalyst anchor buildings, including Northern Telecoms
U.S. Corporate Headquarters and the innovative Nashville House
The Results: A successful expansion of Nashvilles Central Business District,
attracting IBM and other top corporations. Effectively a new town in-town
that repositioned a brownfield.

Selected Case Studies

Strategic Thinking and Design for Landowner/Developer Partnerships

Project: Vail Valley, Colorado
Client: Vail Resorts Development Company

Situation: On-mountain development and base village redevelopment in the

cyclical growth patterns of the Vail Valley resort region
Solutions: We were part of the Vail Resorts strategic planning and real estate
development team over 15 years, through two business cycles. The major
projects:
Village to Village skiing master plans linking Beaver Creek, Bachelor
Gulch and Arrowhead
Bachelor Gulch design of a distinctive, indigenous Rocky Mountain
village one of the great mountain real estate successes in Colorado
Vail Village Master planning and on-going redevelopment for the
Arrabelle and the Vail Front Door projects
Breckenridge and Keystone planning and architecture for upgrading Vails
Summit region properties
Low risk, packaged land owner/developer partnerships
The Results: All-season villages and on-mountain destinations that capitalize
on the high end markets reinforcing the Vail Valley as North Americas
most prestigious mountain resort experience, now the standard for mountain
resort communities worldwide.
Development Strategies

A Sustainable Long Range Strategic Development Framework

Project: New City Center, Arizona
Client: DMB Associates

Situation: A brownfield site, 15 square kilometers, with the potential to

anchor the desert growth corridor east of Phoenix/Tempe/Mesa
Solutions:
A global team of innovative specialists
Development framework and entitlement strategy to capitalize on long
term trends
Design of a new city center high density mixed use, transit oriented
The cutting edge of sustainable urban living in a desert climate
Controlled risk creating value step-by-step
Balanced, marketdriven phasing and time-saving entitlements
The Results: Commitment for a major 2,000 room hotel and convention
center by a respected national investor/operator.
Prime sites for residential neighborhoods, cultural, recreational, retail, and
CBD office development at a city scale many thousands of square meters
a practical new model for growth corridors and urbanism in Americas
metropolitan areas.
Selected Case Studies

Repositioning a World Class Destination with a New Vision

Project: Costa Smeralda and Porto Cervo, Sardinia, Italy
Client: Colony Capital

Situation: Costa Smeralda 16 kilometers of spectacular coastline; 2,450

prime hectares, the iconic resort town of Porto Cervo originally developed
by the Aga Khan for a high end, world market
Solutions:
Land development strategy, master plans and entitlement documents
Value-creating new entitlements for expanded hotels, new hotels and
villas, golf and the famous yachting scene
Updated plans for circulation, roads, parking, public parks, plazas,
promenades
Extensive network of new marine and land preserves
Architecture, landscape and infrastructure concepts that reinvigorate the
maturing resort town
New government investment and zoning plans
The Results: A reinforcement of Costa Smeraldas position as the leading
Mediterranean resort while broadening its penetration into expanding world
markets.

Development Strategies

An Accelerated Business Plan for Immediate Action

Project: Niseko Higashiyama and Minakami Kogen, Japan
Client: CPIJ Citigroup Principal Investments Japan

Situation: Currently Japans premier golf and mountain resort destinations

Solutions: Fast, cost-effective and comprehensive feasibility analyses
for CPIJ.
Repositioning the two leading, but under-performing, golf and mountain
resort properties
Rethinking and restructuring club and resort operations
Updating and re-configuring land and real estate products as complete
resort villages
The Results: A comprehensive business plan and short term asset
management strategy to immediately improve each propertys earnings
potential while still protecting long term value.

Selected Case Studies

A Community Shaped by History, Sensitive Environments

and a New Boutique Hotel
Project: Palmetto Bluff, South Carolina
Client: Crescent Resources

Situation: A 7,300 hectare barrier island landholding on the South

Carolina coast planned for the next generation markets
Solutions: Development strategy, positioning and Design of
a Complete Environment
A prestigious new resort community on the cutting edge of sustainable and
conservation based development
Targeting the evolving high-end real estate market
Extending low country traditions of coastal village life within a vast,
protected natural setting
Design for an innovative Auberge Inn as real estate catalyst
The Results: A new threshold of land values in the region and sustained
sales velocity in todays down market.

