The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) Livable Centers Initiative (LCI) is a powerful tool to transform our built environment from auto-centric spaces to sustainable, walkable places. They are essential to regional planning to manage the Atlanta area’s continuing, tremendous growth. Past LCI projects have studied Community Improvement Districts (CIDs), historic downtowns, existing and emerging job centers, and all the MARTA stations.

KB Advisory Group (KB) has participated in the ARC’s LCI community planning, redevelopment, updates, and implementation efforts since 1999, engaging communities in each step of the process.

The KB team is charged with analyzing market opportunities and feasibility of development plans for walkable-mixed-use districts as a sub-consultant for planning firms. KB often participates in public meetings, stakeholder meetings, and internal consulting throughout an LCI project. Typically, the firm addresses two areas of analysis: Market Study-Related Tasks and LCI Implementation-Related Tasks.

LCI Market Study-Related Tasks

KB analysts consider the factors impacting real estate supply and demand via data-driven analytical evaluation. The results enable leadership to make appropriate decisions about future development in an LCI Study Area. KB’s market analysis includes a set of actions to gain that holistic perspective:

• Defining the LCI Market Area and its surroundings
• Economic and Demographic Analysis
• Analyzing Residential Demand
• Analyzing Retail Demand
• Assessing Office Demand
• Providing conclusions regarding future development potential

LCI Implementation-Related Tasks

KB analysts then examine implementation funding to provide a forward-looking assessment of how best to achieve LCI Study Area goals, which generally includes:

• Assessing the economic development toolkit
• Proposing a plan to enhance incentives available to the development community
• Evaluating the appropriateness and feasibility of initiating new economic enhancement programs
• Catalyst Project Concepts
  • Determining the economic feasibility within and beyond the constraints of current zoning
  • Determining uses and configurations of identified catalyst project sites
  • Ensuring the presence of an optimal slate of economic development incentives for the viability of each catalyst site
  • Conducting a preliminary financial analysis of catalyst project scenarios in the short, medium, and long term

KB’s LCI efforts may also analyze each proposed development scenario’s economic, fiscal, and school impacts at full build-out to document the potential positive effects on the LCI Study Area and the local public school district.

The ARC’s 2022 LCI Application Guidebook is available online and includes detailed information about the program goals, study types, priorities issues, and more.