Project Managers:

ROMA Design Group, San Francisco, CA and Austin, TX
Lead Consultant

ROMA Design Group is an urban design firm of architects, landscape architects, and planners based in San Francisco which undertakes projects throughout the United States and abroad. Over the past 20 years, ROMA has established a reputation for design excellence and commitment to the improvement of the urban environment. The firm focuses on the transformation of the post-industrial city, the creation of livable communities, and the design of public spaces; its projects have made a significant contribution to the attractiveness, character and livability of cities, towns and regions.

ROMA's work includes several important contributions to city planning and urban design in Austin, including:

• The award-winning master plan for the redevelopment of Robert Mueller Municipal Airport
• The master plan for the Seaholm District, anchored by the former Seaholm Power Plant
• Updates and refinements to the South Shore of the Town Lake Waterfront Overlay District
• Redevelopment master plan for the Saltillo District
• Urban design of the Pfluger Bridge Extension with HDR Engineering

After a decade of extensive work on these important civic projects, the firm opened an Austin office in 2005.

Principals

Jim Adams is a Principal of ROMA and Director of Urban Design, overseeing design plans for specific development projects, city districts and transit-oriented mixed-use neighborhoods. Adams received his Masters of Urban Design (with distinction) from Harvard University in 1980 and his Bachelor of Architecture (with honors) from the University of Toronto in 1977, and is a registered architect and member of the American Institute of Architects.

Adams has special expertise in the revitalization of urban communities and focuses upon the need to preserve the unique characteristics of each community in a changing economic environment. He has led numerous projects involving the design of major transportation facilities and their integration within the urban fabric to create sustainable livable communities.

Jana McCann is an Architect and Urban Designer and the Principal heading ROMA's Austin office. She brings a strong experience in transit facility design and transit-oriented development planning, streetscape and public space design, historic preservation and adaptive re-use design, as well as in management of large-scale civic projects.

A Texas native and a 1980 graduate of The University of Texas at Austin's School of Architecture with High Honors, McCann has also studied, traveled and practiced abroad, working in Paris and London before returning to Austin in 1997 to teach and practice urban design. From 1999 to 2006, McCann was the Urban Design Officer for the City of Austin, where she defined the City's Great Streets Program and developed urban design standards for Downtown, neighborhood planning areas, commercial areas and TOD (transit-oriented development) districts, as well as overseeing the City's historic preservation program. Jana is a licensed Architect in the State of Texas, a member of the American Institute of Architects, the Congress for the New Urbanism, the Heritage Society of Austin, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and The University of Texas School of Architecture's Advisory Council.

HR&A Advisors, Inc., New York, NY
Economic Development Consultant

HR&A Advisors, Inc. is a full-service consulting firm that provides analysis and policy solutions to public- and private-sector clients working on a wide array of issues. Its Real Estate and Economic Development practice area distinguishes itself by:

• Imagining the possibilities for growth and restoration inherent in, but often hidden in, troubled downtowns, transitional communities, waterfronts, obsolete land uses, and a host of other areas.
• Maintaining the discipline of pragmatism, recommending only realistically possible alteratives based on a rigorous and honest assessment of the conditions
• Partnering with clients to immerse in the communities and organizations in which they live and work, offering client-specific diagnoses and recommendations - not one-size-fits-all approaches.
• Integrating market research, analysis and policy, providing clients with a seamless process that is both practical and innovative.

Principals

HR&A Advisors, Inc. president and Managing Partner of the New York office, John Alschuler guides the firm's real estate advisory practice, focusing on the revitalization of urban communities, regional economic development, and service to institutional owners of real estate. Alschuler's core skills include the structuring of public-private partnerships, development finance, and innovative development strategies.

Alschuler's wide-ranging national and international practice has included work in places as diverse as Brooklyn, Columbus, Cincinnati, Charleston, and Washington DC, leading to bold plans that have reshaped important waterfronts, downtown districts, and neighborhoods. Clients have included creative partnerships of private-sector leaders, government agencies, and major non-profits and civic institutions. Alschuler is also an adjunct associate professor at Columbia University, where he has taught in the Masters in Real Estate program for more than 20 years. He is a graduate of Wesleyan University and holds a Doctorate from the University of Massachusetts.

Andy Altman is a consultant working with HR&A Advisors, Inc. on its real estate and economic development practice and portfolio. Previously, Altman served five years as the planning director for Washington D.C. under Mayor Anthony A. Williams, and as the first President and Chief Executive Officer of the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation, founded to guide the ambitious regeneration of the National Capital waterfront. The initiative to reclaim the waterfront of Washington D.C. has been nationally recognized by the American Institute of Architects, the American Planning Association, Places Magazine (ERDA award) and the American Society of Landscape Architects as one of the most innovative urban redevelopment initiatives in the United States. Prior to his service in Washington, Altman served as the planning director for the City of Oakland, California.

Altman has also been a Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution Center for Metropolitan Policy, working on the development of a new "Transformative Agenda for Cities" as well as international initiatives on urban development. Altman has been the recipient of fellowships including the German Marshall Fund Fellowship, the Loeb Fellowship at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and a Lady Davis Fellowship at the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology. Altman holds a Masters in City Planning from M.I.T.

Other consultants on the DAP team

• Diana McIver and Associates, Inc. (affordable/workforce housing)
• HDR/WHM (transportation engineering)
• Urban Design Group (civil engineering/infrastructure)
• Studio 8 (urban design and architecture)
• Limbacher Godfrey and Associates (historic and cultural resources preservation)
• Alan Tanaguchi and Associates (parks/open space)
• John Langmore (political/legislative analysis)
• Group Solutions RJW (community outreach)