Development Strategies

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Adding Earnings Potential to a Venerable Asset

Project: Hotel Del Coronado, California
Client: Lowe Enterprises

Situation: New ownership of one of Americas classic but aging landmark

properties on the Southern California Coast
Solutions: A repositioning strategy to upgrade facilities and operations
Comprehensive analysis of operations and the 11 hectare site
Alternatives for architectural and landscape improvements and expansion
A new business plan and entitlements for renovations, new expansions and
site improvements
The Results: Our Design for a Complete Environment upgraded the
property from a four to a five star resort adding significant earnings
potential and asset value.

Selected Case Studies

Advising a Landowner and a Developer on Joint Development Strategies

Project: Santa Catalina Island and Town of Avalon, California
Client: The Island Company Catalina and The Koll Company

Situation: A 1,200 hectare historic landmark resort town surrounded by a

land preserve a Los Angeles island exurb
Solutions:

Recapturing the value of a once prime, international resort destination

Unlocking additional saleable land for the owner
Working out ways to intensify development
Packaging phased, feasible projects for the developer
Complementing the communitys high standards for sustainability, growth
controls and environmental protection

The Results: A development agreement currently under review by the

government and design of a new anchor hotel planned for 2010.

Development Strategies

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A Whole-Systems Approach to Sustainable Community Development

Project: Cattle Creek Roaring Fork Valley, Colorado
Client: The Related Companies/WestPac

Situation: A 120 hectare brownfield site and degraded watershed and stream
corridor in the Roaring Fork Valley, with a prime location for workforce housing
Solutions: Development strategy and community master plan
for Cattle Creek
Transit Oriented Development to address on-site trip reduction and
regional transportation.
A complete Colorado town neighborhoods, schools, retail, offices,
recreation and community facilities
A cluster of walkable neighborhoods
A range of residential products including work force and affordable housing
A revitalized landscape for trails, parks and open spaces
A restored watershed and stream corridor
Performance-based design standards for infrastructure, landscapes and
buildings
The Results: A new model for environmentally sensitive community
development to complement expansion in the region, and the basis
for negotiating multi-agency entitlements.
Selected Case Studies

Creating the First Community Preserve

Project: The Santa Lucia Preserve, California
Client: Rancho San Carlos Partnership/Pacific Union Company

Situation: An 8,100 hectare valley above Monterey and Carmel redwood

forests and a cattle ranch on one of the largest private landholdings in coastal
California
Solutions: Development strategies, master plans and design of a Complete
Environment for an innovative, high end Community Preserve ensuring a
rural lifestyle for 280 families surrounded by vast tracts of protected ecological
preserve
The most extensive environmental analysis ever undertaken by a
private landowner
An intensive and complex entitlement process with county, state and
federal agencies to lock-in land use and water rights
Restoration of watersheds degraded by grazing
Protection of 7,300 hectares in perpetuity by creative and rigorous
development standards and an endowed Conservancy
Value creating conservation easements
The Results: The Santa Lucia Preserve established a new model for how a limited
amount of high quality development can permanently protect a one-of-a-kind
natural setting and produce outstanding real estate investment results.
Development Strategies

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The Highest Residential Values Respecting Hawaiian Values

Project: Kukio, Hawaii
Client: Discovery Land Company, Westbrook Partners, The Getty Trust

Situation: A 267 hectare oceanfront lava flow on the prestigious north Kona
Coast of Hawaiis Big Island
Solutions: Development strategies, master plans and designs for the Complete
Environment of this private beach club community
Challenging ecological, cultural and geological conditions turned
into assets
Beachfront values extended deep into the property, through grading and
landscaped open spaces
Architecture using traditional Hawaiian materials and construction
methods including thatched roofs
A seamless tropical landscape setting, a defining characteristic of Hawaiian
mauka-makai lifestyle connecting ocean to mountain
The Results: Kukio showed how the best of traditional Hawaiian
architecture and ambiance can be delivered to a high-end market
as it established the highest value real estate on the Big Island.

