Who, What, Why | Meet The Team | Board of Directors | Frequently Asked Questions

 

What is PLACE?

 

PLACE® is a nonprofit organization that works with cities to create leading-edge communities that promote the arts, environmentalism and social justice. Through a community-driven, ethically-focused process, PLACE develops new models for urban neighborhoods that demonstrate the best practices in environmental design, live/work development for artists and creative businesses, affordable workforce housing, and supportive housing for the most economically distressed. Our vision is to change the way communities are made.

 

We strive to make each PLACE project reflect the highest community ideals, creating beautiful and inspiring places, lifting people out of poverty, empowering community participation, and providing equal opportunity, all while generating economic return, renewable energy and jobs. PLACE communities seek to dramatically improve the way we live, work, play, commute, create, and interrelate, as well as the way we impact our cities and our Earth.

 

PLACE was founded by Chris Velasco in 2005. PLACE and its respected national board of directors bring extensive experience in creating the public/private partnerships necessary to finance, develop and operate complex, economically-sustainable facilities. As an entrepreneurial nonprofit, PLACE uses proven market approaches and cutting edge funding methods to develop projects that are economically self-sustaining. PLACE's projects blend the arts, environmentalism, community-driven development, live and work space, smart growth, small business development and affordable housing -- all together in one, inspiring place.

 

What does PLACE build?

 

The PLACE Team works with architects, engineers, artists and builders to create:

 

• Alternative energy communities
• Green artist enclaves, communities, neighborhoods, communes and villages
• Eco Villages
• Green affordable housing and supportive housing
• Sustainable communities for artists and artisans
• Green arts facilities and green theaters
• Next-generation communities
• Cultural tourism destinations
• Inspiring, transformational places

 

How is PLACE funded?

PLACE is a 501(c)3 publicly-supported charity, which means that donations made to the organization are tax deductible. In addition to private donations and grants from foundations and corporations, PLACE receives funding for its projects from local, state and federal governmental entities. The PLACE organization also collects fees from the development and operation of its projects, speaking engagements, and consulting efforts. You can donate to our efforts by clicking here.

 

What's a good example of a PLACE project?

 

The Working Artists Ventura (WAV) project is a state-of-the-art community designed for artists and creative businesses. Located in the cultural district of downtown Ventura, California, WAV will offer affordable living and working space for over a hundred artists of every kind: painters, sculptors, dancers, poets, musicians, filmmakers and more.

 

Currently under construction and on schedule for completion and occupancy in September 2009, WAV has been developed in unique concert with the local community. Over the course of its development, PLACE and the City have held over one hundred public meetings, engaging the local community in every aspect of WAV’s design, purpose, and spirit. These meetings have resulted in a project that both meets the critical needs voiced by Ventura’s community, and gives the project the kind of wholesale support that is often lacking in many developments. Click here for more about WAV.

 

What's on PLACE's horizon?

 

PLACE is pleased to introduce a groundbreaking sustainable development called E-Generation™. Imagine a mixed-use, mixed-income, creative urban community designed to include a compact power facility capable of converting waste into clean, renewable energy. A safe, sanitary, nearly invisible system built into the development will process all the waste produced on site: one hundred percent of the garbage, recyclables and liquid waste, or black water. Community life creates waste, this waste creates clean renewable energy, which powers community life -- a perfectly efficient cycle. Learn more about E-Generation by clicking here.

 

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The PLACE Team

Chris Velasco, President

Chris Velasco is the President and Executive Director of PLACE. Chris has been actively engaged in the creation of innovative communities and sustainable facilities for sixteen years. He has worked in over two hundred communities, and has been a leader in the creation of over $350 million of new facilities. Chris worked to develop some of the nation’s early leasehold housing cooperatives for artists. His projects have won numerous awards from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the American Institute of Architects and more. Chris was recently invited to submit an opinion paper to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton on environmental policy for her Strategic Energy Fund. Chris is a frequent keynote speaker in the areas of sustainable arts, live/work communities, ethical development, community and economic revitalization and the environment.

 

 

Elizabeth Bowling

Elizabeth has advanced degrees in law and public policy, focusing on community economic development. She is published in the prestigious Minnesota Law Review on the topic of affordable housing as a tool for metropolitan development, integration, and social justice. In addition to her work as an attorney, Elizabeth has participated in the development of several arts-related facilities, design and implementation of social services programs, and the creation of two charter schools. She has served on the board of an artist cooperative, and currently chairs the board of Anodyne Artists Company, a supportive day studio for artists with disabilities.

 

Tim Duffy

Founder and head of Duffy Creative, Tim has twenty years experience in designing and building affordable commercial and housing spaces for large, national corporations and small businesses. Tim recently designed and built locations for the national expansion of Kuhlman Company. He is considered a national expert in the area of creative design. Tim also is the developer/owner of the world-class Fusion Life Spa in Deephaven, Minnesota.

 

 

Peter Sieve

From 2004 to 2007, Peter managed the Consulting & New Projects arm of Artspace Projects, Inc., working to develop affordable arts-related projects with dozens of communities across the nation, initiating feasibility studies and launching broad market studies. He studied fiction writing at St. Olaf College and is an active musician, touring the country extensively with Twin Cities-renowned folk-pop artist Chris Koza. Peter is passionate about the betterment of communities through smart growth, green design, the arts and affordable housing.

 

Kerri Stahlecker Hermann

Kerri is a graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School. Her legal career includes twelve years of practice with the Office of the Minnesota Attorney General. At the Attorney General’s Office, Kerri represented government clients in various areas of law including transportation, contracts, welfare benefits, child welfare, affirmative action, and mental health. Kerri also taught an appellate advocacy class at the William Mitchell Law School, and provided continuing legal education to other lawyers. Additionally, she has been actively engaged in pro bono work throughout her career, including work for Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights. Kerri and her husband own a real estate development company that focuses on rehabilitating homes.

 

 

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PLACE Board of Directors

Chris Velasco, President

PLACE
100 Portland Avenue South, Suite 100 Minneapolis, MN 55401

Garth Rockcastle, Treasurer

Dean
University of Maryland
School of Architecture
College Park, Maryland 20742

Elizabeth Bowling, Secretary

Owner
Elizabeth B. Bowling, pllc
100 Portland Avenue South, Suite 100 Minneapolis, MN 55401

Romulo E. Samaniego

Executive Director
Broad Park Development Corporation
617 Park Street
Hartford, CT 06106-2300

Jessica Cusick

Cultural Affairs Manager
City of Santa Monica
1685 Main Street, Room 106
Santa Monica, CA 90401

Jonathan Pearlstein

President
RE Consult Inc.
P.O. Box 448
North Bend, WA 98045

 

Charles L. Raison, M.D.

Assistant Professor, Director of the Mind/Body Program, Co-Director of the Collaborative for Contemplative Studies

Emory University
1380 Oxford Road,NE
Atlanta GA 30322

 

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