SEMI-URBAN | First Forty Feet

One Twenty UP

Project

Year

2019

Location

Vancouver, Washington

Client

Ginn Group

The Challenge

From Auto-Oriented to People-Focused

Creating a new community at 120th and Mill Plain in East Vancouver, Washington, meant transforming a corridor long defined by fast-moving traffic, surface parking, and auto-oriented commercial uses into a welcoming, neighborhood-serving the entire neighborhood. Designed by First Forty Feet in collaboration with Ginn Group, the project introduces new housing density, active ground-floor uses, and a strong pedestrian network to establish a walkable environment where daily needs are close at hand. The team worked to overcome the area’s historic lack of identity and infrastructure for people on foot or bike, ensuring that new streets and open spaces feel safe, connected, and comfortable from day one. Thoughtful public-realm design links residences with community gathering areas, inviting storefronts, and future transit, supporting Vancouver’s broader goals to create complete, inclusive, and livable districts along Mill Plain Boulevard. By reimagining an underutilized site as a place where community can grow, this project sets the foundation for ongoing reinvestment and a more vibrant East Vancouver.

Sawmill Past

For decades, East Vancouver’s economy was shaped by its timber roots — with sawmills, lumber processing, and other industrial operations supporting families who built the community we know today. While those mills have largely disappeared, the spirit of working landscapes and resourceful industry still influences the area’s identity as it evolves into a modern neighborhood.

Parklets

The community’s parklets are intentionally designed for families—featuring playful elements where kids can explore close to home, while parents can relax on stoops or nearby seating with clear sightlines. These human-scaled spaces turn everyday moments into safe, casual encounters. By bringing play and supervision into the heart of the public realm, the design supports family-friendly living and strengthens the social fabric of 120th & Mill Plain.

Courtyard Gardens

The landscape design carefully balances privacy and connection, shaping a shared environment that feels both personal and communal. Around each courtyard, layered plantings and subtle screening elements give every home its own sense of retreat— enclosing patios and windows without feeling isolated. Open sightlines and framed views allow for gentle glimpses into the center of the space, maintaining a sense of openness and shared life. This thoughtful interplay between enclosure and visibility helps the gardens feel safe and welcoming, encouraging a sense of community while preserving the quiet comfort of home.

Live / Work Units

Along Mill Plain Boulevard, a row of live-work units creates a natural transition between the quieter residential courtyards and the more active commercial edge of the corridor. These flexible spaces support small businesses, studios, and entrepreneurial uses at the ground floor while providing homes above—bringing daily activity right to the street. By placing eyes on the sidewalk and doors directly onto the public realm, the live-work units help transform Mill Plain into a vibrant, walkable destination, setting the stage for future retail and community-serving uses to grow around them.

The Impact

A New Model for Transition Zones

This project establishes a new model for development in the transitional spaces that sit between auto-oriented commercial corridors and established single-family neighborhoods. Rather than repeating the spread-out retail of Mill Plain Boulevard or the low-density housing to the south, the design introduces a human-scaled, mixed-use fabric that supports walkability, housing choice, and local business opportunity. By demonstrating how higher density and family-friendly living can coexist comfortably at this edge condition—with shared courtyards, active frontages, and safe public spaces—the neighborhood becomes a catalyst for rethinking growth across East Vancouver. It shows how future development can evolve in a way that strengthens both sides of the transition zone, offering more ways for people to live, work, and belong close to where they already are.

Plum Creek

Project

Year

2020

Location

Vancouver, Washington

Client

Ginn Group

The Challenge

A More Complete Neighborhood

Plum Creek sits along a critical edge of the evolving Highway 99 corridor, where auto-oriented retail meets long-established single-family neighborhoods. Designed in collaboration with Ginn Group, the project introduces diverse housing options and new walkable connections without overwhelming the surrounding residential character. Historically, this part of Vancouver offered few pedestrian-friendly places or a strong sense of identity, making it essential to create a neighborhood that feels both connected to the commercial street and comfortable as a home.

Plum Creek responds with a new model for growth in these transition zones, combining mixed-use walk-up apartments and gabled townhomes to support housing choice and activate the public realm. Commercial spaces along the corridor provide opportunities for small businesses, while courtyards, stoops, and family-friendly amenities create a safe and social community core. Landscaped buffers offer privacy yet maintain openness to shared spaces, encouraging chance encounters and everyday connections. By prioritizing people over parking lots, Plum Creek shows how the corridor can evolve into a more complete, inclusive, and vibrant neighborhood.

