Renaissance Downtowns USA hired Urban3 to study the potential impact of their proposed small mixed-use development in El Monte, California. The approximately 3 acre site, Area Y, was located near the Metrolink Station. Urban3’s work has shown that incremental investments into productive mixed-use projects make a big difference in terms of productivity. In El Monte, a strong main street was surrounded by less productive big-box sprawl. The Area Y site was nontaxable, and therefore flat in 3D.

El Monte as it exists mapped value per acre in 3D and El Monte with the projected value per acre of the Area Y site

Urban3 used comparable existing developments to project the property value based on the plans for a fully built-out Area Y. The dramatic impact of the proposed development is visible in the map below. Because of its nontaxable status, anything built on the Area Y site would increase tax revenue. However, the large purple blocks represent how density and mixed-use developments create clusters of parcels with very high value per acre.