We recently celebrated the launch of our San Francisco Bay Area office with a happy hour event hosted with SITELAB and BerlinRosen to kick off Urban Land Institute’s Fall Meeting. It was fantastic to connect over the opportunities and challenges shaping the future of cities across the Bay Area and beyond. Thank you to all our clients, collaborators, and friends who joined us for the celebration, and we look forward to a bright future in the Bay!
Why did HR&A open an office in the Bay Area?
Jeff: As we approach our 50th anniversary in 2026, we’re expanding our presence in California with a new office in San Francisco. Though we’re currently headquartered in New York, our company was founded in California with a decades-long presence in Los Angeles, and this new location builds on years of work across the Bay Area and the country.
Having a physical presence in the cities where we work, with employees who live in the communities they serve, is essential to how we do business.
California has the largest economy in the country and the fourth largest in the world. To serve its communities and clients well, we need to be close to the work. We have strong relationships here, a talented team, and a shared belief in the strength of the Bay Area — a 21-county mega-region.
Kate: This moment is especially meaningful for me since I was born in the East Bay, so I’ve always seen the relationship between Northern California and the national economy. We’ve had the pleasure of working with leaders from every sector in the Bay Area, and their collaboration is what drives progress. Our new office on Market Street in San Francisco puts us at the center of that energy and reflects our commitment to Downtown’s revitalization and the region’s future.
A big part of the equation is also that the Bay Area has long attracted our team members — before and after their time with HR&A. This office expands our ability even further to provide the caliber of talent that our clients expect from us.
You have both worked in cities across the country. What are some of the unique challenges and opportunities in the Bay Area compared to other metro regions?
Jeff: One of my projects early on in my career was in Emeryville, and I spent about a year living and working in the Bay Area, getting to know how cities here really function. I quickly learned that the Bay Area is really a network of places, each with its own history and priorities. That mix creates both complexity and opportunity. It’s a region where collaboration isn’t optional. From county governments and city agencies to nonprofits, community leaders, and Fortune 100 companies, and especially SPUR, progress here depends on bringing people together across boundaries. That’s one of the things I’ve always admired most about this region.
Kate: One of the things that makes working in the Bay Area particularly exciting right now is that it’s driving innovation around a lot of the policy issues we’re grappling with across the country. This region is often the first place to feel the pressures shaping cities everywhere, whether its housing affordability, the impact of tech and AI, climate change, and questions of equity and inclusive growth. It offers incredible livability and economic opportunity, but it also highlights the same challenges that we’re helping cities tackle across the country.
What value can HR&A bring to the Bay Area?
Kate: There are three things I keep hearing from clients about what differentiates HR&A.
1. We can draw on lessons learned from our work in other cities. Beyond our work in the Bay Area and the West Coast, we’ve been working in cities nationwide to find new solutions to some of the most critical topics of our time like economic development, climate change, and housing and homelessness. While there are a lot of innovative strategies in the Bay Area, there are also important best practices to draw on from places across the country.
2. We bring strong capacity across real estate advisory and economic development, but also core competencies beyond that like inclusive governance, the innovation economy, housing policy, digital opportunity, and resilient infrastructure — all incredibly relevant to what’s going on in the region.
3. We can serve as an extension of our clients’ teams at the negotiating table. We’re great at generating market analysis and providing the data that property owners, investors, economists, and cities need to understand how to shape their future. However, we also bring expertise and capacity for helping clients move forward with partners to make that future a reality.
What are your aspirations for the future of this region?
Kate: We’ve had the opportunity to work on some incredible projects in the Bay Area — from work supporting the creation of Diridon Station in San Jose; procuring a facility manager and programming partner for the Transbay Terminal and Salesforce Park; advising on opportunities for office conversion and downtown revitalization in San Francisco; working with the cities of South San Francisco and Hayward to mitigate displacement risks for current residents and businesses as they pursue growth; supporting both UC Davis and UC Santa Cruz in their individual efforts to fuel innovation near their campuses. I want to keep doing even more of this work.
Jeff: I’m excited about the culture of innovation in the Bay Area — a culture that really matches HR&A’s energy. What makes HR&A special is how we combine national expertise, local understanding, and deep knowledge about how the public, private, and philanthropic worlds intersect to shape the future of cities. While we bring that experience to the Bay Area, there are lots of things that happen here that don’t happen anywhere else in the country. I think there’s an opportunity for a really wonderful exchange of ideas.
Can you share a bit about HR&A’s history in Texas?
