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As a principal of The Atlantic Group, Lawrence Houstoun Jr. ’52 is a major force in revitalizing cities’ commercial areas. In addition to major industrial, commercial, and residential redevelopment, his urban development consulting firm has led the way in creation of about 60 business improvement districts. The company has helped many cities on the East Coast, but also has extended its services as far away as Ireland, England, Ontario, and Brazil.
Houstoun became enamored of business improvement districts more than 20 years ago while working for a developer in Maryland. He subsequently helped write and lobby for legislation paving the way for districts in New Jersey and later did the same in Pennsylvania.
“It’s based on an old concept that if a physical improvement benefits a number of properties, they will be expected to share in its cost,” he explains. “It goes back to the late 1700s in New York City and evolved into the idea where it doesn’t matter whether it’s a physical or service benefit. But most business improvement districts are service-oriented, especially in small towns. Most programs are small and marketing-based.”
It takes about six months to organize such a district, with the planned term typically lasting five years before participants decide whether to extend it for another five. However, votes on funding the district take place annually. All of The Atlantic Group’s districts have been renewed each year during their first term and extended for at least a second term.
A nationally recognized expert on business improvement districts, Houstoun is author of a 300-page, illustrated book published by the Urban Land Institute in 1997, titled BIDs: Business Improvement Districts, for which he shot about half of the photographs. A second edition is planned for release this fall. He also has written articles for the magazine Urban Land, including a piece last August on how minor league stadiums can help revitalize downtowns.
Houstoun says his company has been a “voice of loyal opposition” within the Smart Growth movement, which advocates development that protects farmland and open space, revitalizes neighborhoods, keeps housing affordable, and provides more transportation choices.
“Most of the Smart Growth movement has been telling people they shouldn’t build in corn fields,” he explains. “We think the emphasis should be on reinvesting in older communities. Indeed, that’s almost 100 percent of what we doTelling people what they can’t do is always difficult; you always end up in court with political disputes. The focus should be on how you can, with relative ease, produce development in an existing community. That’s politically more saleable.”
Before entering the development field, Houstoun worked under New Jersey Governor Robert Meyner ’30 and in the federal government for the department of Housing and Urban Development and the Secretary of Commerce. He earned a master’s degree in city and regional planning at Catholic University and served as a fellow in public affairs at Princeton University. He founded his firm in 1982, which has offices in Cranbury, N.J., and Philadelphia. A member of American Institute of Certified Planners, Houstoun received the Holly Whyte Award from Downtown New Jersey, Inc., which he helped found.
A government and law graduate, Houstoun followed in Meyner’s footsteps as editor of The Lafayette. “I loved writing, and in a way, I never stopped,” he says. Leading the newspaper and his fraternity, Theta Delta Chi, served as significant opportunities for handling responsibility, he says. Other college highlights included geology courses, which developed a lifelong hobby, and the lectures of psychology professor Herbert Rogers and history professor Albert Gendebien ’34, who became a close friend.