Selected Case Studies

A Business Plan and Tourism Model for the #1 World Heritage Site
Project: Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
Client: Tanzania National Parks and Frankfurt Zoological Society

Situation: A need to ensure continuing protection for the future of the wildlife
and its habitats in Tanzanias Serengeti National Park
Solutions:
A planning process that ensures all stakeholders are represented in future
plans for the Park
A General Management Plan that establishes development zones, capacity
standards and operational and management guidelines
Positioning to attract best-in-class operators and influential, long term
investors
A Strategic Land Plan to increase park revenues while balancing public
access and new long term private concessions
A 10 year financial model that expands revenue streams through new
zoning and land management policies
The Results: A tourism model and public private partnership to unlock
the value of the National Park and provide long range protection and
enhancement through long-term funding and management agreements.

Development Strategies

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Revitalizing a Center City along its Downtown Riverfront

Project: Bridges of St. Paul Waterfront Development, Minnesota
Client: JLT Group, Inc.

Situation: A 29 hectare brownfield site on downtown St. Pauls Mississippi

riverfront
Solutions:
A development vision and mix of uses to complement and reinforce the
existing St. Paul downtown
300,000 square meters of waterfront residential and commercial space
Public open spaces, a museum and marina, a riverfront park and pedestrian
connections to downtown
Flexibility to attract investors and developers to build in sequential, ondemand phases
The Results: A large scale, urban mixed-use development plan to guide
the citys growth pattern and enhance the amenity and value of the entire
center-city real estate.

Selected Case Studies

The mainstream of our practice is managing and optimizing the value of real
estate assets.
David P. Howerton

David P. Howerton, ASLA, AICP Chairman

Dave leads the firm as Chairman providing
high-level strategy and planning on all
projects. As a result of his ground breaking
work on many environmentally-sound,
highly marketable new communities and
mixed-use projects, including the nationally
acclaimed Santa Lucia Preserve in California
and Palmetto Bluff in South Carolina, Dave
is consistently relied upon by leaders in the
development industry to provide sound
business thinking.
Dave is widely recognized as one of the leading
talents in the profession, both in the business
and academic fields. He has taken active roles
in ULI, and is a regular guest lecturer at the
University of California, Berkeley and at
Harvard. He also serves as a trustee for the
School of Architecture Foundation at the
University of Virginia.

Development Strategies

Education:
University of Virginia, School
of Architecture: Bachelor of City
Planning, 1974
University of California, Berkeley, College
of Environmental Design: Master of
Landscape Architecture, 1977
ASLA Certificate of Honor for Excellence
in the Study of Landscape Architecture
Professional Associations:

American Society of Landscape Architects

American Institute of Certified Planners
Urban Land Institute -- Executive Council
Registered Landscape Architect and
CLARB Certified

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 Our objective and creative approach is fully aligned with our clients interests
and yields practical, innovative strategies.
A. James Tinson, AIA

A. James Tinson, AIA, Chief Executive Officer

Jim works directly with client leadership,
providing strategic vision for complex
projects in sensitive locations throughout the
world. From cities to private estates, clients
seek out Jims business acumen, international
connections, technical expertise, and more
than 15 years of experience as a strategist,
planner, and designer. He combines an
extensive business management background
with broad design talent to lead all of our
New York operations.
Jim has worked to create new communities,
urban centers, and mixed-use environments
for such premier clients and developers as The
Related Companies, Cushman and Wakefield,
Walt Disney Company, DMB, St. Joe
Company, Rockefeller Group Development
Company, Crescent Resources, Revolution
Resorts, Dolphin Capital, and in association
with others, Georgetown Development Co.,
Yale University, and the New York Jets.

