Your link to recent GPG News, Articles, Press Releases, our newsletter THE GIBBS REPORT, and recent speaking engagements.

CURRENT GPG PROJECTS INCLUDE: 

• Preparing a general merchandising staregy and plan with types of retail for the three market areas of Charleston, SC's Historic Market Hall

• Retail market research and analysis for JBG Cos.' Reston International Center in Reston, VA

• Retail and residential market study and report for the Village of Port Sanilac, MI

• Retail market analysis  and consulting for a new Lifestyle Center in Indio, California 

RECENTLY COMPLETED GPG PROJECTS:

• Complete market analysis (retail, residential, office and lodging) for a New Hampshire site
• Residential market analysis for Revelstoke, British Columbia
• Daybreak Town Center charrette, South Jordan, Utah
• Comprehensive Study for Houston’s Central Business District
• Retail Master Plan for Fifth Avenue South in Naples, Florida
• A transit corridor study for the city of West Palm Beach, Florida. GPG will assist lead consultants TCRPC in programming the development of eight proposed transit stops.
• Robert Gibbs moderated a “Sustainable Retail” panel at the National CNU Conference, May 19-22, 2010 in Atlanta, Georgia.

RECENT ARTICLES
The Final Frontier: Birmingham Planning Firm Finds Work in Wasilla (Birmingham-Bloomfield Eccentric, Dec. 6, 2009)

Downtown Birmingham: Thirteen Years of Implementation of Michigan's First Form-Based Code (Planning and Zoning News, Nov. 2009)

Q&A—Robert Gibbs on the Downcast State of Retail (New Urban News, April/May 2009)

Fifth Avenue South Could Benefit from High End Chain Stores
(Naples Daily News, Sept. 10, 2009)

Fifth Avenue Business Owners Look to Revitalize Downtown Naples
(Naples Daily News, Sept. 3, 2009)

Speaker Lauds Downtown Offerings (Petoskey News-Review,August 20, 2009)

Urban Legend (Oakland University Alumni Magazine, Spring/Summer 2009)

GIBBS JOINS MICHIGAN CNU BOARD
Robert J. Gibbs has been elected to the Michigan CNU Board of Directors (East Region Representative). He will serve a two-year term.

Gibbs has been participating in the planning team which is advising the writers of the CNU Michigan Form-Based Codes in 7- Steps: The Michigan Guidebook to Livability. The Guidebook, specific to Michigan (and the first of its kind anywhere in the nation), is a step-by-step process that explains what communities need to know, helps them to decide what to do, and leads them through the process of how a FBC is written, adopted and implemented. Go to http://www.cnu.org/sites/www.cnu.org
/files/FBC%20Guidebook%20Registration.pdf to register to receive a free copy when published.

GPG SPONSORS SMART GROWTH CODING WORKSHOP
GPG co-sponsored a two day workshop, featuring Andres Duany, on conventional zoning alternatives held November 3-4, 2009 in Birmingham, Michigan.

The SmartCode encourages compact, walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods. In the current economic downturn, this topic is particularly hot, as municipalities look for ways to get maximum bang for the buck from investments in water, sewer, and transportation infrastructure.

Co-Sponsors with GPG were McKenna Associates, CNU Michigan, Michigan Municipal League and Freeman Cotton & Gleeson, PLC.

CONGRATULATIONS GPG SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS!
Becca Sowder and Liz Westbrook are the first recipients of the Gibbs Planning Group Scholarship, given through the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources and Environment in April, 2009.

Becca Sowder is completing her degree in the MLA program and hopes to develop a career that “merges design, ecology and human dimensions in an urban context”. She has spent the last year working for the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge, and looks forward to continued work in this geographic area.

Liz Westbrook is interested in the developer’s role and decision making process in a project, and plans to work in the Bay Area after graduation. She earned a Certificate in Real Estate Development in addition to the MLA, and researched the developer’s role in eliminating sprawl for her thesis research.

2009 INTERN
Jessica Mary Neafsey, an SNRE graduate student at the University of Michigan, was GPG’s 2009 Summer Intern. Jessica assisted GPG by doing parking and retail analysis for eight Michigan cities. Her research will be used in writing new parking standards for small towns.

TNASLA KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Robert Gibbs made the keynote presentation at the 2009 TNASLA & US Green Building Conference on Friday, October 9, 2009 in Nashville, Tennessee.

GPG IS A BEST OF MICHIGAN BUSINESS
Gibbs Planning Group has been selected as one of Corp! Magazine’s “The Best of Michigan Business” honorees for 2009.

ROBERT GIBBS CONTRIBUTES CHAPTERS IN TWO BOOKS ON NEW URBANISM
Robert Gibbs, ASLA has published chapters in two recently released books on New Urbanism.

The books, titled New Urbanism and Beyond, edited by Tigran Hass and Sustainable Urbanism, edited by Douglas Farr, AIA, make the case for sustainable new urbanism, laying out current issues with in-depth case studies and contributions from leading new urban planners, designers and architects. Gibbs’ chapters in both publications discuss planning principles for walkable retail centers in new urban communities and historic city centers.

"We've been in some great cities and we're... pleased to be coming to Birmingham, because our attendees can walk the streets and see the advantages of planning with people, not just cars, in mind."
Hazel Borys, Managing Principal, PlaceMakers, about the SmartCode Workshop co-sponsored by GPG