I joined HR&A in 2013 in New York, right when the firm’s work in Texas was starting to take off. In those days in the early 2010s, we were working on a few large-scale planning and advisory projects. We helped lay the groundwork for Harold Simmons Park in Dallas to become a reality, developed the Strategic Framework Plan for the Center City in San Antonio that helped launch the “Decade of Downtown” and catalyzed a downtown housing renaissance, supported the Menil Foundation in developing a strategy for its campus in Houston, and worked with the City of Austin to prepare a Downtown Plan to guide growth and development.
With this growing body of work in Texas, we hit an inflection point where we needed a physical presence here to provide our clients with even better service and build a local team that could offer a blend of national expertise with deep Texas roots. So, in 2015, we officially set up our Dallas office.
It’s remarkable to think that since we made that decision, the Texas population has grown by over 3.5 million people, with the four biggest metropolitan areas driving almost 80% of that growth. Similarly, our work across the state has grown, with 75% of HR&A’s leadership having worked in Texas. Our work in this region has played an important role in shaping our overall point of view as a company. We’ve also deepened our roots here, with cultural and historic preservation becoming a really animating thread of work for our team, who grew up in Texas and are passionate about placemaking and culturally resonant planning and economic development.
After helping found our Texas office 10 years ago, are you seeing the tangible impact of our work from those early days? What is that like?
We often get involved in projects at their earliest stages, which means that seeing the physical or community impact can sometimes take years. But with a decade behind us, I am immensely proud of the positive impact HR&A has had on Texas cities and communities.
We have crafted policies that have been adopted and implemented that address crucial challenges of our time, from broadband access, to economic opportunity, and housing affordability. These include equitable economic development and historic and cultural preservation policies in Dallas, a statewide digital opportunity plan, tax increment policies for cities large and small, a Housing Action Plan for Dallas, and an equitable transit-oriented development framework for Austin.
We have guided a diverse range of organizations through strategic plans, helping leaders, including those at the Texas Trees Foundation, Downtown Dallas Inc., the Austin EDC, New Hope Housing, and the Fort Worth Park & Recreation Department, establish and operationalize their missions and priorities.
We have worked on some of the most amazing parks and public spaces in Texas, demonstrating how high-quality parks and public spaces are essential to strong and resilient communities. Our benefit assessments, funding strategies, master plans, and governance recommendations have helped move the Buffalo Bayou East vision from plan to implementation with over $300 million raised to-date, Harold Simmons Park reach its exciting recent groundbreaking, Klyde Warren Park prepare for future expansion, and more.
We have helped public and private clients unlock the economic and community value of their land through real estate projects and districts, with many projects built or under construction. Projects like the transformation of the Ion District in Midtown Houston, the revitalization of the historic Forest Theater and neighborhood in South Dallas, a new Strategic Vision for Panther Island in Fort Worth, the future Dallas Convention Center District, and various asset strategies for faith-based institutions and public agencies are helping shape a brighter future for Texans and providing access to greater economic opportunity.
Everyone I talk to across the state understands that there are significant challenges facing cities and communities right now, from rising budget pressures, to economic uncertainty, to shifting policy landscapes. HR&A has a unique history of finding opportunities and solutions to challenges that seem daunting — from helping New Orleans recover from Hurricane Katrina to helping real estate clients navigate the Great Recession to supporting communities across the state in their work tackling the housing crisis. So, our role will always evolve to meet the needs of our clients and Texan communities, and I’m excited to see where the next ten years take us!
Celebrating our 10 Year Anniversary in our new Dallas offices
In addition to marking our 10-year anniversary, we also celebrated moving to our new office in Downtown Dallas at Radiance Plaza this summer. We absolutely could not have done all of this alone. Thank you to all our clients, collaborators, and friends who joined us for an anniversary celebration and the many others who have been our close partners over the last 10 years. We are looking forward to many more decades serving Texas!
Check out the images from our celebration!
Written by Ejiro Ojeni.
As New York City anticipates a mayoral election this fall, the city is grappling with both a climate emergency that threatens energy access and livability and a housing affordability emergency that is straining millions of households.
Rising temperatures, aging infrastructure, growing demand, and increasingly constrained sources of power are driving up energy costs and exposing low- and moderate-income households to disproportionate financial strain. In the last five years, 3.5 million New Yorkers (42%) have fallen behind on utility payments, and 1.9 million (23%) have experienced utility shutoffs because they could not pay their bills. Meanwhile, the cost of living continues to rise: nearly half of all NYC households spend more than 30% of their income on rent while nearly a third spend over 50%. The next mayor will need to mobilize a climate action agenda that responds to these pressures.