Development Strategies

An active educator, Jim serves as a returning

critic for advanced studios at the Yale
Graduate School of Architecture, leads an
Executive Education course on Community
Planning for the Harvard Graduate School
of Design, and has been a lecturer and juror
at the University of Pennsylvania and Notre
Dame. His work has been published and
exhibited internationally.
Education:
University of Notre Dame, Bachelor
of Architecture, 1992
Yale University, Tunnard Fellowship in
Urban Design, Master of Architecture,
1994
Professional Associations:
Registered Architect and NCARB certified
Urban Land Institute

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Where We Are Working

Our offices
Countries we are working in

T h e A m e r i cas

Canada
United States
Mexico
Bahamas
Turks & Caicos
Dominican Republic
Puerto Rico
St. Kitts
Nicaragua
Costa Rica
Panama
Brazil
Argentina
Bermuda

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E u r ope &
Med i te r r anean

Scotland
Ireland
France
Italy
Croatia
Portugal
Czech Republic
Russia
Albania
Greece
Cyprus
Morocco
Libya
Egypt

A f r i ca &
Ind i an O cean

Kenya

A s i a & P ac i f i c R i m

South Africa

Japan

T h e M i ddle E ast

Tanzania

South Korea

Jordan

Zambia

China

Bahrain

Mauritius

India

Dubai

Seychelles

Thailand

Abu Dhabi

Zimbabwe

Philippines

Oman

Indonesia

Saudi Arabia

Fiji
Australia
New Zealand

Our Clients
The Aga Khan Foundation

J + P Development

Alexander & Baldwin Properties/Hawaii

Jack Nicklaus/Golden Bear

Amfac/Kaanapali Beach

Julian Robertson

Anglo American Farms

Kiawah Island Company

Apollo Management, LP

The Koll Company

Aston Martin

Landmark UK

Auberge Resorts

Levy Family Partners

Australia-based Robina Land Company

Lowe Development

Brookfield

The Lyle Anderson Company

Callaway Gardens

Mandarin Oriental

Chadmar Group

Majid Al Futtaim

Citigroup

Mayacama

Colony Capital

MCA/Universal Studios

Crescent Resources/Duke Energy

Miraval

CSX Corporation/The Greenbrier Hotel

Mitsubishi International Corporation

Cunard Hotels and Resorts

Mobil Land Development

Cushman and Wakefield

Olney Theatre Center for the Arts

DMB

PA Consulting

Dolphin Capital Partners

Parker Ranch Foundation Trust

The Donald Trump Organization

The Pebble Beach Company

Dubai World

Plum Creek

The Discovery Land Company

Premier Group

East West Partners

Pritzker Realty Group

Emaar

Rancho San Carlos Partnership

Farallon Capital

The Rank Organization, UK

Foster Enterprises

Related Group of Companies

Four Seasons Residences

Ripplewood

Frankfurt Zoological Society

The Rockefeller Family

Grupo Pellas

The Sea Island Company

Guinness PLC and The Gleneagles Group

S.Z. Eliades Leisure, Ltd.

The Gleneagles Hotel

Schmidt Family Foundation

Haas and Haynie

Singita

Hartley Farms

Sorouh

Hearst Corporation

Starwood Capital

Hillwood H. Ross Perot, Jr.

Talisker

Hines

Tanzania National Parks

Hotel del Coronado

Temple

The Hudson Bay Company

Terrabrook

Hyatt Corporation

Turnberry

IMI

Vail Resorts Development Company

Itacare Capital

Victoria Falls Municipality

The Irvine Company

The Walt Disney Organization

The Island Company Catalina

Walton Street Capital

The JLT Group

Westbrook Partners

Paul Tudor Jones

Zambia National Parks

The Royal Court Jordan

Zimbabwe National Parks

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N ew Y o r k

10 East 40th Street

New York, NY 10016
USA
t: 212 683 5631
f: 212 481 3768

S an F r anc i sco

One Union Street

San Francisco, CA 94111
USA
t: 415 439 2200
f: 415 439 2201

L ondon

65 Crutched Friars
London, EC3N 2AE
United Kingdom
t: +44 (0)20 3239 9010

www.harthowerton.com
S h ang h a i

1610 West Tower

Shanghai Centre
1376 Nanjing Road West
Shanghai 200040
China
t: +86 21 6279 8364
f: +86 21 6279 8610
F i eld O ff i ces

Boston
1280 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02138
t: 617 234 4409
f: 617 864 2603
Park City
311 Main Street
P.O. Box 483
Park City, UT 84060
t: 435 655 8120
f: 435 655 8124
Minneapolis
57 Great Suffolk Street
London, SE1 0BB
United Kingdom
Digitally printed on recycled paper

t: +44 (0)20 7593 3320

harvested from sustainable forests.

f: +44 (0)20 7620 0971

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