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Commission selects High/Gay intersection redevelopment for Harrison Smith Award recognition
Summary
The Downtown Commission discussed several candidates for the Harrison Smith Awards and agreed to recognize the cluster of recent redevelopment at the High/Gay intersection — including the Madison and Nicholas projects and adjacent work — for its contribution to activating High Street.
Staff presented several nominees for the Harrison Smith Awards, including Preston Center (office‑to‑residential conversion), Library Park residential project, Madison redevelopment (High & Gay), and the Nicholas apartments. Commissioners discussed whether to recognize individual projects or a cluster of reinvestment around the High/Gay intersection.
Several commissioners favored acknowledging the collective redevelopment that activated High Street — including Madison and the Nicholas projects and associated improvements — for their combined effect in bringing residents, retail and vibrancy back to a historically underutilized corridor. Commissioners discussed sequencing and whether prize criteria require a project to be newly completed; staff said projects typically are recent but do not have to be completed within the calendar year.
The commission agreed to recognize the intersection redevelopment as a consolidated award recipient and to acknowledge the range of contributors (developers, architects and landscape teams) who collaborated on the node’s transformation.