Reimagine Ravenswood provides a roadmap for public, private, and nonprofit partners to collaborate on addressing the nexus of climate and affordability at the neighborhood scale. The Ravenswood Generating Station is the largest fossil fuel plant in New York City, providing over 20% of the city’s local power capacity. The station sits across from NYCHA Ravenswood and Queensbridge, New York City’s largest protected affordable housing campuses, which have long faced local environmental justice challenges. Rise Light & Power (RISE) has developed plans to transform the station site into a renewable energy hub.
The Office of the Queens Borough President (QBPO) believed it was critical to ensure that the economic benefits of this transition extended to the local community, while also exploring how the redevelopment could catalyze broader quality-of-life improvements. To that end, the QBPO engaged HR&A to lead Reimagine Ravenswood, a community-driven planning process focused on site reuse, neighborhood improvement, and workforce development.
We led stakeholder engagement, including a steering committee, public workshops, focus groups, and a public survey. In partnership with Fu Wilmer Design, the team also conducted a physical site evaluation and an economic analysis to assess neighborhood socio-economic conditions and identify opportunities for workforce and business development in sectors such as green industry, small manufacturing, technology, life sciences, and the arts.
Guided by community insight, the client-consultant team developed strategies to ensure that Ravenswood’s transition to clean energy advances not only climate goals but also affordability and quality of life in the surrounding community. These strategies could be advanced by our next Mayor in neighborhoods across the city.
Ravenswood Generating Station (Image: Courtesy of Reimagine Ravenswood)
Deploying affordable, effective heating and cooling technology will reduce the energy burden for low-income residents. Extreme heat events are becoming more frequent, more intense, and longer in New York City, and our findings show that the area immediately around the Ravenswood Generating Station, including Queensbridge Houses North and South, is already characterized by intense heat and high heat vulnerability due to a lack of green space, low rates of access to home air conditioning, and high surface temperature. Building off the momentum created by the successful heat pump pilot at Woodside Houses in 2023, the City could prioritize and accelerate the installation of window heat pumps in units at NYCHA Astoria, Queensbridge North and South, Ravenswood, Woodside Houses, and other vulnerable areas.
Alongside infrastructure improvements, the City should expand successful initiatives in underinvested schools and partner with local employers to create pathways to well-paying, high-quality jobs for residents. Partnerships between local nonprofits, schools, colleges, and City agencies are crucial for connecting residents to careers in growing industries, including the green economy. By scaling youth-focused initiatives across public schools in the area, such as FutureReadyNYC and Leading the Charge, the City can equip young people with real-world skills, paid work experience, early college credit, industry credentials, and personalized career guidance. Additionally, partnerships with renewable energy companies like Rise, cleantech firms, and business organizations can create clear career pathways, exposing students and residents to opportunities offered by the clean energy transition. Together, these efforts help residents afford to stay and thrive in their communities.
In addition to the strategies we’ve explored at Reimagine Ravenswood, there are other emerging opportunities — such as The City of Yes — that the next Mayor could leverage to create a new balance of affordable housing and jumpstart local economic activity.
One critical opportunity lies in making low-income communities healthier and more dignified places to live by addressing food access. During the engagement sessions, many community members, particularly NYCHA residents, voiced a strong desire for affordable grocery and food retail options. The City of Yes for Economic Opportunity already provides a mechanism to create new, larger-scale commercial spaces within NYCHA campuses, subject to public review and approval. This could enable existing grocery stores (such as Fine Far Supermarket) to expand and create space for new grocery providers. To move forward, the City, in collaboration with NYCHA residents and the local Community Board, should evaluate whether residents want additional commercial development on campus. If so, the new administration should consider enabling the expansion of existing grocery stores or the establishment of new food retail spaces.
The City could continue rethinking how traditional industrial areas are rezoned to allow more mixed-use affordable housing development. Under the City of Yes for Economic Opportunity, new “transition zones” make it more feasible to develop properties with light industrial and commercial uses on ground floors with residential above. In the future, industrially zoned areas in the neighborhood could apply for this rezoning to create both affordable housing and spaces for local job growth.
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A neighborhood-centric approach to tackling climate and affordability challenges in tandem can lead to reduced energy costs, healthier living environments in affordable communities, economic opportunity, and community resilience. Reimagine Ravenswood charts a path for coordinated public, private, and nonprofit action — a roadmap the next Mayor can draw from in pursuing a future where affordable housing and a clean, livable environment are inseparable goals.