Walk-up Apartments

The mixed-use walk-up apartments bring activity directly to the street, with homes just steps above small commercial spaces and neighborhood services. By placing front doors and balconies close to the sidewalk, the buildings reinforce a strong pedestrian presence and encourage everyday interaction.

Front Gabled Towhomes

The townhouses, distinguished by their welcoming front gables, bring a familiar residential character to the neighborhood edge. Each home features its own front door and stoop facing the street, reinforcing walkability and providing the sense of arrival that single-family residents value. The gabled forms break down the scale of the block, offering architectural warmth and individuality while maintaining a cohesive streetscape. Together, these homes help bridge the transition from the commercial corridor into the quieter fabric of the surrounding community.

Side Gabled Townhomes

The side-gabled townhomes offer a more contemporary residential expression, with their rooflines running parallel to the street for a streamlined, cohesive frontage. These homes are designed to maximize natural light and interior flexibility while maintaining strong visual rhythm along neighborhood streets.

Cornelius Town Center

Project

Year

2018

Location

Cornelius, Oregon

Client

City of Cornelius

The Challenge

Expanding the Heart of Cornelius

The Hanks/Grande Foods property sits at the center of Cornelius — a large retail block surrounded by high-speed arterials and disconnected sidewalks. Once a hub for local shopping, the site had become underutilized and difficult to navigate on foot. The challenge was to transform this auto-oriented block into a walkable, mixed-use neighborhood that could restore civic life, support local businesses, and express the city’s multi-cultural identity.

Working with the City of Cornelius and local property owners, the team developed a framework for the site’s long-term evolution: to make it more connected, more livable, and more distinctly Cornelius.

Option 1: Neighborhood Blocks

The first option focused on repairing the city grid by introducing new streets and smaller development parcels. These new neighborhood-scaled blocks would create a finer grain of housing and retail — reconnecting the site to its surroundings and improving safety and circulation.

This approach balanced urban structure and flexibility but would demand coordinated redevelopment over several phases and higher upfront costs.

Option 2:
Building Evolution

The next concept proposed incremental transformation, reusing parts of the existing Hanks building while activating its edges with new retail frontages and a food market courtyard. This scenario introduced a food cart pod, flexible maker spaces, and temporary plaza improvements to attract activity and test market demand before larger redevelopment.

It required less investment and allowed short-term activation — an achievable starting point for revitalization.

Option 3:
Plaza

The first concept envisioned a series of plazas that stitched together the library, school, and neighborhood through pedestrian pathways and green corridors. This option emphasized public space visibility and walkability, carving new connections through the large site to reveal gathering areas framed by local art and small storefronts.

While highly walkable and community-focused, this approach required significant long-term investment and full redevelopment of the site.

Preferred Design

The preferred plan blended the strengths of all three options. It established a new network of pedestrian alleys, a mid-block greenway connection, and a central market plaza — all supported by phased development of "missing middle" housing such as townhomes, mansion-style apartments, and live/work units.

By organizing new buildings around public courtyards and clear view corridors, the site becomes a walkable extension of Cornelius’s civic core — where the library, school, and neighborhoods meet through everyday activity.

Cornelius Market

At the heart of the plan is the Cornelius Market — a hometown gathering space that celebrates local food, art, and entrepreneurship. The market would become a flexible venue for food carts, events, and indoor/outdoor vendor stalls.

With covered seating, murals, and community art, the market brings visibility and pride to Cornelius’s multicultural character while offering affordable space for local small businesses to grow.

Parklets + Public Spaces

New parklets, plazas, and pocket parks are strategically placed throughout the site to promote walkability and social connection. These small-scale public spaces extend the identity of the city center — offering shaded seating, public art, and play opportunities along key pedestrian routes.

Together, they transform a single large block into a lively neighborhood fabric that supports everyday encounters and celebrates community life.

Lewiston Waterfront

Project

Year

2019

Location

Lewiston, Idaho

Client

Ginn Group

The Challenge

From Industry to Urban Ecology: Transforming Lewiston’s Riverfront into a Mixed-Use Trail District

First Forty Feet was commissioned to develop and implement a new neighborhood center and extension of the downtown core of Lewiston, Idaho, re-imagining the now-demolished industrial site of Twin City Foods into a vibrant, mixed-use destination. Once home to food processing and warehousing, the site’s soils and shoreline required environmental remediation—a process that became the foundation of its transformation. By cleaning and restoring the land, the project not only unlocks new potential for development but also returns a valuable piece of riverfront to the community.

