Mixed-use projects were not among the original six categories offered when we introduced the Builder's Choice competition to the residential design world in 1981, but by the mid-1990s the concept was catching on, and by the turn of the last century it had reached the mainstream, prompting us to add it to the mix. These two projects—one at the cusp of the concept's popularity, the other offering a fresh refinement of a now-embedded planning model—create lasting and vibrant environments for residents, commercial concerns, and retailers as well as models for planners and developers to follow as mixed-use becomes the cornerstone of the country's new urban revival.

Project: Addison Circle, Addison, Texas; Entrant/ Architect/Land planner: RTKL Associates, Dallas; Builder: Post Properties, Dallas

PED XING: Though certainly not the first of a new breed of urban mixed-use projects, Addison Circle (left) won a grand award in 1998 for successfully and artfully creating a pedestrian-friendly environment within the setting of a busy downtown traffic circle in Addison, Texas. A robust leasing pace saw 60 residents a month move into the project's four-story apartment buildings.
PED XING: Though certainly not the first of a new breed of urban mixed-use projects, Addison Circle (left) won a grand award in 1998 for successfully and artfully creating a pedestrian-friendly environment within the setting of a busy downtown traffic circle in Addison, Texas. A robust leasing pace saw 60 residents a month move into the project's four-story apartment buildings.

Project: WaterColor, Seagrove Beach, Fla.; Entrant/Architect/Land planner: Cooper, Robertson & Partners, New York; Builder: Arvida, a St. Joe Co., Seagrove Beach

SEA ESCAPE: Achieving a “village by the sea” atmosphere, the 499-acre WaterColor project (above) in Seagrove Beach, Fla., a 2003 grand award winner among mixed-use developments, features a vibrant town center and, as the architect stated, “a handful of basic housing types that are typically very casual.”
SEA ESCAPE: Achieving a “village by the sea” atmosphere, the 499-acre WaterColor project (above) in Seagrove Beach, Fla., a 2003 grand award winner among mixed-use developments, features a vibrant town center and, as the architect stated, “a handful of basic housing types that are typically very casual.”

Learn more about markets featured in this article: Dallas, TX.