Gibbs Planning Group

12/13/2024

Still time to gift my Urban Retail book for the Holidays. Ideal for your favorite planner-Illustrates commercial town center, 30-Case Studies & Development best practices. https://lnkd.in/d6zWQKF

11/19/2024

Thrilled for my Sutherland Square development's progress; Its nearly ready to break ground. The 200-unit mixed-use community will include 70-Towns, 100-Multi-Family, 30-Single Family homes & 2 shops. Sutherland is located near Ann Arbor on State Street. I am both the planner and developer of his New Urban neighborhood. The Sutherand family housed escaping slaves as part of the Underground Railroad c. 1850-60.

10/24/2024

Proposed English Village, Bloomfield Hills, MI. Designed by Bob Gibbs 2017. The small village included apartments, a gourmet market and small shops. The City's zoning code would not permit its scale and mixed uses, and the project was canceled. The design was largely influenced by Cranbrook and located on the Kingsley Inn site.

10/16/2024

Bike lanes do not belong on most city streets; Bicyclist can safely merge with slow traffic, on properly designed streets. Designated bike lanes also pose a false sense of safety. Parallel parked cars induce more effective traffic calming as well as retail sales.

Each parked car, where metered, can generate $150K + on-street store retail sales yearly. 2 spaces will directly support a small store. Shown: a never used 2-way bike lane in Birmingham, MI Note the bicyclist on the vehicle lane.

09/21/2024

09/21/2024

Many of the most beloved towns thrive despite their overhead utilities & worn public realm. Alexanderia, Charleston, Marblehead. Attractive shops, parks, historic districts can neutralize the ugly wires. Expensive streetscapes alone are overrated & limited resources better funneled elsewhere. Shown: Chatham, Cape Cod, one of my favorites.

08/28/2024

Michigan has lost a legend. Bernie Glieberman was a visionary town builder as well as a gentleman and friend. Bernie re-introduced Prewar urbanism to Michigan. At the time, suburban subdivisions and apartment complexes were the norm. He was a New Urbanist a decade before its founding.

He wasn't afraid of taking risk to do the right thing. Bernie built the first new urban neighborhood in Monroe and market townhouses along Woodward in Midtown Detroit. At the time, few would invest there. He introduced traditionally designed townhouses, with alley facing garages and street front living areas in Royal Oak and dozens of Michigan communities. Now a widely copied housing typology.

For me, Bernie was a dream client. He encouraged me to creatively design his communities to the very best practices. He then stood his ground with reluctant cities to approve, the then, illegal development plans. I was privileged to design his Birmingham Eaton Station neighborhood. After years of wrestling with the city, he built 100 beautiful Live-work town homes. Eaton was one of the first alley based, live-works in the US, and was described by Andres Duany as the largest in the country.

1000's of communities and homeowners will enjoy Bernie's innovations for generations. Shown, Bernie & Shannon Morgan celebrating one of their many recognizations. Bob Gibbs

08/25/2024

Details matter. These handsome bollards were installed backwards & not as designed by the landscape architect. At the Last minute, a city councilman ordered them to be reversed from the design, with the tall side fronting the street. Birmingham, Mich

08/04/2024

Bobs interview with B'ham, MI BID director, Ingrid, largely responsible for one of the best US shopping districts
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/NwXHxyJiVUMnuWWx/?mibextid=UalRPS

07/31/2024

The Otis Hotel, Michigan's new cool 3rd Place. Harbor Springs-A Mid-Century Modern restoration c. 1958 (Former Birchwood Inn)

07/12/2024

Store Designers capture the vanishing point's perspective and use bright colors to lure shoppers into the back of the store.

07/09/2024

Parades & frestvals promote community spirt & boost restaurants sales. Unfortunately there is no evidence they stimulate store sales, the event day will curb their business, frequently becoming their slowest day of the year. Looking for case studies of postive retail sales during festivals.

Harbor Springs, Mich. July 4th celebration, my favorite. My book explores this misunstood trend.