The revitalized plan, known as the Trail District, envisions this remediated landscape as both an urban and ecological springboard—linking downtown Lewiston to the surrounding hills, trails, and waterways. The project introduces new multi-family housing, commercial spaces, and public art opportunities along with a continuous green loop and waterfront amenities. Anchored by the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater Rivers, the Trail District reconnects the city to its natural setting. Wayfinding strategies and pedestrian bridges strengthen access between the downtown core and the levee trail system, inviting residents and visitors to walk, bike, and gather along a restored waterfront that embodies the renewal of both land and community.

Lewiston, Idaho traces its origins to the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater Rivers — a strategic meeting point long stewarded by the Nez Perce (Nimiipuu) people, whose deep ties to the land shaped the region for thousands of years. The city was formally founded in 1861 during the gold rush, becoming a bustling supply hub for miners headed into the Clearwater goldfields. A year later, Lewiston was named the first capital of the Idaho Territory, its river access and emerging transportation networks cementing its early role as a gateway to the interior Northwest.

The arrival of steamboats on the Snake River and later the railroad strengthened the city’s identity as a river town and trade center, linking agriculture, timber, and industry to wider markets. Today, Lewiston’s historic waterfront, layered cultural heritage, and dramatic canyon setting continue to define its character — a place where rivers, history, and landscape converge, and where the pioneering spirit is rooted in connection to land and community.

Branding of the District

The Trail District concept serves as the brand built around easy access to the outdoors from the heart of town. Framed by trailheads, bike routes, and green corridors, the district positions itself as a place where nature begins within a short walk or ride. The brand celebrates movement, exploration, and the everyday adventure of living close to rivers, forests, and open space.

Streets and plazas are designed as gateways that guide residents and visitors toward these natural assets, with wayfinding, signage, and materials that reflect the surrounding landscape. Through this lens, the Trail District becomes more than a neighborhood name—it’s an invitation to live where the town and trail converge, and where daily life connects to the great outdoors.

A Living System

This waterfront design transforms the edge between land and water into a living system that naturally cleans, filters, and celebrates the flow of water. Each landscape zone—from riparian forests and meadows to prairies, ponds, and grassland mounds—plays a distinct role in capturing runoff, breaking down pollutants, and recharging groundwater. Together, they create a resilient ecological sequence that restores water quality, enhances biodiversity, and mitigates flooding. Beyond its environmental function, the design also serves as a visible story of natural processes, turning the waterfront into a place of learning and connection where visitors can experience how ecology, art, and infrastructure coexist in balance.

Tapestry Square

Project

Year

2020

Location

Vancouver, Washington

Client

Ginn Group

The Challenge

Weaving Together Big-Box Retail with Single Family Zones

First Forty Feet’s design for Tapestry Square reimagines an underutilized site in Vancouver, WA as a vibrant, walkable neighborhood that bridges two distinct edges: established single-family homes and large-format retail. Rather than treating these as unintegrated parts of the neighborhood, the design weaves them together through complementary uses—introducing a mix of housing types and small-scale commercial spaces that serve as a transition zone and complete the surrounding community fabric.

Neighborhood Retail

By combining diverse housing, small business opportunities, and meaningful public spaces, Tapestry Square transforms an overlooked site into a cohesive neighborhood built on creativity, connection, and everyday life.

The Tapestry of People

Each block is imagined as a place for people of like minds—a tapestry of small communities within the whole. Makers, artists, go-getters, high-flyers, beekeepers, and librarians all find a home among their peers, with architecture and landscape tailored to support their shared interests. Workshops open onto shared courtyards, porches face lively lanes, and flexible interiors adapt to the evolving lives of residents.

Mid-Block Parklets

A fine-grained network of walkable streets, shared lanes, and mid-block passages encourages movement at the pedestrian scale, connecting residents to nearby shops, transit, and parks. At the center of the plan, a community parklet and a series of communal living courts provide spaces for informal gathering, shared gardening, and creative play. These intimate green spaces anchor social life within each block while softening the transition between private and public realms.

A New Center

At the heart of Tapestry Square is a neighborhood center designed to bring people together. Framed by local shops, cafés, and a small parklet, it serves as the social core of the community—a place for daily rituals, casual encounters, and shared events that give the neighborhood its identity and rhythm.

Get in touch

Want to know more about this project?