Community Engagement Event
Top Image: Courtesy of the Queens Borough President’s Office
Learn more about Reimagine Ravenswood here.
In celebration of NYC Climate Week, HR&A CEO Jeff Hébert joined the Adaptation Forum, hosted by The Resiliency Company, for a lightning talk alongside Daniel Kaniewski of Marsh McLennan and Janika McFeely of JLL to explore the question: how do we turn climate risk into resilient communities? The discussion underscored the urgent need to move beyond understanding risk toward building resilience in ways that strengthen communities, markets, and infrastructure.
Jeff shared insights from projects in New Orleans and Houston to articulate key themes in the work to build resilience. Takeaways include:
Developing resilient infrastructure requires alignment around a clearly articulated vision and depends on bringing together public, private, institutional, and philanthropic partners that each play a role. Their collective action is essential for advancing impactful solutions.
Cities and municipalities must adapt to new project delivery methods, embrace innovative operations and maintenance practices, and pursue creative funding tools. These shifts will be critical for meeting the demands of climate resilience at scale.
Resilient infrastructure generates shared economic benefits and can provide the foundation for funding new investments, making resilience not only a protective measure but also an engine for sustainable growth.
Addressing climate risk is about more than adaptation — it is about building stronger, more sustainable communities for the future.
Learn more about NYC Climate Week.
Written by Jeff Hébert, CEO
Tomorrow marks the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall in New Orleans, forever changing the city, the Gulf Coast region, and how we think about disaster response.
So many of us from Louisiana knew we had to go home. We had no real plan, just the certainty that we needed to be there. In those early days after the storm, our world narrowed to what was right in front of us — our families, our neighbors, and our immediate community. New Orleans was heavy with grief and uncertainty. Relief systems were inadequate and overwhelmed.
Yet in the middle of that chaos, something else emerged: human resolve. Residents became rescuers, teachers became community leaders, and strangers became family.
Days turned into years, and many of us, myself included, ended up dedicating our careers to the long-term recovery of New Orleans and helping other communities prepare and respond to disaster.
I’m proud that HR&A and so many of you in our extended community continue to support New Orleans in building a more equitable and resilient city.
After two decades and countless other catastrophic events in communities around the country, we’ve learned that true recovery isn’t about getting back to how things were. It’s about building something better for the people who call that place home.
The lessons from Hurricane Katrina are universal and should continue to shape our response to every community facing the unthinkable:
As we mark this anniversary, let’s not only remember what was lost, but recommit to the work that remains. There are hard lessons that still haven’t been learned. Let’s also take a moment to reflect on what Katrina and subsequent events have exposed about who gets left behind and what it will take to ensure every community has the chance to not just survive, but thrive.
HR&A Partner Amitabh Barthakur will join industry leaders at the AIA Las Vegas Placemaking Summit — Momentum: Where Change Takes Shape.
This year’s summit will bring together developers, planners, architects, policymakers, and community leaders to explore innovative, sustainable, and resilient approaches to shaping vibrant, livable communities.
Amitabh will speak in Session 5, focusing on Transit-Oriented Development. He will explore innovative funding and financing solutions as well as transit’s role in building connected, livable cities.
Congratulations to the grocery project leaders in Venice, Champaign, Roodhouse, Marion, Aledo, Rockford, and Galesburg on securing $10 million in funding through the Illinois Grocery Initiative! These grants will help combat food deserts across the state by supporting the construction and renovation of new grocery stores, as well as covering many first-year operational costs.
HR&A is proud to have supported the Venice Revitalization Project in preparing their successful grant application. We’re excited to see how a municipally-owned grocery store can expand access to affordable, healthy food for the residents of Venice!
“The Sacramento City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved the Forward Together Action Plan, a community-engaged initiative that outlines priorities aimed at enhancing the quality of life and fostering economic growth opportunities for residents and businesses along the Marysville-Del Paso Boulevard corridor.”
Read more about our work supporting the Marysville-Del Paso Blvd Plan in this article from the Sacramento City Express.
The Design Trust for Public Space, established in 1995, has been a transformative force in unlocking the potential of New York City’s public spaces. The non-profit organization is a nationally-recognized incubator that works closely with design professionals, community organizations, and city agencies to reshape the landscape of all five boroughs—from parks and plazas to streets and public buildings.
Congratulations to HR&A Principal Thomas Jansen on being named the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors at the organization. We look forward to the Design Trust’s continued impact on New York City and Thomas’s contributions to the organization’s mission in this new role.